Innovator With A Story?
Who Are We?
The thought leadership arm of Joseph Raczynski, we speak with the best and most innovative global companies and personalities.
Conversations cover the latest trends in technology and go in-depth on the philosophical implications of these new technologies. We primarily cover emerging technology including Agentic AI, Blockchain, cybersecurity, NFTs, cryptocurrency and general business digital transformation.
Articles (350+)
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Top 10 AI Entrepreneurs Making an Impact in 2025 from MSN In a world where artificial intelligence is reshaping industries at lightning speed, some entrepreneurs aren’t just keeping pace — they’re setting the standard. These are the innovators building smarter systems, solving real-world problems, and quietly defining the future of…
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Meet Your New Digital Sidekick: AI Agents Take the Wheel
Cambridge, MA – MIT EmTechAI: Yash Kumar and Reiichiro Nakano from OpenAI discussed the evolution and impact of AI agents-particularly OpenAI’s Operator-on digital interaction. Their conversation highlighted the technological progress, challenges, and future directions of AI agents as they move from simple chatbots to sophisticated digital assistants capable of performing…
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No-Code, No Lines: How Halliday Is Serving Up Instant Blockchain Innovation
What if building on the blockchain was as effortless as ordering your daily coffee—no cryptic instructions, no endless queues, just tap, pay, and play? Thanks to a wave of agentic AI and smart contract innovation, that future is now. Today, fintechs and banks can launch digital asset products in hours,…
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Tailor-Made Intelligence: From Off-the-Rack to Runway-Ready AI
Cambridge, MA – MIT EmTechAI: Waseem AlShikh, CTO and co-founder of Writer, took the EmTech AI 2025 stage to share the remarkable story behind one of enterprise AI’s fastest-growing platforms. Writer’s journey began with a simple but powerful idea: AI should be practical, efficient, and tailored to the specific needs…
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Control, Context, and Code: Windsurf’s Quiet Revolution in Developer Tools
Ever wonder what happens when the future of software meets the sharpest minds in AI—right as acquisition rumors swirl? At the AI+ Expo in Washington, DC, I sat down with Anshul Ramachandran, founding team member at Windsurf (formerly Codeium), just as whispers of an OpenAI buyout electrified the halls. Ramachandran’s resume reads like…
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AI on the Edge: From Cat Videos to Cancer Cures
Cambridge, MA – MIT EmTechAI: Scott Penberthy, Senior Director of Applied AI in the Office of the CTO at Google Cloud, is no stranger to big ideas. In his talk, “New Frontiers in AI Models,” Penberthy offered a sweeping view of how the latest advances in artificial intelligence are reshaping…
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Senator Ruben Gallego: Crypto’s Champion for the Underdog—and for American Innovation
When Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) took the stage, the energy in the room shifted. He wasn’t just there to talk policy—he was there to tell a story about why crypto matters, not just to Wall Street, but to the neighborhoods and families that have long been left out of the…
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Code Red: Eric Schmidt’s (ex-CEO Google) AI Alarm and the New World Disorder
At the AI+ Expo in Washington, Dr. Eric Schmidt didn’t mince words about the crossroads humanity faces. With the air of a seasoned technologist—and the urgency of someone who’s seen too many sci-fi movies turn into documentaries—he mapped out a future where artificial intelligence is both the world’s greatest opportunity…
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Deadlines, Dad Jokes, and Digital Dollars: Johnson & Steil’s Congressional Crypto Showdown
At the 2025 Crypto Summit, Representatives Dusty Johnson of South Dakota (R) and Bryan Steil of Wisconsin (R) delivered a session that was as insightful as it was entertaining. The two Congressmen, both leading voices on digital asset policy, brought a refreshing blend of urgency, bipartisan spirit, and good-natured ribbing…
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Data Without Borders: Why Your AI Needs a Passport (and a Home)
Cambridge, MA – MIT EmTechAI: When Kevin Dallas, CEO of EDB, takes the stage, you know you’re in for more than just a technical deep-dive-you’re about to get a masterclass in the future of data and AI, delivered with the precision of a Formula One engineer and the vision of…
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Beyond the Singularity: Anders Indset’s Guide to Staying Human
Anders Indset is a philosopher for the digital age—a renowned author, business thinker, and trusted advisor to leaders navigating the complexities of tomorrow. With his latest book, “The Singularity Paradox: Bridging the Gap Between Humanity and AI,” Anders delivers a timely and thought-provoking exploration of one of the most pressing…
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No More Secrets: Why Radical Transparency Is AI’s Secret Weapon
Cambridge, MA – MIT EmTechAI: Ali Farhadi, CEO of the Allen Institute for AI (AI2), is a leading voice for transparency and openness in artificial intelligence. In a field increasingly dominated by closed models and proprietary data, Farhadi argues that only radical transparency-full disclosure of model architecture, training data, and…
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Charting the Course for Crypto Clarity: Key Takeaways from Congressman French Hill
At the Blockchain Association’s Summit Series in Washington, DC, Congressman French Hill (R-AR), a pivotal figure in financial services and digital asset regulation, outlined his vision for U.S. leadership in blockchain innovation. Below are the key themes from his discussion. Regulatory Vision and Stablecoin Legislation Congressman Hill emphasized the urgent…
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Sky’s the Limit: Bill Lakeland and the Drone Mapping Revolution
Toronto, Canada – Consensus 2025: Bill Lakeland is a trailblazer at the intersection of aerial technology and next-generation mapping. As the CEO and co-founder of Spexi, Bill has built his reputation on a passion for democratizing access to high-resolution, real-time geospatial data—empowering drone enthusiasts and professionals alike to help map…
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No More Traffic Jams: Grigore Roșu on Fixing Blockchain’s Congestion
Imagine a world where every street in a city speaks a different language, uses a different currency, and has its own quirky set of toll booths. Welcome to the current state of blockchain—a sprawling metropolis of over 1,000 networks and 16 million cryptocurrencies, most of them abandoned vehicles rusting by…
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Copyright, Creators, and Code: Who Wins the AI Gold Rush?
