The Only Constant

Maria Sukhareva | On AI slop and AI experts, and the sleep of colourless green ideas | Episode #94

In this episode of The Only Constant, Lasse Rindom speaks with Maria Sukhareva - computational linguist, Lead AI Strategist, and founder of AI Realist - who brings 15+ years in natural language processing to a refreshingly hype-free look at what large language models actually are, and aren't. With roots in computational linguistics and machine translation, Maria has been doing language modelling "since before it was cool," and she puts that depth to work as the conversation moves from the latest AI market drama into the deeper questions of language, intelligence, and truth.
Main topics they discuss include:
Why understanding language matters for understanding LLMs, and how the field drifted from linguistics toward pure statistics
The absence of real concepts, reasoning, and truth in models that simply predict the next token
AI slop, eloquence-as-intelligence, and the flood of machine-generated academic papers
Why "what to do" now matters more than "how to do it" - and what this means for experts, managers, and the future of work
If you've ever wondered what's actually happening behind the curtain of a language model - this conversation is for you.---Do you want to know more about Maria Sukhareva?
Maria Sukhareva is the founder of AI Realist (airealist.org), an independent publication offering vendor-neutral, anti-hype analysis of enterprise AI for a practitioner audience. Through her weekly AI Realist Radar briefings, long-form investigative writing, regular workshops, and keynote engagements, she covers the developments enterprises actually need to navigate, from model releases and pricing shifts to security incidents and governance frameworks. AI Realist has grown to over 30,000 followers on LinkedIn and hundreds of paying subscribers, with her work cited by top media outlets including Forbes and Die Welt.
Alongside AI Realist, Maria serves as Principal Expert in AI and Lead AI Strategist at a DAX40 company, with over 15 years in NLP and generative AI. Her path runs from certified translator to computational linguist at Universität des Saarlandes, through leading the machine translation initiative at BMW Group, to her current role shaping enterprise AI strategy.
Maria holds a background in computational linguistics, has authored more than 20 publications, and speaks four languages.

Mahmood Aziz | On midterm sci-fi, and who is wielding the tools | Episode #93

In this episode of The Only Constant, Lasse Rindom speaks with Mahmood Aziz, a seasoned technology and AI transformation leader with decades of international experience across consulting, software and enterprise IT. Mahmood brings a refreshingly grounded, human-centred view of what AI is really changing in the world of work - and what stubbornly stays the same.
Main topics they discuss include:
How AI is reshaping consultancy and why expertise, judgement and the human "spark" still matter
The trap of "midterm sci-fi" thinking and projecting three-to-five-year futures we can't really see yet
Why 70–85% of AI pilots never reach production, and the lessons we keep ignoring from ERP, cloud and RPA
The missing operating model, and why governance, trust and accountability matter more than raw action
Do you want to know more about Mahmood Aziz?
Mahmood has over 30 years international experience at Board, Executive and Non-Executive positions in Consulting, NHS, Auditing, Software, Business & IT Services firms. These cover strategic & operational leadership, fund-raising, restructuring, M&A, auditing, consulting, program & project management, business process optimisation and redesign, robotic process automation, AI, data, analytics & ERP
He has specific focus transforming organisations in Financial Services, Pharma & Life Sciences, Energy, Telco, Retail & Public Sector enterprises across EMEA, working with global, international brands, as well as startups and scaling companies.
These are all in client facing, consulting and programme delivery roles, delivering multi-million £ benefits and growing business units consistently both in terms of revenue and people development.
In these roles, he has been both leader and follower, consistently championing & delivering change, innovation & business transformation for customers, his business areas & himself.
Currently Founder & Director of Mind Intelligence Limited, a boutique consulting firm focused on growing scaling organisations with services covering AI, Automation, business strategy, business model design, sales/finance/performance planning, digital transformation & operations optimisation as a Fractional CxO, Advisor, Mentor & Coach.
Available for Non-executive, Board Advisory & Consulting engagements
Recent notable experiences include, Non-executive Governing Board Member, Chair of Finance & Performance Committee, Advisory Board Member, CRO, COO, Board director, Strategic Global Alliances for Blue Prism (EMEA & Rest of World alliances growth), Facilitator, Keynote speaker & more.
Mahmood has an MBA awarded from the University of Hull

Cristina Caffarra | On power and the digital colony, and why sovereignty is reason not sentiment | Episode #92

