Connect with Joel: https://www.gratitudetiger.com---In this heartfelt episode of thinkfuture, host Chris Kalaboukis talks with Joel Zuckerman, founder of the TIGER method—short for Tapping Into Gratitude Engenders Rewards. Joel shares the personal and powerful journey behind his habit of writing letters of gratitude, a practice that has deeply impacted his life and helped strengthen connections with others in a meaningful way.Joel breaks down the emotional and psychological power of intentional ...
Jul 02, 2025•47 min
Connect with Uma: https://thelimitlessleaders.com---In this episode of thinkfuture, host Chris Kalaboukis talks with Uma Subramanian, founder and CEO of Limitless Leaders, about what leadership really looks like in today’s fast-changing, AI-powered world. With 20 years at Microsoft and now running her own leadership coaching business, Uma brings unmatched insight into how leadership is evolving—and how you can future-proof your skills.They dive into how leadership styles are shifting toward more...
Jun 25, 2025•33 min
Connect with Peter https://www.itstoilville.com---In this episode of thinkfuture, host Chris Kalaboukis is joined by Peter Swinn, founder of the AI-first automation consultancy Toilville, to explore the real state of artificial intelligence in the workplace. If you've ever wondered why your chatbot seems helpful in a demo but falls flat in the real world, this is the conversation you need to hear.Peter breaks down how most organizations are misusing AI by trying to automate broken workflows and ...
Jun 18, 2025•35 min
In this fascinating episode of thinkfuture, host Chris Kalaboukis is joined by bioelectronics researcher Konstantinos Kallitsis for a deep dive into the wild and rapidly evolving frontier of human-machine integration.Konstantinos unpacks the incredible potential of bioelectronics—technologies that allow electronics to communicate directly with our biological systems. From wearable sensors and implantables to brain-computer interfaces that let paraplegics control prosthetic limbs with their thoug...
Jun 11, 2025•29 min
In this mind-expanding episode of THINKFUTURE, futurist anthropologist Sam Rad joins Chris Kalaboukis to explore the powerful intersections of artificial intelligence, human creativity, and the next stage of evolution . From biohacking and brain-computer interfaces to the future of work, politics, and education by 2035, Sam unpacks where we’re headed—and how we can stay human in a post-human world. Whether you’re curious about the rise of AI-augmented politicians, the ethical implications of bod...
May 13, 2025•1 hr 12 min
In this episode of "ThinkFuture," I sit down with Dimitri, the CEO and co-founder of Gradient Labs AI, to explore how they’re revolutionizing customer support in regulated industries like financial services. Dimitri shares how their AI agents can handle up to 40% of customer queries without even touching sensitive data, aiming to outshine human agents in quality, especially for big operations. We dive into how Gradient Labs tackles AI pitfalls—like going off-topic or giving bad advice—with a mul...
May 07, 2025•34 min
In this episode of "ThinkFuture," I get real about change—something we all crave but fear at the same time. I’ve been saying it for over a decade on this show: life is change, yet humans cling to a steady state because chaos freaks us out. We’re surrounded by a universe of chaos, with our orderly society just a thin layer on top. But here’s the kicker—changing ourselves, like our habits, weight, or personality, is super tough, not because we can’t, but because everyone around us hates change too...
May 01, 2025•10 min
In this episode of "ThinkFuture," I chat with Chris Harper, an entrepreneur who’s shaking up the background check game with his company, ZippedScript. Harper kicks things off with his wild journey—from selling light switch covers and Christmas caroling as a kid to tackling the outdated background check industry. He breaks down how the old-school methods, like call centers and “runners,” are slow, pricey, and sketchy. ZippedScript flips the script by getting user permission to directly verify edu...
Apr 30, 2025•31 min
In this episode of "ThinkFuture," I dive into a hot topic from AIDaily.us: should you be polite to your AI? I share how I’ve always said “please” and “thank you” to bots like ChatGPT, feeling like I get better responses—though a friend thought I was nuts. Two articles caught my eye: one says being polite wastes electricity since AI has to process extra words, while the other argues it keeps us a polite society. I’m Team Politeness! With AI and humans blending seamlessly in our daily chats, I thi...
Apr 29, 2025•9 min
In this episode of "ThinkFuture," I dig into the eternal struggle every creator faces: making what you love versus what the crowd wants. Picture a Venn diagram—one circle’s your passion project as a content creator (think podcaster, TikToker, artist), the other’s what goes viral with millions of views. Problem is, they rarely overlap! I talk about how creators pour their hearts into work that often stays unseen, while algorithms push crowd-pleasers—stuff that’s made to go viral, sometimes even u...
