Signal vs Noise: Communicating in a World of AI-Generated Content

We’re living in a moment where it’s not just technology that’s changing—it’s how information itself is created, shared, and understood.

As AI accelerates the scale and speed of content, a deeper question is emerging:
How do we decide what to trust?

In this episode of Wired for Change, Amy Yee speaks with Hannah Yakobi, Vice President of Communications at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, about how the information landscape is evolving—and what that means for communications, leadership, and public trust.

They explore:

• Why trust is becoming more fragile in a high-volume information environment
• The trade-off between speed and credibility
• How AI-generated content is reshaping communications and storytelling
• The importance of human judgment, oversight, and accountability
• What responsible use of AI looks like in practice

From journalism to organizational communications, this conversation looks at what it takes to navigate a world where content is abundant—but trust is not.

Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction: A New Information Landscape
01:00 – AI Adoption and the Acceleration of Change
03:00 – Trust Is Changing—but Still Central
06:00 – Journalism, Credibility, and Organizational Trust
10:00 – AI-Generated Content: What’s Real?
14:00 – Competing for Attention in a High-Volume World
18:00 – How Media Has Evolved (and What’s Different Now)
22:00 – Misinformation, Reputation, and Accountability
26:00 – Speed vs Credibility: A Core Trade-off
30:00 – Responsible Use of AI in Communications
35:00 – Human Judgment in an AI-Driven World
42:00 – AI in Practice: Crisis Communication Example
49:00 – Teaching the Next Generation to Navigate Information
55:00 – Final Reflections: Trust, Responsibility, and What’s Next

What happens when the real risk to your organization isn’t that data gets stolen… but that it gets quietly changed?

In this onsite episode from AtlSecCon 2026 (Atlantic Security Conference) in Halifax, Amy Yee sits down with Wendy Nather, Senior Director of Research at 1Password, former CISO, and a long-time cybersecurity leader with experience spanning financial services, government, and industry research.

Following her keynote on Dangerous Data, Wendy shares emerging patterns that challenge how we think about cybersecurity in the age of AI — including the growing importance of data integrity, the risks of AI-generated meaning, and why our instinct to treat AI like it’s human can lead us in the wrong direction.

As organizations move quickly to adopt AI, this conversation explores what’s actually changing, what isn’t, and why the fundamentals — from identity to access to understanding what you have — still matter more than ever.

It’s a thoughtful look at how trust is evolving, and what leaders need to pay attention to as the line between data and meaning continues to blur.

🎧 Chapters

00:00 Introduction & AtlSecCon context
01:00 Dangerous Data — keynote overview
02:00 What’s changing (and not) with AI
03:20 Toxic anthropomorphism explained
05:00 Why we instinctively trust AI
06:30 When AI gets it wrong (and why)
08:00 Integrity attacks vs traditional cyber threats
09:30 The challenge of proving a negative (breaches & claims)
11:00 Trusting data inside organizations
12:30 The cognitive load of AI
14:00 Weaponization of semantics
15:30 What actually works in cybersecurity?
17:00 AI adoption — where to be cautious
18:30 Mindsets for navigating uncertainty
19:45 Closing reflections

What does it actually take to build in Canada’s evolving defence landscape?

In this episode of Wired for Change, Amy Yee sits down with Chris Bartlett, President of CCX Technologies, for a grounded conversation on what it looks like to operate and grow inside one of the most complex and high-stakes environments — where aviation, cybersecurity, and national defence intersect.

From the realities of defence procurement for Canadian small and mid-sized companies, to the shift toward sovereign capability and ecosystem-based delivery models, Chris shares an insider perspective on what’s changing — and where opportunity is emerging.

The conversation also explores how modern aircraft have evolved into highly digital, interconnected systems, and what that means for risk, resilience, and security. Along the way, we unpack common misconceptions about cybersecurity in aviation, and where the real vulnerabilities tend to exist.

