In this new series, host Albert Lawrence will be joined by AI experts – technologists and business leaders alike to explore what generative AI can and can’t do, how it actually gets built, responsible ways to put it into practice, and the real world business problems and solutions we’ll encounter along the way.

Introducing AI in Action Podcast

The rise of agentic AI is significantly expanding and widening the attack surface for cybersecurity threats. As AI systems become more capable of autonomous decision-making and action, they simultaneously introduce newer vulnerabilities across workflows, data pipelines and third-party integrations. In this episode, Wendi Whitmore, Senior Vice President of Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks, shares her views on how agentic AI is redefining the cybersecurity game for both sides: attackers and defenders. Attackers have already started leveraging agentic AI to make the cyberattack process faster and more efficient. Now, the onus is on cyber defenders to quickly harness agentic AI and build security controls that not just match but outpower the speed, sophistication and scale of new age, AI-driven cyberthreats.&nbsp;The opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the views of IBM or any other organization or entity.&nbsp;

Wendi Whitmore serves as senior vice president for Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks. She is a globally recognized cybersecurity leader, with two decades of experience building incident response and threat intelligence teams that have helped solve some of the world’s largest breaches.  She is the chair of the industry advisory board for the Duke University Master of Engineering in Cybersecurity (MECS) and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Cybersecurity. Wendi was previously an inaugural member of the Cyber Safety Review Board launched by the United States Department of Homeland Security.  She began her career as a Special Agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. She previously held executive level positions at IBM, CrowdStrike and Mandiant. 

Wendi Whitmore

Senior Vice President of Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks

Agentic AI has introduced new security concerns for organizations. Wendi Whitmore, a globally respected cybersecurity leader, digs deep into this subject during her conversation with David Levy.

Agentic AI: The emerging challenge in cybersecurity

Jim "Bones" Mackay has caddied for the best golfers in the world. In his time caddying at the Augusta National tournament, he has seen and overseen thousands of winning shots across the famed Masters course. He has provided some of his firsthand insights, alongside the data collected from 180,000 historical shots over nine years of play, to help the tournament field an AI-driven app. Thanks to the app, fans worldwide can virtually stand on the green alongside the greats and gain insights into the tournament—shot by shot. In this episode, MacKay joins IBM’s Monica Ellingson to share his perspective on the story unfolding at the Masters. Together, they discuss how data-driven analysis and AI-based predictions transform the way players, caddies and fans approach the game.&nbsp;The opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the views of IBM or any other organization or entity.&nbsp;

Monica Ellingson is a Partner with IBM Consulting where she leads the Sports and Entertainment Practice. She leads the Emmy Award-winning team responsible for the design and technical delivery of the digital portfolios for some of the world’s most preeminent brands, including the Masters Golf Tournament, Wimbledon, US Open Tennis Tournament, ESPN Fantasy Football and the Grammy Awards. Each year, these digital experiences are visited by over 90 million users with billions of page views. In her 10+ years in live sports and 20 years in digital media design, she’s successfully produced hundreds of digital experiences for users worldwide. Monica’s leadership experience spans numerous roles over her 25-year career at IBM. She has acted as both User Experience Director and Team Manager and founded and managed a Technical Service Grants Practice in support of IBM’s Corporate Citizenship organization. In 2023, Sports Business Journal recognized Monica’s achievements with their Game Changers Award.

Monica Ellingson

IBM Consulting Partner and Practice Lead of IBM ix Sports and Entertainment

Jim “Bones” Mackay joined NBC Sports in 2017 as an on-course reporter for the network’s PGA TOUR live tournament coverage. Mackay serves as an on-course reporter for select events, including the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. Mackay also serves as host of “Playing Lessons” on GolfPass, getting unique insights from some of the best golfers in the world.
The addition of Mackay marked the first occasion in which a full-time PGA TOUR caddie signed on for a regular tournament broadcasting role. However, Mackay’s decision to join NBC Sports wasn’t the first time he traded in a caddie bib for a microphone, as he took part in GOLF Channel’s live tournament coverage as an on-course reporter at the 2015 RSM Classic in St. Simons Island, Ga. 
Mackay caddied for five-time major champion Phil Mickelson during a 25-year stretch that ultimately would encompass a Hall of Fame career with 42 PGA TOUR wins, in addition to representing the United States on 22 consecutive occasions as a member of Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teams. Mackay also served as Justin Thomas’ caddie for the better part of three seasons, including Thomas’ come-from-behind victory at the 2022 PGA Championship.

