October 14, 2025 • 38 mins
In this episode of How I AI, I sit down with Yemisi Egbewole, a powerful and globally recognized voice in policy, governance, and political communications who brings nearly a decade of experience at the heart of the U.S. federal government.
As former Chief of Staff to the White House Press Office and Advisor to the White House Press Secretary under the Biden Administration, Yemisi helped shape the country’s most high-stakes narratives leading media engagement for the President, managing press operations, and coordinating international briefings during moments that defined our national conversation.
Now, through her firm Podium Strategies, Yemisi is using AI not as a buzzword but as a tool for access, efficiency, and empowerment. We explore how she integrates AI into her daily workflow, from rapid research and message testing to commentary prep for outlets like BBC, FOX News, and MSNBC and what she’s learned about using technology to democratize opportunity while preserving truth and transparency.
🔥 Topics We Cover:
• How AI is changing the landscape of political communications
• What it’s really like to brief the President and manage national press cycles
• Why AI access has become a new equity issue in policy and governance
• How tools like ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude support real-time analysis and speech prep
• The responsibility of leaders to use AI ethically and inclusively
Tools Mentioned:
ChatGPT, Anthropic Claude, Perplexity
Connect with Yemisi:
Instagram: yemyamz
LinkedIn, YouTube & TikTok: Yemisi Egbewole
Ready to cut through the overwhelm?
- Explore all my resources in one place → https://stan.store/BRXSTUDIO
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More About Brooke:
Website: brookex.com
LinkedIn: Brooke Gramer
More About the Podcast:
Instagram: howiai.podcast
Website: howiaipodcast.com
"How I AI" is a concept and podcast series created and produced by Brooke Gramer of EmpowerFlow Strategies LLC. All rights reserved.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Yemisi (00:00):
One big thing that AI is going to have to come to terms
(00:04):
with, with Washington is datacenters.
And as more data centers startto build, you're going to get
more pushback from theenvironmental working groups,
from local municipalities thatare wondering where's the upside
for us to have this in thebackyard of our communities?
And so it's understanding how totalk to these local communities,
the municipalities, the leaders.
(00:26):
I was on a panel with a formermayor of St.
Louis, Missouri, who was talkingabout her experience dealing
with data centers wanting to bebuilt because you cannot stop
them right at this point AI isoutpacing everything.
And so we're past the point oftrying to hamper on the
expansion of data centers.
We are at the point where theyare going to be built, so how do
(00:47):
we build them in a way that'senvironmentally friendly and
then also an economic benefit tothe community around them.
Brooke (00:54):
Welcome to How I AI the podcast featuring real people,
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I'm Brooke Gramer, your host andguide on this journey into the
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For over 15 years, I've workedin creative marketing events and
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(02:21):
started.
My guest today is Yemisi She'sbeen in the rooms where the
toughest calls about technologyand democracy get made.
She spent years inside Congressand the White House guiding, how
we talk about policy at the verytop.
In this conversation, we don'tshy away from the hard
questions, what guardrailsshould exist, how communities
(02:45):
really feel about data centers,what cybersecurity risks can't
be ignored, And how lawmakersare trying to keep up while AI
is moving at lightning speed.
If you want the inside view onhow Washington is shaping the
future of AI and what it meansfor your business and everyday
life, then you'll want to listento this one all the way through.
(03:07):
Let's dive into it.
Today I have a very specialguest.
Her name is Yemisi Egbewole.
I'm so excited to have her heretoday.
She's a global voice in policyand political communications
with nearly a decade at theheart of US government shaping
messages from Congress to theWhite House.
Welcome.
Thank you so much for beinghere.
(03:29):
Thank you for having me.
Yes.
So I love to open the floor foryou to share all about yourself
and how you ended up at theintersection of AI now.
Yemisi (03:42):
So I moved to DC back in 2017, right at the change of
Obama to Trump into the WhiteHouse, and I had come off of
kind of campaigning in gradschool and moved down to dc,
went into the US Senate to workfor Senator Mark Warner.
Big telecom guy, really big inthe tech regulation space, and I
(04:04):
worked for him as a tech andtelecom staffer.
We did a lot of stuff on theearly alarm sounding of
disinformation, algorithm risks,big tech oversight.
Then I moved over to Senator AmyKlobuchar, who sat on senate
commerce, which had oversighton.