Cambridge, MA – MIT EmTechAI: Artificial intelligence is rewriting the rules of intellectual property, thrusting creators, tech companies, and legal experts into uncharted territory. In a lively session at EmTechAI 2025, Tyler Chou (“The Creators’ Attorney” and founder of Tyler Chou Law for Creators) and Amir Ghavi (Co-chair, Technology Transactions,…
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From Freakouts to Forecasts: How AI Is Changing the Game in Finance
Cambridge, MA – MIT EmTechAI: Andrew Lo, Director of the Laboratory for Financial Engineering at MIT Sloan School of Management, offers a pragmatic and nuanced perspective on how AI-particularly large language models (LLMs)-is already transforming the financial sector and where its greatest business value lies today. AI as a Financial…
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Tokenizing Trust: Sunny Lu (VeChain) and the Future of Real-World Blockchain
Toronto, Canada – Consensus 2025: Sunny Lu’s journey from IT executive to blockchain visionary is a remarkable story of foresight, innovation, and relentless pursuit of real-world impact. As the founder and CEO of VeChain, Sunny has become one of the most influential early entrants in the crypto space, recognized for pioneering…
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Turning AI into Measurable Business Value: Insights from Asha Sharma, Corporate Vice President, AI Platform, Microsoft
Cambridge, MA – MIT EmTechAI: Asha Sharma, Corporate Vice President of AI Platform at Microsoft, is no stranger to translating cutting-edge technology into products that scale. With a background spanning Messenger, Instagram Direct, and now overseeing Microsoft’s AI infrastructure and applications, Sharma shared her perspective on how AI is creating…
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Toronto Takes Consensus: Tech, Tokens, and Tim Hortons
Toronto, Canada – Consensus 2025: If you’d told me back in 2017, as I elbowed my way through the early Consensus NYC crowds at the Hilton in Mid-town, that I’d one day be writing about this event from the heart of Toronto’s birthplace of Ethereum, I’d have said, they better…
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Banking on AI: How JPMorgan’s Policy Chief Sees the Future of Smart Regulation
Cambridge, MA – MIT EmTechAI: Terah Lyons, currently the Global Head of AI & Data Policy at JPMorgan Chase, has spent her career shaping how governments and private sector organizations approach the governance and responsible use of artificial intelligence. With over a decade of experience spanning public service, nonprofit leadership,…
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Autonomous Agents: When AI Wallets Outnumber Humans
Dubai, UAE, Token 2049: Industry leaders Ben Zhou (Bybit), Jansen Teng (Virtuals Protocol), Lia Muller Pena (BitGPT), and Alex Svanevik (Nasen) explored the rapidly evolving world of AI-driven wallets and autonomous agents in crypto. The conversation opened with the idea that AI wallets are quickly becoming more than just digital…
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ElizaOS & the Age of AI Agents: A Conversation with Shaw Walters
Toronto, Canada – Consensus 2025: It was a privilege to sit down with Shaw Walters of Eliza Labs today. Shaw Walters stands as one of the most influential pioneers at the intersection of artificial intelligence and decentralized finance. As the founder of Eliza Labs and the creator of ElizaOS—formerly known…
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From Incremental Gains to Breakthroughs: KPMG’s Kevin Bolen on Unlocking AI’s True Potential
Cambridge, MA – MIT EmTechAI: Kevin Bolen, Principal Advisory and Head of AI Transformation at KPMG, delivered a field-tested, pragmatic perspective on how organizations can find real value with AI in today’s business landscape. Drawing on decades of experience spanning the early internet era, natural language startups, and innovation strategy…
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Tether: A Once-in-a-Century Company Redefining Global Finance
Dubai, UAE, Token 2049: Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, recently delivered a candid and ambitious assessment of his company’s role in the global financial system. Framed as “a once-in-a-century company,” Ardoino’s talk explored Tether’s origins, its staggering growth, and its philosophy of leveraging profits to build resilient, open infrastructure for…
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From S-Curves to Supercycles: Azeem Azhar’s Roadmap for the AI Revolution
Cambridge, MA – MIT EmTechAI: Azeem Azhar’s presentation at MIT EmTechAI offered a sweeping, incisive overview of the current state and future trajectory of artificial intelligence, focusing on the unprecedented speed and complexity of technological change. Azhar began by highlighting how the pace of AI advancement-both in terms of technical…
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Future in Focus: Your VIP Pass to What’s Next from MIT EmTechAI
Welcome to the ultimate sneak peek of what’s coming from the MIT EmTechAI Conference which occurred in Cambridge, MA in May. It was a gathering where the world’s brightest minds push the boundaries of artificial intelligence, and where, I captured the pulse of every major theme, debate, and breakthrough. If…
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Clause Encounters: How AI Is Rewriting the Legal Playbook with Eleanor Lightbody and Graham Sills
