AI is the mosts hyped technology right now, and the buzz has been growing for several years exploding after ChatGPT launched. But should you believe the hype? Renowned data and AI expert, and unabashed critic of hype, Paco Nathan of derwen.ai delivers some real talk and hot takes with Austin Forum executive director Jay Boisseau about what’s real, …

Rabbi Neil Blumofe, a Austin civic leader and human-centric thought and spirituality leader (and jazz afficionado), returns to the Austin Forum Upload in the post-ChatGPT era to have a conversation with Austin Forum executive director Jay Boisseau about how the growing personal usage and evolving capabilities and AI—and tech in general—can influenc…

In this special episode of the Austin Forum Upload, Brad Englert - longtime partner at Accenture and CIO at The University of Texas at Austin (and support of the Austin Forum!) - talks with Austin Forum executive Director Jay Boisseau about his new book, Sphere of Influence. Brad shares his insights, experiences, and advice for how to cultivate and…

The Austin Forum Upload

Austin technology ecosystem experts, community builders, and fellow podcast hosts Jason Scharf (Austin Next podcast) and Thom Singer (Austin Tech Connect podcast) join Austin Forum executive director Jay Boisseau (and Austin Forum Upload podcast host) to discuss technology trends facing the world in 2024, and what Austin's impact, role, and ecosyst…

SXSW 2024 is coming in mid-March 2024, and it will have a bigger tech program than ever! Hugh Forrest, co-president and chief programming officer of SXSW, joins Austin Forum executive director Jay Boisseau to preview SXSW 2024. Hugh shares what new tracks are part of the conference festival, how AI is prevalent throughout the programming, other tec…

Supercomputing, or high performance computing (HPC), is about building computers that can accurately and quickly solve the big problems - climate and weather modeling, developing new drugs and materials, researching new energy solutions, designing new structures and vehicles, training new AI models, understanding the formation and evolution of star…

Data analytics and AI are changing the way we work and live, and increasingly they will be embedded in the infrastructure around us, fueled by data from networked sensors. Bill Pugh, co-founder of Smart Connections Consulting, joins Austin Forum executive director to discuss smart infrastructure: how these technologies will improve power grids, bui…

Samuel Alexander, CEO of C2C Fashion and Technology, shares with Austin Forum executive director Jay Boisseau how his innovative fashion company is using everything from AI, AR and VR to new sustainable materials to create a new kind of fashion company.The Austin Forum Upload

Byron Reese, noted futurist, author, entrepreneur, speaker, and general all-around thought leader, joins the Austin Forum Upload again to talk with Austin Forum executive director Jay Boisseau about the evolution of organizing and encoding information. Starting with DNA being the first stage of information organization, then brains, followed by lan…

Anastasia Uglova, founder of Agency and co-host of The Privacy Podcast, joins Austin Forum executive director Jay Boisseau to have a discussion about privacy, digital privacy, where we are and the challenges of ensuring privacy, and what everyone should be aware of about your privacy or lack thereof! They also talk about possible solutions, at leas…

Emily Gupton of Austin Women in Technology joins Austin forum executive director Jay Boisseau to talk about the lack of gender diversity in the tech sector, the many reasons, and why gender diversity is good not just for women but for companies and innovations. The conversation covers the may reasons for this gender imbalance, both historical and c…

Thom Singer, CEO of Austin Technology Council, joins Jay Boisseau, executive director of the Austin Forum, to talk about what technologies are generating lots of buzz right now as we conclude the summer, and also which technologies should be getting even more buzz. They also talk about the roles of communities and organizations in helping people an…

While the current World Wide Web is amazingly capable for the things we use it for, including now (in so-called Web 2.0) sharing content via social media and smartphones and other devices that update the web content in real time, there are limitations and weaknesses. Web content lives only on specific servers, major web platforms are dominated by a…

Quantum computing is a very different kind of computing technology that leverages the seemingly weird (but proven) quantum mechanical properties of atomic and subatomic particles to create potential transformational performance. Quantum computers leverage principles called superposition and entanglement to represent many possible states at once, ma…

Cyberthreats are not only persistent but growing and evolving. As companies and organizations increasingly put their information, IP, and even raw data into network-attached storage systems and the value of stealing these digital assets only increases, driving advances in cyberattack methods. Fortunately, cyber defenses are also evolving, but how c…

The Austin Forum on Technology has a big 'tech trends' event at the start of every year. The Vizias experts behind the Austin Forum team--Jay Boisseau, John Lockman, and Luke Wilson--discuss the changes to the tech trends we're seeing halfway through the year--what is new, what is surprising, what is being hyped, and what may be future tech trends …