All of the things that I'd beenworking on with Warner.
She was one of the big earlypushes when it came to
(04:26):
technology election, likeelection integrity
accountability with platforms.
We did hearings where we had,you know, Jack at the time, who
was running Twitter when it wasnamed Twitter at the time.
Come forward, we did hearingswith like Mark Zuckerberg.
Important to note all of thathappening in the space of 2017,
right to 2019.
Very pre pandemic.
Pre COVID.
(04:46):
You never really used.
The words AI regulation, right?
It was like focusing onaccountability.
What can tech do?
And so in the background of allof this, AI is growing, building
and creating its own kind ofniche within like this big thing
we call tech.
And now it's so interesting tosit here working in government
today where AI is at theforefront and you wouldn't have
(05:10):
a hearing with anybody in thetech space without first
bringing up ai.
And so my foray into AI was likekind of.
In the background of what wasbuilding by just like the focus
on big tech.
Brooke (05:22):
That's incredible that you were able to experience the
come up of everything and be atthe heart of it.
Um, so bring us to where you arenow.
How has that experience parlayedto how you show up and the tech
space within dc which I canimagine be a very exciting time
right now?
The White House just releasedits AI policy and it's having
(05:44):
its moment.
Yemisi (05:45):
I, it's so interesting now because AI really is the hot
IT girl in Washington and it'sfunny'cause the people who
really get to have theconversations about AI are a lot
of folks who have been inWashington since the seventies
and eighties.
And so now a lot of what I do.
Is catching them up to like,what is AI kind of, um,
(06:07):
dismantling some of the mythsthat I think a lot of people can
feel about ai.
Mm-hmm.
But also highlighting a lot ofthe uh, political.
The political tools that AI canuse to help educate or, um,
disin inform folks when it comesto politics.
I mean, there are like memes ofdifferent things that go around
that are AI generated, but theneven like more deep in the weeds
(06:30):
of it, of how do we help a lotof these companies that start up
AI on entrepreneurs, startups,how do we invest in them?
Angel funding grants.
So.
That's a lot of what the spaceis.
It's a lot of the old standardbearers that exist in
Washington.
Your idea of a member ofCongress right, is not young.
It's quite old.
And having all of these newfolks come in, like Dario, who
(06:51):
ran Anthropic that's growinghis, um, his DC arm of it in
Anthropic just a week and ahalf, two weeks ago, held a
really great kind of expo aboutthis is who we are, this is what
we do.
Um, Nvidia that's grown.
Their, their staff and ha hashosted like salon dinners and
happy hours OpenAI, which as.
Just blown up in the city andit's constantly like sponsoring
(07:13):
and hosting things.
So it's also connecting thosedots of, now we've got a lot of
San Francisco that is payingattention to DC Obviously this
current president is reallyingrained with those who are
tech leaders really having themat the table.
And so there is this hyperfocus, but it's making sure that
the people.
The members of Congress, thepeople in the administration
that decide a lot of like how AIshapes and funnels and how they
(07:36):
get to work overseas andnational security concerns are
actually knowledgeable on theissue.
Brooke (07:42):
What an empowering role to be in right now, because I
know the role of ethics andgovernance and information bias
is so important within ai.
And as I speak to my peers, alot of them are saying we're
about 10 years behind where weshould be, um, with AI policy
(08:03):
and the things that arehappening right now on the
internet.
And you touched a little bitabout.
Big tech and oversight, um,misinformation.
So I would love to dive deeperon this and, and hear how you
really go in and, and shape andform AI policy.
Even speaking to lawyers thatare in the AI space and advising
(08:25):
on this they're like, we have noidea what the next two, three
years is gonna look like whenall of this starts to come to
light.
Kind of a, a loaded topic.
But if you could speak more towhat's happening, how the laws
are shaping how you're seeingthis play out in real time.
Yemisi (08:43):
Yeah, I mean, and, and to cosign a lot of what your
colleagues are saying.
We don't know what happened intwo years.
I mean, if you had said tosomebody two years ago, like,
who is Jensen Huang?
Had you been a niche person inthe industry, you'd go, well,
yeah.
Semiconductors.
And you'd be able to have thatconversation.
Now people are looking aroundand they're going, yeah, who is
Judson Huang and how is healways with the president?
(09:05):
How does, what is this companyNvidia?
And so I think in the next twoyears we might be saying, who is
somebody else at this exact sametime?
Mm-hmm.
Um, one thing I always point outare, the ways that these almost
subsidiary grow, right?
You look at a scale AI that hasbeen like kind of.
Sucked up a by Meta and they'vestarted a partnership and now we
(09:26):
have scale AI having a hugepresence in dc.
But a huge thing thateverybody's always going to have
to talk about is how AI and howthese tech companies relate to
our national security and howthey help domestic manufacturing
production here.
So when.
People in government talk aboutai.
They wanna talk about upskillinglabor, right?
Because these people representstates and districts where
(09:46):
employment and labor workforceis key.
That's how they get reelected.
It's the biggest complaint whenthey go back to their district
and they have a town hall.
I don't have a job, I don't haveinsurance.
Like, um mm-hmm.
So how do we employ folks here?
Well, when we worked in Bidenadministration, you had the
Chips and Science Act, whichlike really worked to boost
semiconductor.
Production in the United Statesso that we remained in
(10:07):
competition with Taiwan.
In order to do that though, youalso have to put restrictions on
how much, uh, American companiescan engage with China overseas,
and so.
What oftentimes entrepreneursand business owners in that work
in the AI tech space face in theUnited States is that they
cannot accelerate at a rapidgrowth because we almost hamper
(10:28):
them a bit to keep them here, tomaintain the jobs so that they
get the tax breaks so that theycan grow.
But we really also are lookingat this kind of ai intellectual
race with China and thinkingabout ways that.
We don't want them to use theskill, the skillset that we have
here.
I mean, China produces, I thinkover 300.
(10:50):
They have over 300,000 engineersto our, that cracks it like
around a little bit over ahundred thousand.
I mean, they, they outweigh usin kind of like the mental skill
and also the labor force whenyou look at the population of
China.
And so that'll always be theback and forth with, um, with.
Not wanting China to capitalizeon what we have growing here,
but also trying to maintain,keeping up with the race that
(11:13):
China is.
'cause they outpace everyone 10to one all the time when it
comes to technology.
Brooke (11:18):
I have been very loosely following along everything
that's happening with open AIand you know, the decisions
being made to build more datacenters.
And I can see both cases ofpeople being like, oh, we're,
you know, this isn'teco-friendly and good for the
environments, and where are weheaded?
Also at the same time isremaining competitive against
(11:39):
mm-hmm.
Countries.
Uh, and being that, you know,leader when it comes to AI
adoption and not hindering andbeing left behind and, and
ultimately add to unfairadvantage compared to other
people in the workforce, whichis now global at this point.
Mm-hmm.
We are working globally.
Um.
So I'm curious what yourthoughts on that.
(12:02):
How do you kind of ride bothsides of, of that and, your
thoughts when it comes tobuilding more data centers and
all of the decisions being madeat the White House right now.
Yemisi (12:11):
One big thing that AI is going to have to come to terms
with, with Washington is datacenters.
I mean, I participated in theCongressional Black Caucus Week
and they hold a huge conference.
Have like all of these memberswithin the Congressional Black
Caucus speak and have lobbyistsand business leaders.
All these people convene.
(12:32):
I.
I was on a panel and one of thebig topics is ai digital
technology in the energy sectorand data centers.
And as more data centers startto build, you're going to get
more pushback from theenvironmental working groups,
from local municipalities thatare wondering where's the upside
for us to have this in thebackyard of our communities?
(12:53):
And so it's understanding how totalk to these local communities,
the municipalities, the leaders.
I was on a panel with a formermayor of St.
Louis, Missouri, who was talkingabout her experience dealing
with data centers wanting to bebuilt because you cannot stop
them right at this point.
Ai, AI is outpacing, isoutpacing everything.
(13:14):
And so we're past the point oftrying to hamper on the
expansion of data centers.
We are at the point where theyare going to be built, so how do
we build them in a way that'senvironmentally friendly and
then also an economic benefit tothe community around them.
So that, I think data centers isgonna be one of those huge, like
one of the largestconversations.
Brooke (13:36):
I, I think that tracks for me as well.
Um, bringing it back to more ofa personal space.
At what point did you start tolean into this, maybe with your
personal strategy, uh, preparingfor presentations or talks?
How do you use it on a personallevel?