In this episode of The Only Constant, Lasse Rindom speaks with Cristina Caffarra - top competition economist, UCL professor, and founder of EuroStack. After 25 years at the top of the antitrust world, she walked away to power up European tech, and she makes a sharp, unapologetic case that Europe is a "digital colony" with everything it needs to change that - if only it would stop admiring the problem and start building.
Main topics they discuss include:
Why big tech is pouring money into AI, and why "AI is cloud" - the same hyperscaler stack souped up
Europe as a digital colony, sovereignty washing, and why the real case for European tech is growth, not values or kill-switch fears
How public procurement can favour European solutions without "discriminating" - and why the mercantilism and protectionism charge is a strawman
Where the money actually is and why private demand, not 15 years of regulation, is what will move the dial
If Europe's place in the AI race is something you wrestle with, this conversation will both provoke and energise you.
 
Do you want to know more about Cristina Caffarra?
Dr Cristina Caffarra is a globally renowned competition expert who had a 25-year career as a leading economic consultant. She headed for 17 years (between 2006 and 2022) the Competition Team of Charles River Associates (CRA) in Europe. She then set up Keystone Europe as Managing Partner in July 2022, which she left in 2023. 
 
She co-founded the EuroStack movement in 2024 and is she is co-founder and Chair of the EuroStack Initiative Foundation e.V. EuroStack | Building Europe’s digital future, a non-profit organization to pursue European resilience and asset-building in European tech and digital.
 
She is recognised as a thought leader in antitrust enforcement, regulation, tech policy, the interface between tech, competition, industrial policy and trade.  She is sought after as a public speaker and /regularly keynotes at top events on competition, regulation, digital and industrial policy.  She is also a convener with the ability to gather senior agency, policy and academic speakers for the most high-profile policy events in Europe on tech and related economic policy.  She hosts and produces the Eacape Forward podcast, and her Annual Escape Forward Brussels Conference is the highest-profile event on economic and regulatory policy in Europe. She has written multiple contributions to the field of competition and regulation of digital markets, lectures in competition economics. She is an Honorary Professor at UCL, she is also Associate Fellow of the Centre for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in London and Deputy Chair of the CEPR Competition Research Policy Network. She is also a 2026 Fellow at DG Grow.
 

Brian Evergreen | On hype and strategy, and the difference between the synthetic and relational | Episode #91

In this episode of The Only Constant, Lasse Rindom speaks with Brian Evergreen - leading AI strategist, author of Autonomous Transformation, and founder of The Future Solving Club. Brian brings a refreshingly grounded enterprise lens to cut through the AI hype cycle and challenge the narrative that AI agents will replace white-collar workers, become our "coworkers," or magically transform organizations through prompt workshops and democratized tools.
Main topics they discuss include:
Why the loudest voices predicting an AI-driven jobs apocalypse all have a vested interest in that narrative
The relational layer of organizations and why it can't be replaced by synthetic networks
Why "ChatGPT is not your AI strategy" - and the difference between adding a new piece to the board and rewriting the whole game
Future Solving as an alternative to "future-proofing" - choosing the future you want and reverse-engineering it
The trap of quarter-by-quarter incrementalism and why real value creation needs a longer horizon
If you've been overwhelmed by the daily "CEO said something" cycle and want a grounded, honest conversation about what AI actually means for enterprises, leadership, and life - this one is for you.
 
Do you want to know more about Brian Evergreen?
Brian Evergreen is one of the most respected voices on strategy and AI as a leading author, advisor, and speaker. He teaches leaders and organizations how to take the future into their own hands and create value with it. From small businesses to corporations like Microsoft and Mastercard, from Hollywood to NASA to Wharton, he has presented his ideas and a new system of leadership called Future Solving, which has supported over $20B of investment. He has written one book, Autonomous Transformation, and co-authored two books, Driving Sustainable Innovation and Agentic Artificial Intelligence and is quoted frequently and regularly contributes to national publications.
 
Brian is the founder and CEO of The Future Solving Company, an advisory, training, & events company serving a global community solving for the future. He is the host of the popular podcast Future Solving, which has featured Rita McGrath, Kim Scott, Alex Osterwalder, and other top thinkers. He is also the President of The Future Solving Club, a private group of senior executives shaping the future who dialogue with world-renowned thought leaders and executives weekly and at exclusive dinners and events throughout the year. His work has been featured on Bloomberg, Forbes, Fast Company, CIO, VentureBeat, the Next Big Idea Club, and Thinkers50.
 