MIT EmTechAI – Cambridge MA: I had the opportunity to catch-up with a pioneer in the legal AI Agentic space on how their platform works and what the future holds for AI with contract and litigation work across the legal practice. This conversation is with Eleanor Lightbody, CEO and Dr. Graham Sills,…
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The Network State: Balaji Srinivasan’s Blueprint for Digital Sovereignty
Dubai, UAE, Token 2049: Balaji Srinivasan’s recent talk lays out a sweeping vision for the future of governance and community in the digital age, centered on his concept of the “network state.” Drawing from his book and ongoing projects, Srinivasan argues that the internet is not just a tool for…
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Hacks, Stacks, and Ledger Acts: Securing Crypto in the Age of AI with Sebastien Badault
Just above the din of crowd and with flood lights in full effect at Token 2049 in Dubai, UAE I met with Ledger’s Vice President of Enterprise, Sebastien Badault. We spoke about enterprise security for digital assets. He said the high-profile $1.4 billion hack of crypto exchange Bybit in 2024 was…
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Macro Chaos: Can Crypto Thrive in Global Economic Uncertainty?
Dubai, UAE, Token 2049: A recent panel featuring Raoul Pal (Real Vision), Dan Morehead (Pantera Capital), and Zoltan Pozsar (Ex Uno Plures) tackled one of the most urgent questions in finance today: Can crypto not just survive, but thrive amid mounting global macroeconomic chaos? Their wide-ranging discussion, though at times…
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Silicon, Photons, and the Quantum Leap: Inside Photonic with Stephanie Simmons
At the Quantum.Tech event, held at the Conrad in Washington, DC, I sat down with Stephanie Simmons, Founder & Chief Quantum Officer of Photonic, Inc. We chatted about where the quantum space sits these days and where she sees it going through the lens of the company she started. Stephanie…
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200 Years Forward: Radical Change, AI, and the New Human Blueprint with Steve Fisher
This was an incredibly interesting conversation with Steve Fisher design futurist, entrepreneur, and podcaster – co-author of SuperShifts: Transforming How We Live, Learn, and Work in the Age of Intelligence with Dr. Ja-Naé Duane. In SUPERSHIFTS, Steve and Ja-Nae give an overview of how we are at the end of one 200-year…
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Your DNA, Your Rules: Revolutionizing Genomic Privacy with Blockchain – Dr. Anmol Kapoor, MD
Today we speak with Dr. Anmol Kapoor is a pioneering leader in precision healthcare, artificial intelligence, and blockchain technology who is revolutionizing modern medicine. 23andMe, the genetic testing company, recently filed for bankruptcy. Could your data now be sold to the highest bidder – it’s possible. This case serves as a stark…
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From Quantum Winter to Spring Fever: How Big Tech and Big Bets Are Heating Up the Quantum Race
Quantum computing is notorious for being both the most hyped and the most misunderstood sector in tech. At the recent Quantum.Tech event at the Conrad Hotel in Washington, DC, Michael Bogobowicz, Partner at McKinsey & Company, delivered a keynote that cut through the noise, offering a data-driven snapshot of where…
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Breaking the Chains: How Decentralized AI is Redefining Intelligence and Autonomy with David Johnston
My mind is blown. David Johnston, Code Maintainer at Morpheus, willingly took on my zany questions with the ease of an Olympic marathoner, gracefully and with dogged determination. In this episode, we’ll delve into the concept of decentralized AI and its profound implications for our interactions with intelligent agents. Imagine…
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Tokenized Tomorrow: Unifying Ethereum, Real-World Assets, and the Future of DeFi with Amir Forouzani
Let’s get a little technical today and do a deep dive into Ethereum and other blockchains. This was an educational discussion with Amir Forouzani, Co-founder & CEO, of Puffer Labs. The world, perhaps the US, is finally waking up to the power and potential of DeFi or decentralized finance. We…
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Cicero Speaks: AI Roleplay, Real Conversations, and the Future of Workplace Training with Doug Stephen
This is a fascinating discussion today about the advancement of chatbots with real value. I speak with Doug Stephen – President, Enterprise Learning Division, CGS and their new product, Cicero. In a world of Agentic AI, chatbots like Sesame that have real-time interactions, with humanlike voice, intonation, and seemingly empathy, today we…
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AI, Blockchain, Assets, and the Future of Emerging Technology with Felix Hartmann
Join us for an enlightening conversation with Felix Hartmann, the German-American tech entrepreneur, futurist, and asset manager. As the driving force behind a pioneering frontier tech investment firm, Felix has been at the forefront of both crypto asset hedge funds and metaverse venture funds. In this episode, we delve into…
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Are we at the end of human centered customer service? Dimitri Masin has ideas.