This episode is less about theory — and more about what it actually takes to build, adapt, and deliver inside complex systems that can’t afford to fail.

In this episode:

• Building inside Canada’s defence ecosystem as an SME
• The realities of defence procurement — and where gaps still exist
• Canada’s evolving Defence Industrial Strategy and sovereign capability
• Why partnerships and ecosystem models are becoming essential
• The evolution of aircraft into “flying computers”
• Cyber risk in aviation: separating Hollywood from reality
• The role of supply chain and maintenance environments in security
• Designing systems for resilience in mission-critical environments

About the Guest:

Chris Bartlett is the President of CCX Technologies, a Canadian company working at the intersection of avionics, cybersecurity, and defence. With deep expertise in aircraft systems and secure communications, CCX supports mission-critical environments where reliability, resilience, and trust are non-negotiable.

Chapters

00:00 – Intro: Building in complex systems
02:00 – Chris Bartlett’s journey into aerospace and defence
05:30 – What CCX Technologies does and where it fits
09:00 – Canada’s changing defence landscape
13:30 – Sovereign capability and opportunity for SMEs
18:00 – Procurement realities vs intent
22:00 – Innovation and partnerships in defence
26:00 – From aircraft to “flying computers”
30:00 – Cyber risk: Hollywood vs reality
34:00 – Safety, regulation, and speed of technology
37:00 – Designing resilient systems
40:00 – Lessons for other industries and closing reflections

What if the real work of leadership doesn’t happen in the meeting room?

In this episode of Wired for Change, Amy Yee is joined by Sergio Marchi — former Canadian Minister of International Trade and Ambassador to the World Trade Organization — for a conversation about how trust is actually built in complex systems.

Drawing on his experience in global diplomacy, trade missions, and international negotiation, Sergio shares how relationships, proximity, and informal interaction often shape outcomes in ways formal structures cannot.

From Team Canada trade missions to behind-the-scenes dynamics in Geneva — and even recurring soccer games with fellow diplomats — this episode explores how meaningful progress is often driven outside of official settings.

But this isn’t just a conversation about diplomacy.

It’s about leadership.

Across sectors — from boardrooms and public service to startups and global institutions — the ability to convene, listen, and build trust may be one of the most important (and overlooked) leadership capabilities today.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why informal interactions often shape outcomes more than formal meetings
• How trust is built — and why it’s easily lost — in high-stakes environments
• The hidden dynamics behind global trade and diplomacy
• What leaders need to understand about timing, convening, and influence
• When bringing people together creates value — and when it creates risk
• Why listening may be the most underrated leadership skill

If you’re leading in complexity — across teams, organizations, or systems — this conversation offers a powerful lens on how change actually begins.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction & Sergio Marchi Returns
02:00 Inspiring the Next Generation in Public Life
04:00 The Case for Team Canada Trade Missions
09:00 A Chance Meeting That Became a Strategic Relationship
12:00 What Trade Missions Signal to the World
16:00 Trust as the Foundation of Diplomacy
19:00 Informal Connection as a Catalyst for Trust
23:00 Inclusion, Exclusivity, and Effective Groups
27:00 How Informal Conversations Drive Outcomes
31:00 Leadership, Volunteers, and Investing in People
37:00 Inside the WTO: Formal vs Informal Power
43:00 Reading the Room: Timing and Tension
49:00 Why Convening Matters More Than Ever
52:00 What Makes a Gathering Effective
55:00 When Not to Convene
57:00 Relationships vs Institutions
01:00:00 The Power of Listening

In this episode of Wired for Change, Amy Yee sits down with Kelly Bradshaw, a retired RCMP officer whose nearly three-decade career spans front-line policing, public-order deployments, UN peacekeeping missions, and investigations into financial and cybercrime.

Kelly reflects on what it takes to build and sustain a career in public safety — from responding alone to calls early in her career, to operating in high-pressure public-order environments, to leading Canadian police officers deployed to Mali with the United Nations.