You can learn more about and connect with Brian on LinkedIn, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianevergreen

Nikki Barua | On cognitive atrophy and enterprise metabolism, and the resilience of craftsmanship | Episode #90

In this episode of The Only Constant, Lasse Rindom speaks with Nikki Barua, serial entrepreneur, bestselling author, keynote speaker, and co-founder of FlipWork. Named Entrepreneur of the Year and one of Entrepreneur Magazine's 100 Most Influential Women, Nikki has spent 25 years at the intersection of people, technology, and transformation. Drawing on her own journey from Mumbai to building businesses in America, she brings a rare mix of optimism, pragmatism, and cultural depth to a sprawling conversations spanning agentic AI, identity, urban conformity, and what it really takes for humans to stay relevant.
Main topics they discuss include:
Why agentic AI is already reshaping management, culture, and trust inside enterprises — even before scaled adoption
The difference between chasing efficiency (a race to the bottom) and reallocating freed capacity into real competitive advantage
Why cognitive atrophy, not AI slop, is the real danger - and why originality, depth, and craftsmanship become more valuable when average is free
How "strategic metabolism" and trust, not technology, are the true bottlenecks for enterprise transformation
The Darwinian shake-out ahead for C-players, B-players, and short-term-thinking executives - and why lazy layoffs destroy institutional knowledge
Tune in for a wide-ranging, surprisingly personal conversation that moves from AGI ethics to hillbillies, from Manhattan's density of talent to the elephant in every boardroom.
Do you want to know more about Nikke Barua:
Nikki Barua is a serial entrepreneur, keynote speaker, bestselling author, and globally
recognized expert on transformation. She is the CEO & Co-Founder of FlipWork, the
transformation partner helping organizations reinvent their culture, capabilities, and competitive edge for the AI age.
For over 25 years, Nikki has worked with some of the world's most iconic brands, guiding them through digital transformation, workforce reinvention, and organizational change at scale. She knows firsthand that technology is only half the equation; the real breakthrough comes from building the people and culture ready to use it.
As a tech entrepreneur who has built and scaled high-growth businesses, Nikki brings both the strategic lens of a leader and the hard-won wisdom of someone who has navigated disruption herself. Her personal journey from humble beginnings to building global companies has made her a sought-after voice on resilience, reinvention, and what it actually takes to lead through change. Her story has been featured in CNBC, Bloomberg, Fortune, and Forbes.
Nikki has been named Entrepreneur of the Year by ACE, honored as an EY North America Entrepreneurial Winning Woman, included in Entrepreneur Magazine’s 100 Most Influential Women, recognized as one of the 21 Leaders for the 21st Century, and celebrated as a Woman of Influence by The Business Journals, and Top Entrepreneur by Comerica Bank & LA Lakers.
Nikki Barua Links:
Newsletter: https://www.nikkibarua.com/newsletters/reinvention-roadmap/subscribe
Personal Website: https://www.nikkibarua.com/
Company Website: https://www.flipwork.ai/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkibarua/
Twitter: https://x.com/NikkiBarua
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenikkibarua/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thenikkibarua

Dan French | On the productivity illusion, and the importance of asking why | Episode #89

In this episode of The Only Constant, Lasse Rindom speaks with Dan French, Founder and CEO of Consider Solutions - a specialist consultancy and technology integrator serving some of the world's most recognised brands. With 25 years of experience advising on end-to-end business processes, operating models and finance transformation, Dan brings a sharp, no-nonsense perspective on what technology actually delivers - and what it doesn't.
Main topics they discuss include:
Why decades of technology investment have yielded surprisingly little improvement in economic productivity - and why silo efficiencies rarely make it onto the P&L
The data quality blind spot holding back both classical and AI-driven technologies in finance
How LLMs are making knowledge work more intense rather than less - and the real danger of abdicating critical thinking to AI
Why asking "why" before reaching for any technology remains the most powerful move a CFO or finance function can make
If you work in finance, technology, or anywhere near the intersection of the two, Dan French will challenge some of your assumptions - and sharpen the ones worth keeping.
Do you want to know more about Dan French?
Dan French is CEO at Consider Solutions, supporting global businesses with strategies, operating models and data insights to align, optimise and transform “end-to-end” business processes and create the maximum value from digitization.
The core focus is delivering measurable business results in P&L, Working Capital, Balance Sheet and Risk Management impact, with a significant focus on Revenue (Customer to Cash), Spend (Demand/Source to Pay) and Financial Accounting (Record to Report) business cycles.
With a background of 25 years in strategy, operations, general management, business processes, technology, performance improvement, risk management & compliance, Dan French also enjoys skiing, playing blues guitar and red wine though, for safety reasons, not all at the same time. www.consider.biz

