Leaders of AI

About Leaders of AI

Leaders of AI is the go-to AI podcast that delivers real insights for today’s decision makers. About the hosts: Co-host Julia McCoy is an innovative entrepreneur who grew her name to one of the best in the world at content marketing, back when it was done 100% by humans. She sold her 100-person writing agency in 2021 to enter the realm of AI. Today, she lives, breathes and sleeps the science of how to bring businesses and marketing teams into the AI age, personally leading AI integrations for marketing teams at her AI consulting company First Movers. Co-host David Shapiro is one of the most respected voices on the internet regarding AGI and how automation will affect humanity, with a near-20 year background in building custom AI-driven infrastructure implemented by brands like NASA. Semi-retired, he writes, speaks and thinks the future of AI and humanity on Leaders of AI with Julia McCoy and special guests.

Publisher

Julia McCoy & David Shapiro

Category

technology

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

29 Oct 2024

Latest episode

24 Feb 2025

Latest episodes

12 of 12 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   24 Feb 2025TRANSCRIPT

   E12: AI, Ego Death, and the End of Reality? | Sam Rad | Leaders of AI

   Julia McCoy and Dave Shapiro interview Sam Rad, anthropologist and author of Radical Next, about AI's existential impact on humanity and societal paradigm shifts.

2. 

   15 Feb 2025TRANSCRIPT

   E11: DeepSeek-R1: The $5M AI Model Disrupting Silicon Valley | Leaders Of AI

   Host David Shapiro interviews John Gibbs, CEO of Automattic and host of Doctor Know It All, about the disruptive $5M DeepSeek-R1 AI model and its impact on global markets and AI innovation.

3. 

   3 Feb 2025TRANSCRIPT

   E10: The Future of Jobs, Governance, and Humanity | Emad Mostaque

   Host Julia McCoy and Dave Shapi interview Emad Mostaque, Founder & CEO of Intelligent Internet, about AI's impact on jobs, governance, and humanity, offering insights for navigating an AI-driven future.

4. 

   15 Jan 2025TRANSCRIPT

   E9: How to Use AI to Transform Work and Life | Mark De Grasse

   Host Julia McCoy and guest Mark De Grasse, Founder of AI Branding Academy, explore how AI liberates creators, redefines marketing, and empowers business innovation.

5. 

   4 Jan 2025TRANSCRIPT

   E8: The AI Revolution is HERE: Why 2025 Will Change Everything (2024 Look-Back & 2025 Highlights)

   In this interview, host Dave Shapiro and guest Julia McCoy explore AI's rapid evolution, predicting 2025 as the "Year of the Agent" and offering insights on adapting to this transformative era.

6. 

   31 Dec 2024TRANSCRIPT

   E7: The Future of AI Agents: Building an Internet for AI with Richard Blythman

   Host Dave Shapiro interviews Richard Blythman, founder of Naptha AI, about building a decentralized internet for AI agents and the future of multi-agent systems.

7. 

   16 Dec 2024TRANSCRIPT

   E6: AI & Faith: Bridging Technology, AI, and Spirituality with Jason Moore

   Hosts Julia McCoy and Dave Shapiro interview Jason Moore, author of AI and the Church, about how faith communities can embrace AI while maintaining authenticity.

8. 

   6 Dec 2024TRANSCRIPT

   E5: AGI, Automation & Adaptation: A Reality Check with Jonathan Mast

   Host Julia McCoy interviews AI entrepreneur Jonathan Mast about AGI realities, automation's impact in 2025, and how businesses can adapt to gain a competitive edge.

9. 

   20 Nov 2024TRANSCRIPT

   E4: From Virtual Assistants to AI Agents – The 2-Year Timeline to Mass Job Disruption with Austin Armstrong

   Marketing expert Austin Armstrong discusses the imminent disruption of virtual workers by AI agents with Julia McCoy and David Shapiro

10. 

    11 Nov 2024TRANSCRIPT

    E3: Ex-Military Op Says AGI is Here Already, Discusses Machine Consciousness and More

    Host Dave Shapiro interviews Charles Sears, an ex-military ops expert on human consciousness and AI consultant, about his belief that AGI is already here and its implications for humanity's future.

11. 

    4 Nov 2024TRANSCRIPT

    E2: Verizon Deploying AI in Call Centers? Advances in Robotics, Scientific Discoveries, & Dating with AI

    In this episode, Julia, Dave, and special guest YouTuber Dylan Curious cover the intersection of generative AI in call centers with a recent use case from Verizon, where they're building “personal research assistants” for employees on calls so they don't have to record or search around for particular data while on the line, where the AI assistant delivers necessary data to them as they handle the call. Pranay Bajpai, VP of digital and assisted experience systems at Verizon, says "it’s not about dollar value, but more about getting more productivity and improving staff performance as we deal with the undoubted multitude of customer calls." Next, Julia, Dave and Dylan cover how AI models helped virologists identify over 160,000 new viruses in one of the largest discoveries of new viruses ever made, by a machine learning tool. They also cover AGI and the meaning of a life of purpose when automation removes all human workload. And finally, they talk about what it would be like to live in a day and age where dating AI apps or even AGI apps is mainstream.Leaders of AI with Dave Shapiro and Julia McCoy is now streaming on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music & Audible, TuneIn/Alexa, iHeartRadio, Pocket Casts, PlayerFM, and Pandora. Subscribe where you most enjoy listening to podcasts.Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leaders-of-ai/id1776902731 Watch YouTube to catch the video versions: https://www.youtube.com/@LeadersofAIPodcast

12. 

    29 Oct 2024TRANSCRIPT

    E1: The Origin Story – David Shapiro and Julia McCoy's Personal Journey to AI

    In this episode, co-hosts of new show Leaders of AI, Julia McCoy and David Shapiro share the origin story in their own careers that ultimately led them to the new age of technology, aka, the AI age. Julia and Dave share a mutual optimism for the age of abundance humanity is about to enter, and their work in the field to help companies adapt, and set the stage for what's coming to the show. Subscribe on YouTube to catch the video versions: https://www.youtube.com/@LeadersofAIPodcast

Inside a recent episode

E12: AI, Ego Death, and the End of Reality? | Sam Rad | Leaders of AI

Published 24 Feb 2025 · Transcript excerpt

[…] We have mobile devices with us, like 24 -7. But that's, that's going farther, right? And cybernetic enhancement. We see in the movies and stuff like we might be wearing full -body haptic suits or VR or AR goggles, but you know, it's already kind of there and it's far more subtle and we're opting into that. I think we're, we're on the cusp of a time where people might consider other augmentations or brain machine interfaces, being a part of our workplace or life or things like neuralink. Whether I think that's a good thing or not is kind of besides the point, you know, that I share what I see not necessarily what I think should happen. […]

Who has been a guest on Leaders of AI

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Sam Rad
• John Gibbs
• Emad Mostaque
• Mark De Grasse
• Richard Blythman

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

23,452,735

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.9 / 5

10 ratings

Spotify

4.7 / 5

11 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 56 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

41

Social presence

0

YouTube

93

Engagement

85

Contact Leaders of AI

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Questions about Leaders of AI