SXSW is a massive event - conference, festivals, performances, screenings, activations, and more - that share one common thing: creativity. While the creative culture of Austin TX has fueled the success and growth of the main SXSW events for decades, having a creative culture is not exclusive to Austin! SXSW is launching the first-ever SXSW Sydney …

Michael Ward Jr, President and CEO of the Austin Urban Technology Movement (AUTMHQ), joins Austin Forum executive director Jay Boisseau to discuss the importance of diverse people and perspectives in technology. Michael’s AUTMHQ is a leader in developing and executing programs for a variety of age groups and experience levels, all designed to provi…

Hrish Lotlikar, Co-founder and CEO of SuperWorld, joins Austin Forum executive director Jay Boisseau to talk about immersive experiences, AR and VR, metaverses, and how the digital world can connect to, complement, and augment the physical world and our lives, experiences, and humanity. This interview will give you a better understanding of what is…

Erin Reilly, Professor fo Practice and Founding Director of the Texas Immersive Institute in the Moody College of Communication at The University of Texas, talks with Austin Forum director Jay Boisseau about immersive experiences and the technologies that enable them. They discuss the history and present of immersive technologies, the broad potenti…

Erich Schwartz, Adjunct professor of Law and Tower Fellow at The University of Texas at Austin, talks with Austin Forum director Jay Boisseau about how emerging technologies are regulated compared to more pervasive technologies - often, after the first incidents with negative impacts. The conversation covers models and methods of regulation, then t…

Professor Sharon Strover of The University of Texas at Austin talks with Austin Forum executive director Jay Boisseau about AI's implications for humans--what are the risks (both accidental and intentional), why is it hard to address some of them, and what UT's Good Systems program is doing to help! Sharon and Jay cover a wide range of related topi…

Saurabh Jha of Dell Technologies has a conversation with Austin Forum Executive Director Jay Boisseau about why ChatGPT, Large Langue Models, and generative AI are so compelling, how AI is much more than that, and how deep learning based on neural networks is key to so many AI advances. Saurabh and Jay close by talking about the kinds of successes …

Amy Winecoff, Research Fellow at Princeton University (and an Austin Forum regular attendee!) talks with Austin Forum executive director Jay Boisseau about her research findings on how community and culture influence tech companies, especially startups. She also shares how the nature of the technology influences the community and culture, with exam…

Paul O'Brien, CEO and Founder of MediaTech Ventures (and SXSW attend for many years!) joins Austin Forum on Technology and Society executive director Jay Boisseau (and also a regular at SXSW Interactive) to discuss this year's SXSW Interactive conference and share highlights in the technologies content of the program. They discussing technology top…

The video game market is much larger than Hollywood box office or music purchases, even though it’s not (yet?) as universal. Gaming is also evolving. PC and console games are now massive productions with a strong focus on story, with directors and writers (and awards!), making them better for movies and series. “The Last of Us” is now an HBO series…

The recent announcement by LastPass being hacked—and other recent notable cybersecurity incidents—led us to chat with Gabe Schuyler, enterprise solutions engineer at Wiz and general computer security expert. Join us as John Lockman, our own AF Tech Director, also shares his personal computer security advice with AF Director Jay Boisseau in this inf…

Misinformation (including disinformation, which is intentional disinformation), have been around as long as humans have had communication and conflict. However, technologies such as the web, smartphones, and social media have enabled spreading of misinformation much faster and more widely. This has created mistrust in political leaders, in science …

Economics expert and consultant Angelos Angelou, CEO and founder of both Angelou Economics and International Accelerator, joins Austin Forum executive director Jay Boisseau to discuss the economic health of the tech sector--in Austin and beyond--heading into 2023, and what Angelos expects for 2023 in tech job growth rates, tech stock valuations, ch…

Economics expert and consultant Angelos Angelou, CEO and founder of both Angelou Economics and International Accelerator, joins Austin Forum executive director Jay Boisseau to discuss the economic health of the tech sector--in Austin and beyond--heading into 2023, and what Angelos expects for 2023 in tech job growth rates, tech stock valuations, ch…

We're baaack! With more for 2023! Luke Wilson, head of global infrastructure at Optiver, and Adnan Khaleel, business and technology strategist at Intel, join Austin Forum executive director Jay Boisseau to discuss the buzz about ChatGPT, including what it is, what it can do, some of its weaknesses and limitations, and what the future may hold.…

Nancy Giordano, a strategic futurist with Play Big Inc and a globally recognized speaker, consultant, advisor, and more, talks with Austin Forum executive director Jay Boisseau about the importance of merging 'futurism' and 'strategic planning' to envision and create a better future. She shares her definition of the role, the qualities it takes to …

UX designers Erik Summa of Dell Technologies and Jennifer "Houli" Houlihan of the Flatiron School talk with the Austin Forum's executive director Jay Boisseau and UX designer Mary Garza about what design is, why UX design is important (and quantifiable), why your company should take UX design seriously, and how you can become a UX designer if you w…