Gry Hasselbalch | On human power and machine logic, and the sovereignty of thought | Episode #88

In this episode of The Only Constant, Lasse Rindom speaks with Gry Hasselbalch - AI ethics researcher, digital rights advocate, and author of Human Power: Seven Traits for the Politics of the AI Machine Age. 
Gry has spent over two decades shaping the European conversation on digitalization, data ethics, and the politics of AI, including contributing to the EU's high-level expert group on AI and co-signing the Cannes Declaration on the sovereignty of human thought. In this wide-ranging conversation, she and Lasse explore what it really means to be human in an age that keeps trying to optimize it away.
Main topics they discuss include:
The age-old tension between mechanistic order and human complexity - and why the AI machine age is one of history's most aggressive bids to tip the balance
Henri Bergson's distinction between intellect and intuition, and why AI captures one brilliantly while remaining fundamentally incapable of the other
The homogenization of language and culture - how AI is colonizing human expression before we've even noticed what we've lost
The Cannes Declaration on the sovereignty of human thought, and what it means to legally protect the mind from algorithmic manipulation
EU regulation, digital sovereignty, and the geopolitical asymmetry that threatens to dismantle the very frameworks built to protect fundamental rights
If you've ever felt that something quietly important is slipping away in how we think, write, and relate to each other - this conversation is for you.
 
Do you want to know more about Gry Hasselbalch
Gry Hasselbalch is a Danish author and scholar specialising in the politics and power dynamics of technology, with a focus on data, AI ethics, and the historical forces shaping technological development. Her work bridges policy, academia, and public engagement, and she is widely recognised for promoting a humanistic approach to technology.Through two decades, she has contributed to EU and global discussions on digitalisation, AI and data. She was a member of the EU's High-Level Expert Group on AI (2018-2020) which developed the EU's AI ethics guidelines that were transferred into the EU's momentous AI Act.Gry Hasselbalch holds a PhD in data/AI ethics and power and is the author of several critically acclaimed books including Human Power – Seven Traits for the Politics of the AI Machine Age (2025), Data Ethics of Power (2021), and Data Ethics – The New Competitive Advantage (2016).She has advised governments and international organisations, spoken at leading global events, and moderated high-level conferences for the European Commission and others. Her expertise is has been sought by major media, including CNN International, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, Euronews, and Wired.

Mikkel Flyverbom | On the politics of the digital domain, and the challenge of aligning AI with society and business | Episode #87

In this episode of The Only Constant, Lasse Rindom speaks with Mikkel Flyverbom, Professor of Communication and Digital Transformations, about why technology is never neutral and why the real challenge is not what technology is but what it does to us. Together, they explore how digital tools become infrastructure, how power and ideology get embedded in platforms, and why Europe now faces a defining moment for digital sovereignty.
Main topics they discuss include:
Why digital transformation is about alignment and misalignment rather than success or failure  
How AI, platforms, and social media both democratize access and create new gatekeepers  
Why digital infrastructure should be governed like roads, electricity, and public institutions  
What it takes to balance individual responsibility with political action, regulation, and European alternatives
 
Do you want to know more about Mikkel Flyverbom?
Mikkel Flyverbom is Professor of Communication and Digital Transformations at the Department of Management, Society and Communication,and the founding academic director of the BSc in Business Administration and Digital Management program, both at Copenhagen Business School.His research on digital transformations, data, tech governance and tech companies has been published in leading international journals, such as Business & Society, The Information Society, Telecommunications Policy, Organization Studies, Management Communication Quarterly, Organization, as well as a number of books. His most recent book, titled ‘The Digital Prism: Transparency and Managed Visibilities in a Datafied World’ has been published by Cambridge University Press. His research is cited widely, placing him among the top 2% of scholars worldwide according to the most recent Ioannidis/Stanford list.
Mikkel Flyverbom has been a visiting professor at Stanford University, University of California, Santa Barbara, LUISS University and Rutgers University. He is a member of the Danish government’s Data Ethics Council and Expert Group, Digital Task Foce for AI and former chairman of the Expert Group on Tech Giants, and a widely used media expert on digital transformations and the tech industry.