Yemisi (13:54):
Yeah, it is.
So when I left, I worked in theBiden White House all four
years.
And, um, working in governmentAI is, is just a no-no, it's
blocked.
You can't use any of the, it'slike ChatGPT, all of that stuff
is blocked on governmentcomputers.
You cannot download them ongovernment work phones.
I think now people are startingto loosen a bit, and I know like
(14:14):
at certain agencies you can useit, but it was just, we didn't
access it, we didn't touch it,we didn't.
It wasn't for governmentworkers.
Now, when I left, I decided toopen my own political consulting
firm.
And what I realized was veryquickly was that AI was going to
be my best friend.
I am a type, a highly organizedperson.
(14:35):
I feel as though I always keepmy ducks in a row.
I didn't know what keeping ducksin a row was until I really
started to delve into ai, um,into the organizational
components of it.
Um.
Into the tracking systems thatit can do for you.
It tracks in a way that it isyour own Microsoft Excel
document in a sense.
And so as I started picking upclients as I was like, I've got
(14:57):
meetings here.
Um, what are the best ways toengage with folks?
A, I mean, AI has been one ofthose things that has really
kind of settled my life in away.
I think it's the best tool forsomeone who wants to, how do you
start a business?
Well, like I learned how to makean LLC.
Through ai, step by step.
I said, this is the business Iwant.
(15:18):
This is like the kind of personI am.
And it helped me put it alltogether.
Even coming up with the name ofit, I'm, you know, I founded
this company, Podium Strategies,and that came through having a
conversation with AI about.
Who I am, what I've worked on,and we settled on, I was the
chief of staff to the WhiteHouse press office.
And so I spent most of my timein the White House press
(15:38):
briefing room.
And one of the things we alwaysdid was you get the press
secretary up to the podium andyou get the president up to the
podium.
And so that was just at thenexus of like a lot of the work
that I had done.
And so, you know, AI says to me,why don't you just call it
Podium Strategies?
And I went.
That is really smart andobvious.
So obvious.
In fact, I would've neverthought about it because I'm
(16:00):
such a, in the weeds kind ofperson.
And that's one of themisconceptions I think people
have about AI is that it'll giveyou answers and it'll do things
in a way that's like so highlevel.
And I, and I go, no, sometimesthe beauty of AI is that it
tells you the simple things thatare right in front of you that
you don't see.
'cause you are the one doing thedeep dives.
So,
Brooke (16:20):
yeah, I love that share because I relate so much to it
as I've leaned more intoconsulting and, and launching my
podcast.
I, I had never done videoproduction before.
Um, and I also formed an LLCjust last year and had chat GPT
walk me through the wholeprocess as well.
(16:40):
So thank you for sharing that.
What else do you feel likeyou're leaning into with ai?
Are you playing around withcreating tools or products?
I know that product creatingproduct is really big right now.
People are using tools likeBolt.
I'm sure for someone like youcan have a very unique use case
for wanting to create your ownproduct.
(17:01):
Have you like leaned into thatat all?
Yemisi (17:04):
Well, so a lot of what I do in my consulting is um, I do
a lot of like media training andengagement, and I also go on
network television and I work asa political commentator.
I've gone on M-S-N-B-C, FoxNews, BBC, news Nation.
And what AI really helps me dois it helps me create a program.
(17:24):
And I actually did like a betaversion of this with Anthropic
at their expo.
Like I, we kind of created thislike website and they gave me
the link to it and everything.
It was so cool, um, where I willtype in different things that
are things that I'm trackingthat are top of mind in the
news, right?
And I would say make meflashcards of questions that I
could be asked as a commentatorwho really, who has to answer
(17:47):
this and know this stuff andremain on top of it.
So they helped me create thiswhole program where.
I can put in what is top of mindand so it actually really helps
me.
Figure out what are thequestions I'm gonna be asked on
this?
How, how should I already bethinking about these issues and
situations?
It gives you 50 differentviewpoints into one topic, and
(18:10):
that was, that's absolutelyincredible.
And no, no human I think couldcreate something like that.
That's really something that canonly exist in, in like the AI
landscape.
Brooke (18:21):
You just reminded me of an interview I had yesterday
where she was sharing about twoLLMs debating each other.
Um, and my immediate thoughtwas, oh, this would be really
good for debate practice.