Gaming and VR environments allow us to have avatars that represent ourselves, and for more serious metaverse applications we probably want to look human--maybe even professional. But what about when thousands, or millions, of people--or the whole planet--need to appear in a metaverse? There's a lot to consider when making metaverse environments, an…

Austin is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, fueled by explosive growth in its tech sector companies ranging from startups to global leaders and spanning many areas of computing plus biotech, energy tech, manufacturing tech, and more. The Austin Next podcast duo of Michael Scharf and Jason Scharf talks with Austin Forum on Technology…

The Austin Forum on Technology and Society held monthly in-person-only events on diverse technologies and their influence and impact on all aspects of society since 2006--to as many as 300+ people. When the Covid-19 pandemic canceled our in-person events, we made the decision that our mission was more important than our methods of execution--and le…

Ganesh Padmanabhan, the creator of the podcast "Stories in AI," talks about storytelling and AI with Austin Forum executive director Jay Boisseau and Technology Director John Lockman. We talk about how wonderful conversations--and the podcast medium--can be about everything, including complex topics like AI, how intimate that can be, and how much s…

Hugh Forrest, Chief Programming Officer of SXSW, sits down for a chat with Jay Boisseau, executive director of the Austin Forum, to discuss all things SXSW: past, present, and where it's headed next.The Austin Forum Upload

The Austin Forum Upload podcast has had three great seasons, but there is more to cover all the time. So, we're not starting season 4--we're coming back as a weekly podcast! Hear what's coming up in the weeks and months ahead, and as always send us your requests and ideas to info at austinforum.org!The Austin Forum Upload

The techies behind the popular Tech Breakfast podcast: Aaron Buley, Russ Cantwell, and Tyler Gates. Hear their excellent (and fun) recommendations for emerging and evolving technologies and applications to cover. Aaron, Russ and Tyler share their insights and interests in this episode to wrap season 3 of the Austin Forum Upload and set up more grea…

Recent US government reports, videos, and interviews with credible witnesses (e.g. Navy pilots) have been released recently that discuss unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), sometimes referred to as UFOs (unidentified flying objects). Are they technology? Are they natural phenomena? How should we read and understand such reports and videos? Jay Bo…

Cybersecurity--and related terms like computer security, network security, data protection, computer viruses/worms/bots, etc--are both concerning and confusing for most people. In this episode, Jay, John, and Jessica have a free-flowing conversation with computer security expert Tod Beardsley, Director of Research a security company Rapid7, about t…

Jay and John talk to Jim Prather, President of WAVi, about neurotech--specifically, monitoring and measuring brain activity as a means of increasing understanding about everything from stroke and concussion impact recovery to mental performance. Yes, this is getting real, and WAViMed is now in about 150 clinics around the country, and is being used…

The number of connected devices in the world is growing rapidly, driven by our desire to monitor and improve mobility, safety, infrastructure quality, and our environments. The "Internet of Things" may not be the right phrase, but we will see more computing and sensing devices that are connected, enabling real-time and predictive analytics and even…

The brain, spinal cord, and extended network of the nervous system throughout the body act as ’software’ to help manage the muscles, organs, bones, and other ‘hardware’ of the human body, and play a fundamental role in its operation, healing, and wellbeing. Researchers, healthcare professionals, and entrepreneurs are learning how to hack the body t…

In this subseries of the Austin Forum Upload, Luke Wilson, John Lockman, and Jay Boisseau -- AI and HPC geeks by day, and full-spectrum geeks around the clock -- will share their takes on recent AI news and achievements (facts), on AI usage/accuracy in TV/movies/etc (fiction), and the weirdest, wackiest, most dubious recent achievements in AI (fun)…

In this subseries of the Austin Forum Upload, Luke Wilson, John Lockman, and Jay Boisseau -- AI and HPC geeks by day, and full-spectrum geeks around the clock -- will share their takes on recent AI news and achievements (facts), on AI usage/accuracy in TV/movies/etc (fiction), and the weirdest, wackiest, most dubious recent achievements in AI (fun)…

In this subseries of the Austin Forum Upload, Luke Wilson, John Lockman, and Jay Boisseau -- AI and HPC geeks by day, and full-spectrum geeks around the clock -- will share their takes on recent AI news and achievements (facts), on AI usage/accuracy in TV/movies/etc (fiction), and the weirdest, wackiest, most dubious recent achievements in AI (fun)…

The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of remote working and collaboration, and thereby encouraged (required, really) the near-continuous usage of online technologies for communications, collaboration, and general productivity in teams and companies. Austin Forum executive director Jay Boisseau talks with General Assembly UX instructor Jennifer …