Learn how people are using AI at work to collaborate, find focus, and get stuff done—not at some point in the future, but today. Hear founders, researchers, and...
Sophia Wang on the new tools helping her find answers in old data
On our final episode this season of Working Smarter we talk to Sophia Wang, an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Stanford University. Wang leads the school’s ophthalmic informatics and artificial intelligence group, which uses the latest machine learning techniques to analyze electronic health records. In practice, that means looking at disparate sources of data—from doctors’ notes and eye exam data to diagnostic imagery and billing codes—and finding the sorts of patterns that can be difficult for humans to spot.Hear Wang talk about using AI to extract useful information from a sea of unstructured data, and how to make better decisions with the data you already have—which, in Wang’s case, means improving outcomes for glaucoma patients and providing a better quality of care.Show notes:Learn more about Sophia and her researchVisit Stanford University’s Ophthalmic Informatics and Artificial Intelligence Group~ ~ ~Working Smarter is a new podcast from Dropbox about how AI is changing the way we work and get stuff done.You can listen to more episodes of Working Smarter on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. To read more stories and past interviews, visit workingsmarter.aiThis show would not be possible without the talented team at Cosmic Standard, namely: our producers Samiah Adams and Aja Simpson, technical director Jacob Winik, and executive producer Eliza Smith. Special thanks to Benjy Baptiste for production assistance, our marketing and PR consultant Meggan Ellingboe, and our illustrators, Fanny Luor and Justin Tran. Our theme song was created by Doug Stuart. Working Smarter is hosted by Matthew Braga.
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CEO Drew Houston on solving the biggest problem with modern work
For our seventh episode of Working Smarter we’re talking to Drew Houston, the co-founder and CEO of Dropbox. If you’ve been online long enough, it’s likely Dropbox was your introduction to the cloud. The goal is still more or less the same—give you one organized place for all your stuff—but it’s no longer just about storing and syncing files. A hundred files on your desktop is now a hundred tabs in your browser, and Houston believes AI is what will finally bring calm to the chaos that’s been created by the tools of modern work.For Houston, AI’s potential is so great that its arrival feels like a civilization shift. It’s also not just a professional preoccupation; AI is a personal interest too. A few years ago he decided to teach himself machine learning in his spare time—and some of the AI tools Houston now uses to run Dropbox are ones he built himself. Hear Houston discuss why it’s gotten so hard to find the information you need to do your job, the types of tasks we'll increasingly offload to our silicon brains, and what Dropbox is doing to help make modern work more meaningful and fulfilling.Show notes:To learn more about Dropbox Dash and try Dash for free, visit dropbox.com/dashThe two books Houston mentions are “High Output Management” by Andy Grove and “The Effective Executive” by Peter Drucker~ ~ ~Working Smarter is a new podcast from Dropbox about how AI is changing the way we work and get stuff done.You can listen to more episodes of Working Smarter on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. To read more stories and past interviews, visit workingsmarter.aiThis show would not be possible without the talented team at Cosmic Standard, namely: our producers Samiah Adams and Aja Simpson, technical director Jacob Winik, and executive producer Eliza Smith. Special thanks to Benjy Baptiste for production assistance, our marketing and PR consultant Meggan Ellingboe, and our illustrators, Fanny Luor and Justin Tran. Our theme song was created by Doug Stuart. Working Smarter is hosted by Matthew Braga.