A hundred
Yemisi (18:33):
percent.
And as a former high schoolcollege debater.
I could not imagine what thatwould be like to have that
resource and how, to me it'salmost like how empowering is AI
for a lot of young people.
I mean, one thing I try to tell,uh, members, especially the ones
that are a little gun shy ontechnology and they wanna talk
about online safety and thoseare, look, those are real
(18:53):
conversations to have, likeprotecting children, protecting
families.
Those are real conversations tohave, but not at the expense of
how you can empower individualsand communities that would not
always have access to thosekinds of resources.
I mean, a reminder, some of thethings that AI can do are things
that you would've hired anexpensive private tutor to do.
(19:14):
Now, how incredible for somebodywho is disadvantaged from a
minority community.
To just get on their computerand have access to the same
things that would've been$350 anhour with a private tutor at
some fancy school.
Now you can, you can train upyourself at the same level.
That was always only availableto those who had high privilege.
(19:35):
I mean, to me, AI levels ofplaying field so much.
I mean, we're seeking heroes.
Women starting an LLCI, I hadasked people, I had asked a
bunch of men around me that areconsultants.
I was like, how do I do this anddah, dah, dah.
Because my,'cause the ai I useknows me so well.
It taught me how to make an LLCin a way that I like to be
spoken to in the way that I liketo engage with people, um,
(19:58):
thought through details andissues that, um, I, I would've
not thought of myself.
And so, uh, it's nice to havethings to like kind of bounce,
bounce off of to like tell ideasto, to tell like your craziest.
Ideas that would maybe get youlaughed out of a room and you're
putting it into ai and they'regoing, yeah, I can logically
(20:20):
think of a way you can accessthis, that you can get to this
path, and that, that isincredible.
That is gonna be so empoweringfor women.
That's gonna be so empoweringfor young people.
Brooke (20:29):
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I love that you talked aboutthis empowerment On the flip
side of that,'cause you talkedabout access to resources and
disparities.
You know, there's a lot of worryout there that this will just
(21:12):
further the divide of peoplethat are able to leverage this
technology right now andminorities that maybe don't have
access or um, computer or thetechnology to leverage their
learning.
I'm curious what your thoughtsare on that.
Do you see it bringing it closertogether or it's gonna further
(21:33):
the divide?
Yemisi (21:35):
That's, I think we have to increase accessibility to ai.
And what I oftentimes tell, youknow, politicians, local
leaders, is if you start to putrestrictions on this, right,
because you believe that certainfolks can't be trusted with it,
well then now you've only madeit available to a subset of
people.
And now those people have fullcontrol over it.
(21:57):
Get to use it to theiradvantage.
I mean, AI is wonderful ifeveryone can access it.
If we start to put restrictionson it because we're scared of
it, well now it's the people inpower who have the access to it.
And as somebody who lives inworks in Washington DC I don't
want just the folks inWashington to have the hold on
AI.
I want everyone to be able to.
(22:18):
Pursue it.
I mean, I think about I readsomewhere about this wonderful
story about somebody who lived,like in the middle of the
Midwest, had always dreamedabout being a playwright, um,
starting kind of their ownmusical used AI help to put
together a show, put it inpractice and performance.
I mean, these are really toolsthat can help people achieve
their dreams and, and changetheir lives.
Brooke (22:41):
Absolutely.
I'm just so happy to hear thatthere are people like you at
the, in, at the forefront of allof this in DC you know, bringing
these in the minority Yes.
And, and bringing theseimportant topics to life and
really fighting for theserights.
What about looking ahead, do youthink there's a greater shift
(23:02):
coming when it comes to AI andpolitics or even global
leadership?
Like how do you see thingsshifting quite a bit?
Mm-hmm.
Yemisi (23:10):
Well, it's fantastic that we're having all of these
global conferences like Davos.
I mean, even, um, UNGA.
The United Nations gatheringlast week, there were multiple
conversations about ai, aboutethics, about governance, and
so, mm-hmm.
I think it's starting to be oneof those things that no matter
where you go or wherever youspeak, right, ask an ideas
(23:30):
festival.
AI is gonna be a part of it.
There's gonna be a panel,there's gonna be somebody
heavily involved in ai.
All of these.
CEOs too, have such an eye on itas well and are so tuned in,
even from like, even frombusiness, like outside of a tech
sector, right?
