Layoffs Aren't the Problem. Employment Strategy Is. — with Brea Starmer

Stephen Klein, founder of Curiouser AI and a Berkeley lecturer, was one of the earliest voices calling out what he memorably termed "hype as a service,” the marketing machine promising that AI would replace us all. In this sharp, contrarian conversation, Stephen explains why the AI job apocalypse is being "quietly canceled," why 95% of enterprise AI pilots have failed, and why the CFO has finally shown up to ask the questions that matter. Along the way, he reframes AI not as a magic productivity engine but as a trade, one where the thing we risk giving up is our own ability to think. From the commoditization of large language models to the myth of a solo founder who built a $10M company alone, Stephen makes an optimistic case for what becomes scarce and valuable in the AI era. If you've ever felt "left behind" by AI or wondered whether the tools are actually helping you, this episode is a refreshing dose of clarity. As Stephen puts it, the future of work is still human, and the companies winning right now aren't smarter; they're just early. You'll Learn:

Charlotte Davies has been a copywriter her whole life. She wrote through a cancer diagnosis alone in a Thai hospital. She wrote student newspapers as a kid. Writing is who she is. So when people started asking her whether AI was going to take her job, it didn't feel like a career question. It felt like an existential one. In this conversation, recorded live with Edward Vitalis, CEO of Invictus Education Trust, Charlotte and Paul Estes go somewhere most AI conversations don't: what it actually feels like to be human in a world that's changing faster than we can process. It's a conversation about what we risk losing if we're not paying attention, in our schools, in our families, and in ourselves. Paul shares why he's banned algorithmic content in his house (yes, including YouTube), Charlotte unpacks the unsettling idea that AI might be shrinking our world rather than expanding it, and Edward pushes both guests on what leaders and educators should actually do about it. You'll Learn:

Career coach and author Ozlem Brooke Erol spent years chasing the formula: good grades, impressive company name, solid title, only to feel completely hollow inside. In this candid conversation with Paul Estes, Brooke traces the history of work itself and makes the case that the systems are failing us, not the other way around. Her new book, You're More Than a Paycheck, is part permission slip, part workbook. If you've ever woken up Sunday night with dread already setting in, this episode is for you. You'll Learn:

Think about the last time you saw a company's marketing and actually felt something more than mild interest. Chances are you're struggling to come up with one. And that's not an accident. Vi Wickam has spent 30 years in digital marketing, helping companies fix this mistake. His premise is simple and kind of uncomfortable: honest marketing always wins, most companies aren't doing it, and AI is about to make the gap between the two a whole lot wider. But this conversation goes deeper than marketing. Vi and Paul get into something most people don't want to sit with: your creative thinking might be slowly dying. You probably haven't noticed because your social media feed has been doing your thinking for you. Just one example from the episode: Paul Simon didn't stay creative by consuming more of the same thing. He listened to different music. That’s it. And if that sounds too simple to matter, that's exactly the problem. You'll Learn:

I spent an hour with Diana Wu David, a top 10 global futurist who advises Fortune 500s on what's next. She told me 95% of workers see value in using AI, but they don't trust their companies to ensure positive outcomes for them. So people automate parts of their job in secret. They become what Diana calls "secret cyborgs." We've created an environment where being more productive is something you have to hide. And the organizations that are actually succeeding with AI aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets, they're the ones doing "job crafting"—redesigning work in partnership with employees, not imposing AI from above. Diana also dropped a brutal insight on how AI gets adopted (poorly) at scale, why AI is making everyone busier, and the one skill your kids actually need in the AI age. What You'll Learn: