The Iferia Techcast
00:01:48 · Ezekiel Iferia, Anne Cantera
[00:01:48] S0: Alright. Alright. So... And let's get things started here. You know, you you describe yourself as a truth teller in the AI space. You know? Now what made you decide to speak so openly about what's broken in AI and big tech? You know, was there a specific moment that pushed you to stop holding back? Mhmm. [00:02:09] S1: When I started getting really good at building agentic systems, I realized I was building things that certain companies will try and use to replace people. Mhmm. And I just didn't wanna be responsible for people losing their jobs, especially with the way it it... The... So what's happening now is companies like Meta lay off 8,000 people and say, oh, it's because of AI. And what's interesting about that is it's not because AI is replacing those people. It's that they don't want... They wanna take the salaries of those people and invest it in AI. And I think that's the thing that people miss. So these people aren't being laid off because AI took their jobs. They're being laid off because their leadership wants to free up the money from their salaries to invest in AI technologies. So I think that's very different, and we're already starting to see that things aren't going exactly the way that these big companies thought they would. So time will time will tell. [00:03:22] S0: Alright. Alright, Anne. Thank you for sharing that with us. So, you know, you've Mhmm. You you you... You've said, you know, you see the quiet parts of big tech out loud. So what's an example of a quiet part, you know, that most people don't know about but should?
00:03:22 · Ezekiel Iferia, Anne Cantera
[00:03:22] S0: Alright. Alright, Anne. Thank you for sharing that with us. So, you know, you've Mhmm. You you you... You've said, you know, you see the quiet parts of big tech out loud. So what's an example of a quiet part, you know, that most people don't know about but should? [00:03:38] S1: I think exactly what I just said is one of them. So you have to remember that the the... These the tech oligarchy owns the media. Mhmm. Right? That's why I did 13 podcasts this week because they might own the mainstream media, but they don't ever own every microphone. Right? So one of the reasons why I'm doing so many podcasts is because we need to talk about that. Because one of the things that they're doing is suppressing voices and trying to... Like, if you if you try and find a woman speaking about AI in the mainstream media, you'll find a celebrity. And they're hiding behind the celebrities because they don't want the real women in the space talking about this stuff because we don't want what they want. We want our kids to be safe. We want the environment to be safe. We want the technology to be ethic... Smart. We wanna... You know, I always say women like to build... Move thoughtfully and build things where they're... You know, move fast and break things. So we're polar opposites in the way we think about technology, and they want us quiet. And I won't be quiet. That's why I'm here.
00:03:38 · Anne Cantera, Ezekiel Iferia
[00:03:38] S1: I think exactly what I just said is one of them. So you have to remember that the the... These the tech oligarchy owns the media. Mhmm. Right? That's why I did 13 podcasts this week because they might own the mainstream media, but they don't ever own every microphone. Right? So one of the reasons why I'm doing so many podcasts is because we need to talk about that. Because one of the things that they're doing is suppressing voices and trying to... Like, if you if you try and find a woman speaking about AI in the mainstream media, you'll find a celebrity. And they're hiding behind the celebrities because they don't want the real women in the space talking about this stuff because we don't want what they want. We want our kids to be safe. We want the environment to be safe. We want the technology to be ethic... Smart. We wanna... You know, I always say women like to build... Move thoughtfully and build things where they're... You know, move fast and break things. So we're polar opposites in the way we think about technology, and they want us quiet. And I won't be quiet. That's why I'm here. [00:04:54] S0: Mhmm. So, no, there's so much hype around artificial intelligence right now. So, you know, can you tell us, you know, one misconception people have about what AI can and can't do and, you know, what's... What what what they are being sold that isn't really true?
00:04:54 · Ezekiel Iferia, Anne Cantera
[00:04:54] S0: Mhmm. So, no, there's so much hype around artificial intelligence right now. So, you know, can you tell us, you know, one misconception people have about what AI can and can't do and, you know, what's... What what what they are being sold that isn't really true? [00:05:15] S1: I think that whole AI took that person's job thing is not a reality yet. I think it could become a reality, but right now that is not what these layoffs are about. But again, because they own the media, that's the spin they're putting on it for I don't know what reason because a bunch of tech CEOs just backpedaled on that whole, oh, yeah. No. It... It's not gonna take people's jobs. That's what they said last week, right, after saying, oh, there's gonna be a devastating hit to human employees. So I don't I don't know the strategy. I don't understand their strategy. Maybe there isn't one, and they're just figuring it out as they go along. But I really do think this period of time will be a stain on the general leadership of tech, in the future because the the the rollout has been very messy in many different ways. But, you know, I think the biggest takeaway is these layoffs, they're... That are... They're blaming on AI have nuance. It's not because AI took the jobs. Right? It's because the human leadership fired those people to keep their... The the the money from that payroll to put it towards other things. That's the biggest misconception is that AI is... Took those jobs. That's not what happens.
00:05:15 · Anne Cantera, Ezekiel Iferia
[00:05:15] S1: I think that whole AI took that person's job thing is not a reality yet. I think it could become a reality, but right now that is not what these layoffs are about. But again, because they own the media, that's the spin they're putting on it for I don't know what reason because a bunch of tech CEOs just backpedaled on that whole, oh, yeah. No. It... It's not gonna take people's jobs. That's what they said last week, right, after saying, oh, there's gonna be a devastating hit to human employees. So I don't I don't know the strategy. I don't understand their strategy. Maybe there isn't one, and they're just figuring it out as they go along. But I really do think this period of time will be a stain on the general leadership of tech, in the future because the the the rollout has been very messy in many different ways. But, you know, I think the biggest takeaway is these layoffs, they're... That are... They're blaming on AI have nuance. It's not because AI took the jobs. Right? It's because the human leadership fired those people to keep their... The the the money from that payroll to put it towards other things. That's the biggest misconception is that AI is... Took those jobs. That's not what happens. [00:06:43] S0: Ah. Ah. Interesting. So... And you're saying that AI actually hasn't taken any job yet. It's just the leadership, you know, restrategizing and, you know, laying off people to, you know, use the budget for other things?
00:06:43 · Ezekiel Iferia, Anne Cantera
[00:06:43] S0: Ah. Ah. Interesting. So... And you're saying that AI actually hasn't taken any job yet. It's just the leadership, you know, restrategizing and, you know, laying off people to, you know, use the budget for other things? [00:06:58] S1: Exactly. And I do think that those those AI layoffs will come. Right. Yeah. I built adjusting systems that could do work of an intern. Right? So... And we've already seen that junior position... It's... They're so shortsighted. Juniors are not getting hired, generally. So what happens when you're not training the workforce of the future and you're not putting resources in your younger people? What's gonna happen? What what happens when when the resources you're using now are gone and you don't have any any... Anybody to take the place? Are they betting that AI will be so good that they won't need any humans? It's it's ludicrous, and it's shortsighted, but that's also very typical of corporate leadership. Nothing really matters the next quarter. So, you know, this is this is typical playbook, but also, hopefully, that playbook will start to fail so spectacularly that they will have to become a little more human centered in their approach. Because if nobody's working, who's gonna buy their products? Nobody's earning money and nobody's work [00:08:09] S0: Yeah. Right? You need to be employed to get the money to purchase a product.