Because we're starting to marryit to different things, right?
Healthcare is really starting todip in each year as we go along
(23:52):
more and more into ai, that'ssomething that we're gonna have
to pay attention to, right?
Healthcare means very intimate,personal and private, um,
records and data.
So.
You ignore AI and itsdevelopment at your own peril,
because either way, this issomething that exists and it's
going to grow.
(24:12):
I, I tell people, I'm like, it'slike having a puppy.
The puppy's gonna eat.
The puppy's gonna grow.
The puppy's gonna be there.
Even if you put it in a room byitself, the you are gonna open
the door.
The puppy's gonna be a littlebit bigger every single day.
Now, do you wanna shape thebehaviors of that puppy?
Do you want to be able to takethat puppy outside and it greets
dogs, it's friendly withchildren, or do you wanna
(24:33):
condition that puppy in a waywhere it's scared of others?
It lashes out, it barks, itbites.
It's certain things itshouldn't.
I mean, we get to control nowwhat AI looks like two years
from now, 10 years from now, andin the future globally.
We get to be a part of and aleader in the conversation
because regardless, globally.
(24:54):
AI is gonna happen.
So do you wanna be at the tableor do you wanna be looking
inside the room at everybodyelse at the table?
Brooke (25:02):
Such key points there, and you're reminding me of a
interview I saw with Sam Altmanand Theo, I'm sorry, I always
forget his last name, and he hadsuch an eloquent way of really
just navigating and steering theconversation into more positive
light and empowering and reallyputting us back in the driver's
(25:25):
seat that we're, we're the oneslike creating the future.
And it's up to us as leaders toreally shape all the things that
are coming with ai.
Um, I'm curious to touch oncybersecurity and what's going
on in Washington because I seewhat's coming and I think that
there's just gonna be such anincrease in spam and identity
(25:50):
theft.
And now there's voice agents,like do you see the laws
changing or do you see a lot oftightening up happening with
cybersecurity right now?
'cause it is a bit of a, a scaryspace right now with agents just
being able to go out and buythings and make purchasing
decisions on our behalf.
Yeah, there's a lot ofnervousness when it comes to
(26:13):
just thinking about banking, youname it.
Um mm-hmm.
I'm cur I'm curious about yourtake on all of this.
Yemisi (26:19):
No.
Yeah.
During, um, when we were in theWhite House, one of the things
that there were like some prettyhigh pretty big public high
level hacks that had happened,and so they, um, folks got
together in the White House andtalked about putting together an
executive order that would belike mandatory reporting for
hacks because Right.
We don't know how to stop hacksunless people are actually
(26:39):
reporting that they'rehappening.
Mm-hmm.
We talked about you know, youput the burden on big tech and
on these innovators to put inlike certain guardrails.
Now, when we talk aboutguardrails, there are some folks
that go lock everything down.
Like guardrails to me is anuanced conversation because
there are folks on one side thatsay.
Lock it all down.
No, no backdoor keys, nothing.
(27:01):
Um, and then there are otherpeople that say zero guardrails.
Let it let nature run itscourse.
And so I did find that I Iworked in a space in a White
House that was like very much inthe middle, and so we'll see how
that goes.
But cybersecurity huge, hugeconcern.
A main reason why you couldn'teven have any kind of AI tools
on government computers,government laptops, hacking is
(27:23):
always foreign actors are alwaysat the top of mind, and that is
cybersecurity is one of thebiggest reasons for those who
are against any kind of, uh, AIacceleration is always
cybersecurity.
And so I think ignoring.
The national security risksactually puts us at more of a
detriment in the conversation.
Brooke (27:40):
Absolutely.
I also think it's gonna be oneof the biggest jobs coming up.
Yeah.
My brother works incybersecurity and you know, a
lot of people are curious whatkind of jobs are coming through
in the next couple years.
That's absolutely gonna be a bigone.
Um, I like to always wrap it upwith, what's one key takeaway
(28:01):
that you are hoping listenerswould want to take from this
conversation?
Yemisi (28:08):
I wanna talk about jobs manufacturing and the fear that
AI will erase those.
Hmm.
We are moving forward withtechnology and advancement
regardless if grandpa keeps hisjob in the factory, those jobs
are just eventually going tophase out.
