The Only Constant

In this episode of The Only Constant, Lasse Rindom marks episode 100 with four returning guests: Dr. Lorien Pratt, AI pioneer and decision intelligence expert; David Pontoppidan, Head of Business AI for SAP across the Nordics & Baltics; Ewa Zborowska, Research Director at IDC and one of Europe’s leading AI analysts; and Jason Stanley, Head of Applied AI Research at ServiceNow. Together, they move beyond the hype around AGI, singularity and agents to ask what it really takes for AI to create value in the enterprise.

Main topics they discuss include:

Why a map can never fully represent the territory, and what that means for AI systems trying to model the real world

Why adoption, organisational readiness and clear outcomes matter more than the latest model release

How to build agentic systems with meaningful human agency, governance and accountability

Why AI should help organisations make better decisions rather than simply automate more workflows

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My four guests for this milestone episode are:

Dr. Lorien Pratt.
Lorien is a renowned computer scientist, Chief Scientist and co-owner of Quantellia, and co-founder of OpenDI. She is credited with pioneering transfer learning in machine learning and co-creating the field of decision intelligence.

Jason Stanley.
Jason is Head of Applied AI Research at ServiceNow. His work centres on trustworthy AI and governance, informed by a background spanning sociology, technology and public policy.

David Pontoppidan.
David is Head of Business AI for SAP in the Nordic and Baltic region. He helps large organisations turn enterprise data and AI into practical transformation and measurable business value.

Ewa Zborowska.
Ewa is Research Director for AI in Europe at IDC and leads its European AI Innovations and Strategies research. She has more than two decades of experience analysing IT services, cloud and AI, with particular interest in their organisational and societal effects.

In this episode of The Only Constant, Lasse Rindom speaks with Thomas Telving, philosopher, author and AI ethics commentator, whose work explores what it means to remain human in a world shaped by intelligent machines. Together, they examine the dreams, benefits, violence and dangers of AI - from better healthcare and automation to the subtle ways human relationships, judgement and social connection can be displaced by technology.

Main topics they discuss include:

Why the real dream of AI should be to value relational and human work more highly

How companion AI can blur the line between a useful tool and a meaningful relationship

Where AI can create genuine benefits in areas such as healthcare, research and practical work

Why power, bias, intellectual property and dependency on a few AI companies are societal risks

How to decide when using AI saves time and when human effort is itself part of the value

Listen to the episode to hear Thomas’ perspective on how we can embrace AI’s potential without automating away the human friction, care and connection that make life meaningful.

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Do you want to know more about Thomas Telving?:

Thomas Telving is a philosopher, author and technology analyst, as well as a prominent voice in the Danish debate on artificial intelligence. He advises companies and organisations on AI, ethics and digital transformation and regularly appears as an expert on television, in podcasts and in newspapers.

He has written numerous articles on technology and ethics and is the author of Killing Sophia (2022), Kære Mille – et brev om livet (2022), 10 ting du skal vide om filosofi og kunstig intelligens (2025) and Uautomatiserbar (2026). Since 2016, he has delivered more than 300 talks on artificial intelligence. Thomas holds an MA in philosophy and political science from the University of Southern Denmark and the University of Copenhagen.

In this episode of The Only Constant, Lasse Rindom speaks with Dr. Rachel Wood, a leading cyberpsychology researcher, licensed therapist and founder of the AI Mental Health Collective. They explore what happens when AI becomes a mirror that always accommodates us - and why human relationships, friction and otherness remain essential to our wellbeing, creativity and capacity for discernment.

Main topics they discuss include:

Why creating is about the human process, not just the output

How AI companions and chatbots can weaken self-trust and relational skills

The difference between concession and repair in human and AI relationships

Why organisations need to acknowledge ambivalence and grief in their AI adoption

Listen to the episode to hear Rachel’s perspective on how we can use AI without losing the friction, connection and humanity that make life meaningful.

Want to know more about Dr. Rachel Wood?:

Rachel Wood holds a PhD in cyberpsychology with expertise at the intersection of AI and mental health. She is passionately invested in shaping the future of connection, work, and identity, and thrives in her multifaceted roles as speaker, founder, advisor, and researcher. Dr. Wood's work has been featured in prominent publications including TIME, Business Insider, ABC, International Business Times, and CBS. She is on the American Psychological Association's AI advisory board inside the innovate APA Labs initiative. She is also an advisor to the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society, as well as several startups.

