Episodes

  • Theoretical Computer Scientist: AI Just Changed Math Forever, with Scott Aaronson

    Theoretical Computer Scientist: AI Just Changed Math Forever, with Scott Aaronson
    Oct 12 2026
    What’s left for humans to do once AI is better at solving problems than we are? Today, we’re talking to Scott Aaronson, a theoretical computer scientist at UT Austin who has spent his career on quantum computing theory. We explore how AI is changing the way we do math and teach students, what it takes to keep increasingly capable systems aligned with human goals, and why one of computer science’s most famous puzzles, P versus NP, matters to everyday programmers.
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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • Reliability Without the Guesswork: Foresight AI with Kolton Andrus, CEO of Gremlin

    Reliability Without the Guesswork: Foresight AI with Kolton Andrus, CEO of Gremlin
    Oct 8 2026
    The best reliability work is the kind nobody notices, and that's exactly why it deserves more credit. Today, we're talking to Kolton Andrus, founder and CEO of Gremlin. We discuss why the engineers who prevent fires deserve as much recognition as the ones who fight them, how testing failure on purpose turned a dreaded holiday on-call into a quiet one, and why teams that pair AI speed with real-world testing can build software that holds up. All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast! Want to know more about Gremlin? Check their Website https://www.gremlin.com/
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    58 mins
  • Scaling AI Efficiency at LinkedIn with Erran Berger, CTO of Engineering

    Scaling AI Efficiency at LinkedIn with Erran Berger, CTO of Engineering
    Oct 5 2026
    Most companies at scale can't tell you what a single feature actually costs to run, but Erran Berger, CTO of Engineering at LinkedIn, can. We discuss why that blind spot is more common than you'd think, why treating AI transformation as bad for employees is a false premise, and how LinkedIn reorganized its teams into small, cross-functional pods now that AI lets one person do the work of several.
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    54 mins
  • Tech Titans: Agents Built Around People with Mohak Shroff, former SVP of Engineering at LinkedIn

    Tech Titans: Agents Built Around People with Mohak Shroff, former SVP of Engineering at LinkedIn
    Oct 1 2026
    Today, we're talking to Mohak Shroff, former SVP of Engineering at LinkedIn. We discuss why the smartest use of AI agents is giving professionals more agency rather than replacing them, how delegating to an agent should look a lot like onboarding a new hire, and what it takes to build the thing that was impossible before instead of making the familiar 20% better. All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast!
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    19 mins
  • Tech Titans: How Can a Chatbot Steal a Model's Secrets? with Steve Orrin, Federal CTO at Intel

    Tech Titans: How Can a Chatbot Steal a Model's Secrets? with Steve Orrin, Federal CTO at Intel
    Sep 28 2026
    Everyone's arguing about whether AI will replace 90% of your job. Steve Orrin, federal CTO at Intel, says that's the wrong number to even be worried about. We discuss how a $25 million deepfake of a bank's own CFO exposed a whole new category of cyberattack, why sprinkling "AI pixie dust" on a problem doesn't actually solve anything, and why, thirty years into being a CTO, his best advice still comes down to surrounding yourself with people smarter than you. All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast!
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    18 mins
  • Why High-Achieving Engineers Still Feel Something's Missing with Ben Fox, Career Coach for Engineers

    Why High-Achieving Engineers Still Feel Something's Missing with Ben Fox, Career Coach for Engineers
    Sep 24 2026
    Today, we're talking to Ben Fox, founder of Ben Fox Coaching. We discuss why financial independence alone rarely convinces a burnt-out engineering leader to actually quit, how leaving a toxic job works the same way as leaving a toxic relationship, and why senior engineers reduced to babysitting language models are quietly heading for the exits. All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast!
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    51 mins
  • Tech Titans: Why Plans Fail and Strategy Doesn't with Seth Godin, Author of This Is Strategy

    Tech Titans: Why Plans Fail and Strategy Doesn't with Seth Godin, Author of This Is Strategy
    Sep 21 2026
    Today, we're talking to Seth Godin, author of This Is Strategy. We discuss why strategy is a philosophy of becoming rather than a plan to execute, how status, affiliation, and freedom from fear quietly drive almost every decision people make, and why one of Seth's biggest professional failures came down to having a good idea and then walking away from it. All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast!
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    18 mins
  • Tech Titans: Funding and Building the Safest Nuclear Reactor with Matt Loszak, Aalo Atomics

    Tech Titans: Funding and Building the Safest Nuclear Reactor with Matt Loszak, Aalo Atomics
    Sep 17 2026
    A barrel of uranium holds as much energy as two million barrels of oil, and Matt Loszak, co-founder of nuclear startup Allo, thinks that's just the beginning. In this episode, Joel talks with Matt about building factory-made nuclear reactors as safe as a university research reactor, why we're entering a "second atomic age," the team and funding behind Allo, and how small modular reactors could solve the massive power problem facing Microsoft, Google, and Amazon's data centers. All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast!
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    16 mins