(28:29):
And there's really nothing thatwe all can do about that because
we are so used to receivingproducts at a certain rate and
at a certain time.
Um, some of the biggestcompanies in our country, like
Amazon produce things at such arate that 10 men on a line are
just not gonna keep up with thesupply and demand nature that we
now exist in.
Because of that, it isimperative and it's almost
(28:50):
disrespectful, I say, whenpeople refuse to think about AI
training and certification.
I don't think you have to go tocollege in order to operate AI
in order to work at a companythat that uses ai.
I think certification is gonnabe one of the biggest booms and
factors in helping maintain thelabor workforce and push back
(29:13):
against the idea that AI willerase jobs for Americans.
No, it will not.
If you work in tandem with itand educate people as they come
up and go along.
Why are there not AIcertification training courses
in high schools in the same waythat they used to do?
Um, what was it?
The shop classes where theywould teach you how to fix a car
that is in that same way, thatis what we should be doing for
(29:34):
young high schoolers, people whowanna go into trade, you should
be working on certificationbecause manufacturing jobs, the
landscape is going to change andit's our job.
If we care about people, if wecare about your community, care
about the citizens in the UnitedStates, it's your job to adapt
to how things are changing.
'cause you can't stop it.
Brooke (29:53):
I love that you talked about the job industry and the
workforce and where everything'sheading.
You also just touched a littlebit on education, so I think we
can't leave without talkingabout that hot ticket as well.
Mm-hmm.
Um.
Certifications, upskilling, oureducation system is gonna shift
so much.
Absolutely.
(30:14):
A lot of people are justwondering what it is that we can
even teach that you can't answerquickly.
Within ChatGPT, what's the pointin learning half the things
we're learning now?
What's your take on educationand how that's going to shift in
the coming years?
Yemisi (30:30):
Yeah.
Well, I always tell people, um,look, AI doesn't replace your
teacher.
There are still human thingslike emotion discernment that
you are only gonna understandas, as a human being with
emotional value.
Right.
AI isn't something that's hereto teach you sympathy, uh, here
to teach you compassion.
Those are human traits.
(30:51):
Uh, almost like rightanimalists, animalistic in
nature that we are all justgoing to have to teach each
other, right?
A lioness does not teach itselfthrough ai.
There's still, there are stillthings that we are just gonna
have to depend on because we'relike nurture in nature.
So let's not be scared of AIbecause we think that AI is
(31:12):
trying to educate our children.
No, no, no.
You still have to teach otherpeople how to be good people.
AI cannot do that.
AI can teach you how to be.
Smart and let's create good andsmart people.
I think it's just that simple.
Brooke (31:29):
Very simple take.
I agree as well.
You shared a little bit aboutupskilling and learning through
certifications, which alsoreminded me about the course
industry.
I personally feel like we'regonna be shifting so much more
into the course industry, andyou're gonna see the rise of the
(31:49):
entrepreneur, the solopreneur,where we're gonna be learning
from each other.
You mentioned about learningfrom each other.
I agree.
I think that we're gonna learnfrom real world experience in a.
And a faster rate and fasterpace.
Mm-hmm.
With the help of tools andtechnology and ai.
But I also think it's reallyimportant to have that
(32:11):
one-to-one connection and, andpeople learning those soft
skills, those interpersonalemotional intelligence.
There's this group called AlphaSchool.
I'm gonna try to attend one oftheir orientations that they're
having.
They're expanding to Miami inthe coming weeks,'cause I'm
dying to talk to their teachers.
They've started in Texas andthey really integrate AI into
(32:35):
their learnings and they havesuch a unique way of approaching
education and because of that,they see people really excel
faster and they're aboutteaching them real life skills.
Um, how to run and manage anAirbnb is one of them.
Like, think about.
Mm-hmm.
How incredible that would be tohave had that passive income
right away and learn that incollege.
Yemisi (32:56):
Wow.
I think that's incredible andespecially like, look, the price
tag of college is astronomicalnow.
I can't even imagine, likethinking about having kids
multiple wins and helping thempay their way through college is
crazy to think about the debtthat they're saddled with.
So I.
I think that we are living in atime where people, right, you
(33:17):
have a podcast, I mean, 15 yearsago you only got your news
through like five channels, andwe can name'em all right?
And now there are people who areleaving the news that exist on
Substack, on YouTube.
There are people who are makinga living off of TikTok.