Along the way, she shares leadership lessons from the field, insights into the human side of policing, and perspectives on how technology and cyber-enabled crime are reshaping the future of law enforcement.

This conversation explores the resilience required for a career in public service, the importance of trust and communication in difficult situations, and the evolving challenges facing modern policing.

In this episode, we discuss:

• What it’s really like starting a career in the RCMP
• Lessons from public-order policing and crisis environments
• Leading Canadian police officers on a UN peacekeeping mission in Mali
• Building trust with communities and vulnerable populations
• Women in leadership roles in policing and security
• The evolution of financial crime and cybercrime investigations
• How technology and data are shaping the future of public safety

Chapters

00:00 – Introduction
01:12 – What Drew Kelly to the RCMP
04:40 – Early Surprises in Policing
06:05 – The First Traffic Stop
08:45 – Establishing Credibility
10:50 – Misconceptions About Police Work
13:15 – Emotional Impact and Compartmentalization
16:05 – Authenticity and Leadership
20:20 – Entering Public-Order Policing
23:20 – Riot Control Training and Gas Masks
25:35 – The Summit of the Americas
27:10 – Team Culture in High-Pressure Situations
29:40 – Leadership in Crisis
31:25 – Transition to International Work
34:05 – Leading the Canadian Police Contingent in Mali
37:50 – Multinational Peacekeeping
41:25 – Gender Dynamics in Security Roles
43:05 – A Story from the Front Lines
45:10 – Improving Public Safety Systems
47:35 – Technology, Data, and Partnerships
50:25 – Financial Crime and Following the Money
54:20 – The Expanding World of Cybercrime
57:40 – Avoiding Fraud and Scams
59:30 – Situational Awareness and Instincts
1:02:05 – Women in Defence and Security
1:05:20 – Advice for Women Entering Public Safety
1:08:05 – Leadership Lessons
1:10:20 – Closing Reflections

What does transformation look like inside one of the largest technology ecosystems in the world?

For decades, Cisco has operated one of the most influential partner ecosystems in technology — a global network of resellers, integrators, and service providers that helped scale networking infrastructure across industries and geographies.

But over time, even successful systems accumulate complexity.

In this episode of Wired for Change, host Amy Yee speaks with Elisabeth De Dobbeleer, Senior Vice President of the Cisco Partner Program, about what it takes to reinvent a decades-old ecosystem while preserving the trust and relationships that made it successful in the first place.

Elisabeth shares how Cisco approached the redesign of its partner program — from defining a transformation “North Star” to co-designing new structures with partners and managing the human realities of large-scale change.

The conversation explores the shift from product transactions to lifecycle value, the role of managed services and customer outcomes, and the leadership mindset required to guide transformation across complex systems.

Whether you lead a technology ecosystem, a digital transformation initiative, or a large organization navigating change, this episode offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at transformation at global scale.

In this episode we discuss:

• Why mature ecosystems eventually require redesign rather than optimization

• How Cisco defined the “North Star” for partner ecosystem transformation

• The role of co-design and feedback in large-scale change initiatives

• Managing resistance and identity shifts during transformation

• Lessons for leaders navigating complexity in large organizations

Chapters

00:00 Introduction – Transformation at ecosystem scale
01:05 Cisco’s global partner ecosystem
03:00 Why the partner program needed to change
05:00 Optimization vs redesign in mature systems
06:30 Designing the transformation “North Star”
09:00 Building the transformation team
12:00 Sustaining momentum during long transformations
15:30 Leading change as a transformation leader
17:30 The three major shifts behind Cisco 360
20:00 Co-designing the partner ecosystem with partners
22:30 Releasing early versions and gathering feedback
25:00 Measuring partner sentiment during transformation
27:30 The human side of change and resistance
30:00 Identity, roles, and fear in transformation
32:00 Leading change when not everyone agrees
34:00 Designing for agility and future evolution
37:00 Maintaining internal alignment at scale
40:00 Marking milestones and sustaining momentum
42:30 Launching the new partner program
43:30 Closing reflections on transformation leadership

Modern organizations are more complex than ever.