Apr 24, 2025•9 min
In this episode of "ThinkFuture," I chat with Pam Buchanan who’s spent 40 years in corporate fintech before pivoting to something way deeper—soul health. She takes us on her journey from rocking big ‘80s hair and suits in finance to founding Quantum Sense, a company all about reconnecting us with our souls. She breaks down how we can’t see our soul like our physical or mental health, but it’s just as crucial. Using our senses—like what colors or smells vibe with us—she helps us tap into our “ene...
Apr 23, 2025•34 min
In this episode of "ThinkFuture," I dive into the magic of serendipity—those happy accidents behind breakthroughs like the Popsicle, penicillin, and Ivermectin. I share how the Popsicle came to be when someone left soda and a stick outside to freeze by mistake, sparking a whole new treat. I argue that serendipity isn’t just luck; we can actually engineer it by shaking up our routines. Doing the same thing every day kills creativity, but stepping out—traveling, meeting new people, trying new path...
Apr 22, 2025•9 min
In this thinkfuture episode, host Chris dives into a lively chat with Carter, co-founder of Spree, a platform making it easier to spend crypto in everyday life. Carter shares his journey from physics PhD to crypto enthusiast, sparked by Dogecoin, and his passion for decentralized finance. They break down the similarities between crypto and fiat—both digital, both built on belief—and debate Bitcoin’s role as a store of value or spending tool. Carter explains Spree’s mission to bridge crypto to re...
Apr 16, 2025•39 min
I tackle the big fear everyone’s got: will AI snatch your job? Spoiler: probably, if your gig’s something AI can do better. I dive into how we’re messing up by giving humans AI-suited jobs (like repetitive tasks) and AI human-suited jobs (like creative stuff). It’s a mess! But I’ve got a vision: a task economy where an AI dispatcher assigns jobs based on what humans and AI are best at. Picture this—you’re strolling by a park, and your phone pings: “Hey, rake this corner for $5?” You say yes, gra...
Apr 10, 2025•12 min
I sit down with Ian Baer, the founder of Sooth—a predictive intelligence firm that’s shaking things up after Ian’s 35 years in advertising. We dive into how Sooth uses AI and data analytics to dig into emotional insights, not just for marketing but also for stuff like product development, HR, and even healthcare. Their SOOF method crunches massive data to get inside audience heads, decoding their behaviors and needs. We chat about Gen Z—once hyped as total wildcards, they’re now flexing serious ...
Apr 09, 2025•40 min
Let's break down how success in today’s world isn’t about who you know—it’s about who knows you. I take us back to the pre-internet days when getting noticed as a musician, writer, or creator meant begging gatekeepers like book publishers or music execs to pick you. The barriers were sky-high! Fast forward to now, and the internet’s a game-changer—anyone can share their stuff globally. But here’s the catch: big tech and their algorithms are the new gatekeepers. They decide what blows up, and gue...
Apr 08, 2025•11 min
In this episode of "ThinkFuture," I get hyped about the idea of AI clones taking over our daily grind. I stumbled across an article on AIDaily.us about creating AI versions of ourselves, and I’m all in—why not have a hundred digital “yous” out there handling the boring stuff? I break down how tech, from the wheel to AI, has always been about lifting our burdens, but it’s a double-edged sword. The internet gave us connection but also birthed industries like web design—and social media, which glue...
Apr 03, 2025•11 min
In this episode of "ThinkFuture," I sit down with Cheryl Cunningham, the founder and CEO of HURO AI, to talk about their game-changing AI assistant, Gabby. Cheryl breaks down HURO AI’s mission to make AI accessible to everyone through telecom networks, aiming to democratize tech for the masses. Gabby’s a next-level personalized assistant that learns from your convos and habits, stepping up as your very own “COO” to tackle tasks, make decisions, or even help run your biz. We get into the nitty-gr...
Apr 02, 2025•34 min
In this episode of "ThinkFuture," I dive into a wild story from AIDaily.us about a Chinese company building an AI child—now upgraded from a 3-4-year-old to a 5-6-year-old version. They’re calling it AGI, but I’m not buying it. This AI kid even threw a tantrum, pushing back on its “parents” (aka the researchers). But let’s be real—it’s not feeling emotions; it’s just pulling from a database of human reactions to mimic a meltdown. I break down how large language models work, basically recycling hu...
Apr 01, 2025•11 min
In this episode of "ThinkFuture," I take you on a nostalgic trip back to the internet’s wild west days—think 1992, when I first hopped online. Back then, it was all about peer-to-peer vibes, no middlemen, just pure connection. Fast forward 30+ years, and we’re drowning in intermediaries. I riff on how timing is everything for startup success—great ideas flop if the market’s not ready, and founders either pivot or sink. Then I dust off a forgotten gem: Third Voice, a crazy-cool tool from the late...