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Pascal Weinberger on bringing the "superpower" of automation to everyone
For our sixth episode of Working Smarter we’re talking to Pascal Weinberger, the co-founder and CEO of Bardeen, an AI-powered automation platform. Weinberger wants to help people effortlessly automate repetitive tasks in the apps they already use for work—no code required. His hope is that by removing some of the friction that makes it hard for people to do their jobs, they can use the time they save on more rewarding, impactful work.Hear Weinberger talk about what people are already automating, how automation can benefit teams as much as individuals, and why he doesn't want to build tools that replace us.Show notes:To learn more about Bardeen, visit bardeen.ai~ ~ ~Working Smarter is a new podcast from Dropbox about how AI is changing the way we work and get stuff done.You can listen to more episodes of Working Smarter on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. To read more stories and past interviews, visit workingsmarter.aiThis show would not be possible without the talented team at Cosmic Standard, namely: our producers Samiah Adams and Aja Simpson, technical director Jacob Winik, and executive producer Eliza Smith. Special thanks to Benjy Baptiste for production assistance, our marketing and PR consultant Meggan Ellingboe, and our illustrators, Fanny Luor and Justin Tran. Our theme song was created by Doug Stuart. Working Smarter is hosted by Matthew Braga.Thanks for listening!
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Natalie Kupperman on why we still need humans in the loop
For our fifth episode of Working Smarter we’re talking to sports scientist Natalie Kupperman. She’s an assistant professor of data science at the University of Virginia where she studies the use of biometrics, wearables, and AI-powered tools for athlete monitoring in sport.Whether it’s a machine learning algorithm trained on video footage from practice, a force plate sensor in the weight room floor—or some combination of the two—Kupperman is interested in how new technology can help reduce the risk of injury and optimize athletic performance for professional athletes and amateurs alike.Hear Kupperman discuss a day in the life of a sports scientist, the importance of getting all of your data into one place, and why there will always be some injuries we can’t prevent.Show notes:To learn more about Natalie and her work, you can visit her website or her University of Virginia faculty pageFind Natalie’s research on Google Scholar~ ~ ~Working Smarter is a new podcast from Dropbox about how AI is changing the way we work and get stuff done.You can listen to more episodes of Working Smarter on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. To read more stories and past interviews, visit workingsmarter.aiThis show would not be possible without the talented team at Cosmic Standard, namely: our producers Samiah Adams and Aja Simpson, technical director Jacob Winik, and executive producer Eliza Smith. Special thanks to Benjy Baptiste for production assistance, our marketing and PR consultant Meggan Ellingboe, and our illustrators, Fanny Luor and Justin Tran. Our theme song was created by Doug Stuart. Working Smarter is hosted by Matthew Braga.Thanks for listening!
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Babak Hodjat on building smarter, more helpful AI
For our fourth episode of Working Smarter we’re talking to Babak Hodjat, the chief technology officer for AI research at Cognizant. If you’ve ever used Apple’s smart assistant Siri, then you’re almost certainly familiar with his work.Hodjat has been doing AI research for nearly four decades, and if there’s one thread that runs through his career, it’s how to make working with digital agents feel as natural or effortless as working with a colleague. At Cognizant—an IT services and consulting firm—Hodjat’s team puts this work into practice by helping other companies integrate AI tools into their workflows.Hear Hodjat discuss why it’s still so hard for machines to understand exactly what we want them to do, the problems he’s helping his customers solve, and how the latest generation of workplace assistants can help us make better decisions and improve the way we do our jobs.Show notes:Learn more about Cognizant's Advanced AI LabLinks to Hodjat’s researchThe Perceptive Assistant that Learns (PAL)The Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes (CALO)~ ~ ~Working Smarter is a new podcast from Dropbox about how AI is changing the way we work and get stuff done.You can listen to more episodes of Working Smarter on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. To read more stories and past interviews, visit workingsmarter.aiThis show would not be possible without the talented team at Cosmic Standard, namely: our producers Samiah Adams and Aja Simpson, technical director Jacob Winik, and executive producer Eliza Smith. Special thanks to Benjy Baptiste for production assistance, our marketing and PR consultant Meggan Ellingboe, and our illustrators, Fanny Luor and Justin Tran. Our theme song was created by Doug Stuart. Working Smarter is hosted by Matthew Braga.Thanks for listening!
Learn how people are using AI at work to collaborate, find focus, and get stuff done—not at some point in the future, but today. Hear founders, researchers, and engineers talk about the problems they’re solving with the help of new and emerging AI tools, and how AI can help you spend more time on the work that matters most.