Jim “Bones” Mackay

PGA caddie and NBC correspondent

IBM has elevated the experience of watching the Masters. Jim Mackay, a PGA caddie, sheds more light on this during his conversation with an IBM Consulting Partner, Monica Ellingson.

2025 Masters insights: Expert Jim “Bones” Mackay talks data and strategy

There’s a reason over 70% of Fortune 500 enterprises rely on mainframes to support their core operations. Despite being around since the 1950s, mainframes are not relics of the past, but rather a vital component of AI strategy and implementation. In this episode, Donna Dillenberger, IBM Fellow and CTO of Hybrid Cloud Systems Research, and Rosalind Radcliffe, IBM fellow and CTO for IBM CIO Platform Transformation, discuss how mainframes can be the nerve center that powers AI. They also talk about what it’s like to be a woman working in infrastructure and AI, and provide advice for women looking to break into the industry.&nbsp;The opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the views of IBM or any other organization or entity.&nbsp; &nbsp;

Rosalind Radcliffe is currently working in the IBM Z Ecosystem team to take her expertise working in the IBM CIO organization for data center transformation and hybrid cloud modernization to the broader community.  She is responsible for driving technical direction in support of our ISVs and GSI for their support of IBM Z and LinuxONE as well helping drive the growth of skills in the industry.  In her prior role she was the CTO for the IBM CIO Platform. Prior to that she brought DevOps to the mainframe environment, worked in the systems management area, user interface design, and various other roles.  She is an IBM Master Inventor, frequent conference speaker, and author including her latest book Enterprise Bug Busting. 

Rosalind Radcliffe

IBM Fellow and CTO for IBM CIO Platform Transformation

Donna Dillenberger is an IBM Fellow. She has worked on machine learning models for financial, insurance, retail, and healthcare industries. She has designed systems and cloud capabilities, providing scalability, security and availability for services for governments, industries and start ups.  She was an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, a Master Inventor and is currently the CTO of Hybrid Cloud Systems Research. She is currently working on AI, Security and Digital Assets.

Donna Dillenberger

IBM Fellow and CTO of Hybrid Cloud Systems Research

Donna Dillenberger, IBM Fellow and CTO of Hybrid Cloud Systems Research, and Rosalind Radcliffe, IBM Fellow and CTO for IBM CIO Platform Transformation, discuss how mainframes can be the nerve center that powers AI, as well as what it’s like to be a woman working in infrastructure and AI.

The women pioneering mainframes and AI

The women pioneering mainframes and AI with Donna Dillenberger and Rosalind Radcliffe

How is generative AI changing the world of marketing personalization? Gen AI is a major component in marketing automation today, and it’s important to learn how this form of AI can be used to personalize marketing content without creeping out consumers. In this episode, Emily McReynolds, head of global AI strategy at Adobe, and Pierre Charchaflian, VP senior partner and marketing practice global leader at IBM, talk about how gen AI is changing the game when it comes to personalized marketing content.

Pierre spent his 30-year career at the intersection of customer strategy, data, analytics, technology, and marketing transformation.  He helps companies define their customer engagement strategies and capabilities to capitalize on their growth opportunities.  In his current role at IBM, Pierre leads the Marketing Transformation Practice Globally.  Prior to IBM, Pierre spent 12 years as SVP at Epsilon, a leader in marketing digital enablement, where he led the retail and consumer goods segment..  Prior to that Pierre led client services at Merkle for the Retail and B-B Sectors.  Prior to that Pierre cofounded DiaLogos, a marketing and CRM consulting company.  He grew the firm to 110 consultants in 5 years. 
 
Pierre has intimately worked with over 50 leading brands, across many industries, in designing and building their customer engagement and marketing capabilities including: Walgreens, Domino’s, Apple, Charles Schwab, Dunkin’s, Dell, Microsoft, Marriott, Wells Fargo, Kellogg, Johnson and Johnson, Kraft, Sysco, Unilever. 


Pierre Charchaflian

VP Senior Partner & Marketing Practice Global Leader, IBM

Emily McReynolds is the Head of Global AI Strategy at Adobe. She has over 15 years of experience in machine learning & AI. Emily has a passion for translating complex technical concepts into understandable sound bites. She was the founding program director for University of Washington’s Tech Policy Lab, where she led projects on augmented reality, driverless cars, and Toys That Listen. She started coding in HTML and taught people to use computers back when we used floppy disks.