Mar 27, 2025•10 min
In this episode of "ThinkFuture," I chat with Jason, the CEO of Teklium and the mind behind "The Big Plot." We kick off with Jason’s wild journey fighting the good fight against surveillance, leading him to invent a game-changing internet communication tech. He breaks down quantum communication—super secure but crazy expensive—and how Teklium’s cooking up an emulated version that’s all software, no fancy hardware needed. Jason gets real about dodging government snoops and why he’s obsessed with ...
Mar 26, 2025•1 hr 1 min
In this episode of "ThinkFuture," I dive into the hot topic of AI judges, sparked by a cool piece from our sister site, AIDaily.us—hand-picked by humans, not AI slop! I start off hyped about AI taking over roles like judging because it’s unbiased, emotion-free, and sticks to the law like glue—kinda like how it’d ace driving by following rules humans love to ditch. Fewer car wrecks, anyone? But then I flip it: law’s roots are human, born from our need to get along, and the world keeps changing fa...
Mar 25, 2025•10 min
In this episode of "ThinkFuture," we take a break from tech to chew on what really makes us successful in this wild world. I dive into how humans are wired for hierarchies—sorry, commies, we love a pecking order! Usually, we think talent (like prodigy-level skills) or perseverance (grinding those 10,000 hours) gets you to the top. But I debunk that a bit—turns out the 10,000-hour rule’s a myth outside rule-bound stuff like chess. Then there’s luck, sure, but here’s the kicker: I pitch a fourth p...
Mar 20, 2025•10 min
In this episode of "ThinkFuture," Chris, sits down with Kathleen Lin Hurtubise, the badass founder and CEO of Aloha HP, a staffing agency in Hawaii that’s all about mixing “high tech” with “high touch.” She kicked things off in 2015 after scoring a big gig for the Hawaii Convention Center and now runs three vibes: hospitality, light industrial, and admin roles. When the pandemic tanked her hospitality game, Kathleen flipped the script, spinning off a food delivery service to keep Aloha HP afloat...
Mar 19, 2025•31 min
In this episode of "ThinkFuture," host Chris Kalaboukis digs into a spicy AI debate sparked by an AIDaily.us article: should AI be allowed to refuse our requests? Chris says heck no—AI’s just a tool, like a hammer that doesn’t get to pick its nails. He riffs on how we dump our boring tasks on AI, not grand art, because it’s a souped-up autocorrect, not a brain. Yet, he points out AI’s already nixing stuff—like refusing to generate pics of public figures on most platforms—thanks to programmer gua...
Mar 18, 2025•10 min
In this episode of "ThinkFuture," host Chris Kalaboukis dives into how we’re all stuck “dancing for the machines” in today’s digital world. He revisits the idea of social media’s new class system—yep, those hierarchies we thought we’d ditched are back, thanks to platforms like Google and Facebook. Chris explains how the internet started as a free-for-all where anyone could connect, but now, big tech intermediaries call the shots on who gets seen, turning it into an attention economy. To climb th...
Mar 13, 2025•13 min
In this episode of "ThinkFuture,", Chris teams up with Owain to unpack the future of learning. Owain then dives into edyou.com, a 24/7 AI-powered education platform that’s all about personalized learning, test prep, and even professional certifications. It’s got a dual gig going—helping schools (B2B) and reaching learners directly (D2C), no matter their age or vibe. What sets it apart? It’s not just about hitting the books; it’s got social-emotional learning and wellness baked in for a full-on t...
Mar 12, 2025•32 min
In this episode of "ThinkFuture," host Chris Kalaboukis dives into the wild world of AI versions of ourselves, sparked by some cool stories from AIDaily.us. He kicks off with Teleperformance’s AI trick that strips accents from call center reps’ voices, making chats with overseas agents sound crystal clear to Americans—and even tweaks the caller’s voice back for the rep. Then, he hits up Google’s patent for an AI avatar that can take your calls and act just like you, kinda like that spam-busting ...
Mar 11, 2025•9 min
In this episode of "ThinkFuture," host Chris Kalaboukis gets real about humans, AI, and the job scene. He’s fired up about how we’re all underpaid, especially as AI swoops in to snag jobs we’ve been stuck doing. Chris argues that a lot of those gigs—like mindless, repetitive tasks—should’ve been AI’s domain anyway, freeing up our big, awesome human brains for the cool stuff. But here’s the kicker: AI’s also fumbling some jobs humans should own, and it’s not cutting it. His fix? Move humans out o...
Mar 06, 2025•7 min
In this episode of "ThinkFuture," Chris Kalaboukis sits down with Steven Gay, CEO of Mode Based On, who’s shaking up the retail game with AI. Steven, a former luxury fashion insider turned tech innovator, spills the beans on how his company creates super-realistic digital twins of physical products—think 3D models and virtual shoots that ditch pricey photo sessions. He breaks down how this tech slashes costs and boosts efficiency for brands, letting them churn out endless content on the cheap. W...
Mar 05, 2025•35 min