As the founder of the AI Mental Health Collective, Dr. Wood cultivates a cross-discipline community focused on collaboration among clinicians, builders, and researchers. Her insights are not just timely, but essential for understanding the complexities of human connection and professional identity in today's evolving AI-infused world.

In this episode of The Only Constant, Lasse Rindom speaks with Federico Casalegno, Executive Vice President of Design at Samsung Electronics, where he leads global design and innovation teams shaping human-centred experiences across products and services. Drawing on a career spanning design, technology and academia - including his previous work at MIT - Federico shares why AI should augment human purpose rather than replace it, and why the future of design is about creating meaningful relationships between people, technology and the world around them.

Main topics they discuss include:

Why computational design belongs within human-centred design

The difference between automation, optimisation and genuine human meaning

How designers can use friction to build trust, reflection and better agentic experiences

Why emotional intelligence and human imagination remain essential in the age of AI

Listen to the episode to hear Federico’s perspective on designing technology with purpose.

 

What to know more about Federico?:

Federico Casalegno is EVP of Design at Samsung, where he leads global design studios spanning three continents, including a significant footprint in Korea. Before moving into industry full-time, he spent two decades on the MIT faculty teaching and leading advanced innovation research.

His work today sits at the intersection of computational design and artificial intelligence, exploring what he calls "co-living with AI," the question of what AI changes about how we create, work, and live, and what design contributes to making that future feel human. Federico brings a reflective, humanistic lens to conversations about technology and creativity.

In this episode of The Only Constant, Lasse Rindom speaks with Damian K. Kowalczyk, a PhD and Principal ML Architect at Microsoft, and Emilie Lundblad, a Microsoft MVP and AI, data and security expert. They discuss the rapidly changing AI landscape, from China’s advances and open-weight models to the importance of context, evaluation and trust.

Main topics they discuss include:

Why China’s AI ecosystem continues to surprise the West

The economics and complexity of open-weight models

Why context, prompts and evaluation matter more than model size

Whether SaaS and low-code platforms are becoming obsolete

Europe’s role in the global AI race

Listen to the episode to hear Emilie’s and Damian’s perspectives on the future of AI, enterprise technology and digital sovereignty.

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Want to know more about Damian and Emilie?:

Damian Kowalczyk:
Damian Kowalczyk is a Principal AI/ML Architect at Microsoft, building systems that make advanced AI fast, reliable, and affordable at Microsoft 365 scale. His work spans models, inference engines, GPU optimization, and product architecture, delivering order-of-magnitude performance gains and turning frontier research into production-ready products. Over 15 years, his career has taken him from CERN and large-scale data platforms to hyperscale AI infrastructure, always connecting engineering decisions with customer and business outcomes.

With a PhD in Data Science and an Executive MBA in Innovation, Damian brings together engineering, science, and organizational thinking. He is particularly interested in how global competition, open models, and falling AI costs are reshaping how organizations create value. His central question is not only what AI can do, but what becomes possible when intelligence becomes abundant and innovation moves across traditional boundaries.

Emilie Lundblad:
Emilie Lundblad van Vliet is Lead Architect for GenAI at the LEGO Group, where she work with digital product teams for one of the world's most recognized consumer brands, to build and scale generative AI across its enterprise. Her work spans agentic systems, platform architecture, security and AI governance, turning frontier models into production-ready solutions that connect engineering decisions with business and organizational outcomes. Over 15 years, her career has taken her from data analytics and machine learning at GroupM and Hempel to leading AI Centers of Excellence at Ambu, always bridging deep technical work with board-level strategy.

A 5x Microsoft MVP in AI and 2x Microsoft Regional Director, she is the only woman in the Nordics to hold both titles simultaneously. She sits on the boards of Blue Logistics Group and Fortytwo Technologies, a Nordic Microsoft security partner, and serves as Chairperson of the Danish Data Science Community and member of the National Advisory Board for the Pioneer Centre for AI. With a master's degree from ITU Copenhagen and more than 50 keynotes delivered across the region, she is one of the most active voices shaping the Nordic AI agenda. Her central question is not only what generative AI can do, but what becomes possible when organizations stop treating AI as a capability and start treating it as infrastructure.