Emily McReynolds

Head of Global AI strategy, Adobe

Learn how gen AI is reinventing personalized marketing content with special guests Emily McReynolds, head of global AI strategy at Adobe, and Pierre Charchaflian, VP senior partner and marketing practice global leader at IBM.

Redefining marketing automation and personalization with generative AI

The Mayo Clinic used years of data from 600,000 patients to build an AI model that can detect and predict what doctors sometimes cannot. Dr. Guru Kowlgi, a cardiac electrophysiologist at the Clinic, joins us to discuss the complexity of data curation for AI modeling and how that curation is tied to trust.

Dr. Guru Kowlgi

Cardiac Electrophysiologist, Mayo Clinic

AI is changing healthcare and a model may soon be coming to an exam room near you. The Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Guru Kowlgi discusses the need for good data curation in training AI models for healthcare applications and how good data means good AI and better healthcare outcomes.  

How the Mayo Clinic's AI medicine app helps in stroke prevention

How AI and medicine intersect: Get to the heart with Dr. Guru Kowlgi

Grammy Award-Winning Artist NE-YO and Ed Ulbrich, Chief Content Officer of Metaphysic, talk about AI ethics and risks when using AI to create art and entertain. Is AI in art about scaling and amplifying creativity, or just laziness? Can we maintain the artist to person connection when using their likeness to perform? Either way, AI is being used in art like any other technological tool, and we need the guardrails to keep what’s good.

Ed Ulbrich is the Chief Content Officer & President of Production at Metaphysic, Inc., the industry leader in developing AI technologies and machine learning research that creates immersive photorealistic content across film, tv, music, advertising, live entertainment and more.  

Ed is also the former CEO of James Cameron’s Digital Domain, former global President of Method Studios, award winning producer, and pioneer in virtual human performances and advanced visual effects.  He has over twenty-five+ years in the visual effects (VFX) and film, TV, and advertising production industries and has led global teams of up to 2,000 employees spanning four countries and managed P&L operations with nine-figure budgets.

Ed has executive produced visual effects for some of the biggest blockbuster movies in history including Top Gun: Maverick, Aquaman, Avengers: Infinity Wars, Black Panther, Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2, Suicide Squad, and many more; and executive produced the Academy Award©-winning visual effects for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, What Dreams May Come, and Titanic. 

Ed produced the epic sci-fi film Ender’s Game (Lionsgate - 2013) starring Harrison Ford, Sir Ben Kingsley, and Viola Davis and spearheaded the groundbreaking Tupac Shakur "Hologram" with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg.  He has created visual effects in music videos for The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Eminem, Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, and many more; and over 500 commercials.


Ed Ulbrich

Chief Content Officer & President of Production at Metaphysic, Inc.

NE-YO is a three-time GRAMMY® Award-winning R&B hitmaker, iconic songwriter, actor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist whose illustrious catalog has generated a combined total of 23 billion streams worldwide.

His debut single, 2005’s “So Sick,” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified quadruple-platinum. Since then, the Motown Records/Compound Entertainment recording artist has racked up a collection of global hits including “Sexy Love,” “Closer,” “Because of You,” “Miss Independent,” and “Push Back” [feat. Bebe Rexha and Stefflon Don].” 

Additionally, NE-YO has proven to be as powerful with his pen as he is in the recording studio and on stage, penning bangers like Rihanna’s “Unfaithful,” “Russian Roulette,” and “Take a Bow,” along with Beyoncé’s 2006 breakup anthem “Irreplaceable” and songs for such artists as Jennifer Hudson, Usher, Carrie Underwood, Celine Dion and Mario among others. 

The multihyphenate has also leveraged his platform as a musician to pivot into acting. His film and television credits include NBC’s World of Dance, Netflix’s Dance Monsters, Empire, Stomp the Yard, Save the Last Dance, Battle: Los Angeles, George Lucas' Red Tails, The Wiz Live!, Starz’ Step Up: High Water, Hip Hop Family Christmas Wedding and The Sound of Christmas. He starred in the latest season of 50 Cent’s acclaimed drama series BMF on STARZ.

NE-YO

Grammy Award-Winning Artist

NE-YO talks about AI ethics and risks when using AI to create art. Can we use AI for scaling art, and what guardrails do we need? 

AI Realism with NE-YO and Ed Ulbrich: How AI affects artists, from IP to CGI

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AI in Action explores what it takes to put artificial intelligence into action across a rapidly evolving business and tech landscape. Each episode focuses on responsible AI implementation and real-world business challenges, examined through a practical use case lens.

Introducing AI in Action Podcast

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