Walter Quattrociocchi | On Fluency and Judgment in AI, and the Fragility of Human Trust | Episode #86

In this episode, Lasse Rindom speaks with Walter Quattrociocchi, complexity scientist and professor of computer science, about what really happens when language becomes automated and answers arrive without the effort of thinking.
Their conversation circles around:
Why large language models simulate judgment rather than possess it, and why benchmarks miss the point
The concept of "Epistemia" - when fluent wording replaces verification and we feel we know without having evaluated
How AI increases content production while quietly eroding trust in content itself
Reliability, error, and the danger of delegating decisions to systems that cannot recognise their own mistakes
Whether expertise becomes rarer - and more valuable - in a world full of convincing but ungrounded answers
It is less a debate about machines becoming intelligent, and more a question of what happens to human judgment when fluency becomes cheap and cognitive labour optional.
Do you want to know more about Walter Quattrociocchi?
Walter Quattrociocchi is Full Professor at Sapienza University of Rome, leading the Center of Data Science and Complexity for Society (CDCS). His research interests encompass data science, network science, cognitive science, and data-driven modeling of dynamic processes in complex networks. Professor Quattrociocchi has an extensive publication record in peer-reviewed conferences and journals, including Nature and PNAS. His research on misinformation spreading has informed the Global Risk Report 2016 and 2017 of the World Economic Forum. International media have extensively covered his work, including Scientific American, New Scientist, The Economist, The Guardian, New York Times, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Fortune, Poynter, and The Atlantic.
 
In 2017, Professor Quattrociocchi coordinated the round table on Fake News and the role of Universities and Research in countering fake news, chaired by the President of Italy's Chamber of Deputies, Mrs. Laura Boldrini. In 2018, he served as the scientific advisor to the Italian Communication Authority (AGCOM), and in 2020, he was a member of the Task Force to Counter Hate Speech, appointed by the Minister of Innovation. He has recently been one of the Principal Investigators of the IRIS research coalition (UK/G7) focused on combating misinformation about vaccine hesitancy and climate change.
 
In 2023, the US State Department appointed him to the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) on the topic of Data-Driven Policies.
Professor Quattrociocchi is regularly invited to deliver keynote speeches and guest lectures at major academic institutions and other organizations.

Kathy Pham | On how Workday balances high stakes with rapid innovation, and the ambiguity of purpose | Episode #85

In this episode, Lasse Rindom speaks with Kathy Pham, global AI leader at Workday and long-time voice in responsible technology. The conversation moves straight past surface-level “AI is cool” talk and into agency, purpose, governance, and what actually happens when autonomous systems meet real work and real people. 
4 sharp conversation topics from the episode
Agency vs purpose - how giving tools more autonomy can quietly remove meaning from the very tasks we thought we were optimizing
The balance between technology fading into the background and moments where its presence must be explicit.
How governance can be an accelerator, and why good rules and architecture do not slow innovation but actually make teams move faster without creating tech and social debt
The tension between flexible, composable systems and the need for clear structures so AI can navigate finance, HR, and planning without going off the rails
This episode is less about “what AI can do” and more about what we should let it do, and what happens to human purpose when efficiency becomes the default answer.
 
Do you want to know more about Kathy Pham?
Kathy Pham is vice president of artificial intelligence at Workday. She also serves as the first Workday AI ambassador, and hosts the AI Horizons video series.
A computer scientist and product leader, Kathy has experience across industry, academia, non-profits, venture capital, and government. In addition to her role at Workday, Kathy’s a senior advisor at Mozilla, where she co-founded the Mozilla Builders Incubator and Mozilla Responsible Computing, funding and enabling start-up founders and academics. And she’s on the faculty at Harvard University, where she created and teaches the Product Management and Society course and co-founded the Ethical Tech Working Group. She also serves on various technology and non-profit boards.
Previously, Kathy served as the inaugural executive director of the National AI Advisory Committee, was deputy chief technologist at the Federal Trade Commission, and was a founding engineering and product member of the U.S. Digital Service at the White House, where she helped build critical digital services in government across three presidential administrations. In addition, Kathy spent over a decade building large scale systems in industry and healthcare at Google (search, health, people operations), IBM, and Harris Healthcare. She also previously served as a fellow at the MIT Media Lab and at the Harvard Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Initiative, where she co-founded ai-in-the-loop, exploring how AI fits into the human world.
Kathy completed her undergraduate and graduate studies in computer science at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and Supelec in Metz, France.