As someone who has overseen teams of customer success and service, this was a very interesting conversation. We are at a point where many of these human services can be replaced by machine. Listen to what is happening now with Dimitri Masin, CEO and Cofounder at Gradient Labs’. While AI-powered…
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What are the next attack vectors for criminals and how to fix a breach with Andy Maus
We are touching on cybersecurity today. What are the latest scams and technologies that are being used to help people part ways with their assets. It’s unfortunate, but staying aware and vigilant is key. We focus on how you can stop the madness once it has started, with Andy Maus,…
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How do you prove someone is human?… with Terence Kwok
Today we discuss how emerging technology will help better verify that someone is who they say they are. It’s no easy task. Humanity Protocol, founded by Terence Kwok, is a decentralized, privacy-first digital identity blockchain, which has launch of Humanity Foundation, an initiative to advance decentralized identity technology and foster…
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A Futurist’s View: US Likely to Lose in the Battle Over AI, Robotics, & Eventually Quantum Computing
The United States is in a sticky wicket. Unfortunately, the US is rapidly losing its grip as leader on many fronts compared to our peers around the world in technology and infrastructure. I have witnessed it firsthand while traveling in Asia, Europe, and across the Americas. Now the data is…
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Vibe Coding Is Here
The time has come. Vibe coding is the new “thang” in the world of app development, and pretty much anyone can participate. Anyone can create disruptive apps in moments. I’ve been pushing the narrative of platforms and low-code, no-code solutions for many years. This next phase is mind-bending. Every day…
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The Legal Landscape of 2030: What No One Is Saying but Everyone Should Hear
In the rapidly evolving intersection of law and technology, I’ve spent over 15 years analyzing and anticipating how emerging technologies will reshape our legal frameworks. Today my presentation at the British Legal Technology Forum in London offered a probable glimpse into what many industry leaders are reluctant to acknowledge—the radical…
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Unleashing the Future with RWA: Highlights from NFT Paris 2025
NFT Paris 2025, held at the iconic Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris, marked a pivotal moment in the Web3 and NFT landscape. I had the great fortune to attend this event, now in its fourth year. It has evolved from a modest gathering of 800 attendees in 2022…
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Thoughts About Davos and the World Economic Forum
A fairy tale snowcapped town tucked away in the Swiss Alps, Davos takes center stage for the World Economic Forum in late January. Here is my quick take.
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Davos WEF Recap – Sights From the Alps
Davos: a veritable petri dish of intellectual fermentation, where last week the crème de la crème of global thought leaders, and lowly me, converged to engage in a cerebral tango. It was a snow-globe of ideas, vigorously shaken and set loose upon the unsuspecting Alpine slopes. Here, I saw billionaires…
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Agentic AI: The Next Frontier in Blockchain and Crypto
This is a primer for a presentation I will be giving in Davos. As we venture into 2025, a new technological paradigm is emerging at the intersection of artificial intelligence and blockchain: Agentic AI. This groundbreaking development promises to revolutionize how we interact with digital systems, particularly in the realm…
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Davos: Where the World’s Movers and Shakers Gather (and Sometimes Slip on Ice)
Picture this: A quaint Swiss town nestled in the Alps, where the air is crisp, the snow is pristine, and the concentration of power suits per square meter blows away even the pinstripes of Wall Street. Welcome to Davos, home of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting, where global leaders…