Hybrid environments. Multi-cloud expansion. Legacy systems. Third-party dependencies. AI-accelerated threats.

And yet — executive dashboards and board-ready reports can suggest everything is under control.

In this episode of Wired for Change, Amy Yee sits down with Nicole Severin of Tanium to explore the growing gap between perceived visibility and operational reality in cybersecurity.

This isn’t about tools being wrong.
It’s about how fragmented ownership, point-in-time reporting, and siloed teams can create confidence that doesn’t always reflect the full picture.

Together, they discuss:

• The visibility gap in modern cyber environments

• Why unknown and unmanaged assets create disproportionate risk

• The “ping-pong effect” between security and IT

• The cost of doing nothing

• How AI is accelerating both attackers and defenders

• Why transparency is becoming a leadership strength

• What aligned, real-time operations actually look like

At its core, this conversation is about leadership maturity.

Cyber resilience isn’t just about detection and response.
It’s about shared truth.
It’s about making it safe to surface blind spots.
It’s about replacing noise with clarity.

Because you can’t protect what you can't see.

Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction: The Pressure to Project Control
01:10 – Complexity in Modern Cyber Environments
03:20 – The Visibility Gap and Unknown Assets
05:45 – Executive Reporting vs. Operational Reality
08:10 – AI and the Acceleration of Risk
11:10 – Breaking Silos: Cyber as a Team Sport
13:40 – The “Ping-Pong” Effect Between Security and IT
17:10 – The Cost of Doing Nothing
20:30 – Transparency, Blind Spots, and Cultural Shift
23:45 – Leadership Under Pressure
26:30 – Replacing Noise with Truth
29:45 – What Alignment Looks Like in Practice
33:00 – From Scheduled to Continuous Operations
36:30 – The Asset Count Exercise
39:45 – Why Asset Visibility Is Harder Than It Sounds
42:15 – Growing Into Cyber Leadership
44:45 – Diversity, Empathy, and Better Outcomes
48:00 – Continuous Learning and Mentorship
51:30 – Building Psychological Safety in Teams
55:00 – One Message for Leaders

In this episode of Wired for Change, Amy Yee sits down with Lieutenant Colonel Gary McQueen, NATO Section Head with Canadian Armed Forces Cyber Command, to explore how Canada participates in multinational cyber defence exercises such as Locked Shields and Cyber Coalition.

While many people picture military cooperation as ships at sea or aircraft flying in formation, today some of the most consequential coordination happens in the cyber domain — under intense time pressure and across more than 40 nations.

These large-scale exercises simulate complex cyber incidents affecting air defence systems, power grids, hospital networks, and other critical infrastructure. But beyond the technical scenarios, they test something equally important: trust, interoperability, legal coordination, strategic decision-making, and alliance resilience.

Together, Amy and Gary discuss:

• What NATO cyber defence exercises actually look like in practice
• How technical, legal, communications, and strategic teams work together
• Why decision-making under pressure matters in cyber operations
• How Canada builds capability through participation with allies
• What “collective defence” means in a digitally interconnected world

As cyber becomes a core domain of modern defence, preparation depends not only on technology — but on relationships, coordination, and shared learning across allied nations.

Chapters

00:00 – Introduction
02:05 – Canadian Armed Forces Cyber Command
06:40 – Locked Shields & Cyber Coalition
13:10 – Simulating Real-World Cyber Incidents
19:40 – Decision-Making Under Pressure
26:15 – Legal, Strategic & Communications Roles
32:30 – Interoperability Across Nations
39:00 – Canada’s Capability Development
45:00 – The Future of Collective Defence