TikTok did 9 billion annuallyjust in the US on e-commerce.
Their entire shops that exist onTikTok, small businesses booming
(33:39):
because of that platform.
People don't have to go to thefive standard things anymore.
And because of that, I alsothink people don't have to
utilize universities anymore.
If you wanna be an entrepreneur,you don't have to do four years
of college, two years of an MBA,going into a Deloitte, a
McKinsey, or something spacelike that.
I know people who are makingbeyond their means living who?
(34:03):
Aren't your traditional kind ofcollege graduates because they
are utilizing the newenvironment and the space that
we live in.
And I, I mean, I think that'sfantastic.
The alpha, I mean, the alphacourses sound amazing.
Passive income from Airbnb.
Yes.
Why are we not teaching peopleabout all of this?
And in this day and age, asprices continue increasing,
you're gonna need multiplestreams said.
(34:25):
Income, so why not learn?
Brooke (34:28):
Absolutely.
Have you gotten into Substack orare you leaning into being the
face of your brand as aconsultant?
Yemisi (34:35):
I am.
I am dipping my toe intoSubstack more and more.
I've got friends that are very,the people who substack,
substack hard.
It is really its own world.
I've dived into TikTok andYouTube, um, like playing around
a lot with Instagram reels.
It's been interesting.
I go on Fox a lot and they'repushing a lot of, like the Fox
(34:56):
News anchors to have like TikTokaccounts and things like that
because, I mean, I tell peopleall the time.
Yeah.
I sit, I sit on cable news, I goon MSNBC, Fox News.
I don't even own a tv.
I wouldn't even know how towatch myself.
I said, I watch those slips whenthey clip'em and they put'em on
Instagram or YouTube shorts orsomething like that.
And I also find that's the bestway of engagement because people
(35:17):
like things bite-size and quick.
Now nobody's sitting down towatch 60 minutes.
You know, you sit down with yourparents, you'd watch like an
hour long news program.
People don't do that anymore.
The news moves quickly, and soyou gotta adapt to it.
Brooke (35:30):
It does move very quickly.
I attempted to download TikTokStudio yesterday and Live
Stream, one of my podcastinterviews.
It kind of, uh, was too muchprocessing for my computer.
It didn't, It didn't work out.
But I am leaning more into thesedifferent social spheres,
clipping up.
Mm-hmm.
My content more.
(35:52):
I think it's a whole notherconversation that we can have
about being the face of yourbrand and yeah.
Um, driving that, I can see whyFox would, would want its
representatives to be leaninginto TikTok.
But thank you so much.
I loved all the differentdirections this conversation
went.
I really enjoyed Yeah.
Getting to talk to you and askyou kind of some hardball
(36:13):
questions that you didn't
Yemisi (36:15):
flinch at all.
No, it was fun.
It was great.
Um, and I I hope people takeaway from it.
Learning not to be scared, youknow, I'm over here in
Washington talking to peoplewho, who existed before even the
first computer.
And, you know, we're trying toget them as quickly as we can up
to being supportive of peoplegrowing in this AI space.
(36:37):
And not restricting it just fromlike a, this feeling of what is
this?
It's new.
Like, let's put guardrails onit.
No, let's let it grow and let'swatch it.
Help communities.
Brooke (36:48):
Absolutely.
And if listeners wanna get intouch with you, what's the best
way to connect?
Yemisi (36:54):
Yeah, it is Yemisi Egbewole on YouTube, on TikTok.
It's YemYamz on Instagram.
Yeah, and I post a lot aboutwhere I am, what I will be
doing, and a lot of my thoughtsand opinions.
Brooke (37:08):
Wonderful.
I'll have to tag you on YouTubewhen this full video goes live.
I just launched that last week.
Thank you so much for your timeYemisi today.
I really appreciate you.
Yemisi (37:19):
Of course.
Thank you for having me.
Brooke (37:21):
Wow I hope today's episode opened your mind to
what's possible with AI.
Do you have a cool use case onhow you're using AI and wanna
share it?
DM me.
I'd love to hear more andfeature you on my next podcast.
Until next time, here's toworking smarter, not harder.
See you on the next episode ofHow I AI.
This episode was made possiblein partnership with the
(37:43):
Collective AI, a communitydesigned to help entrepreneurs,
creators, and professionalsseamlessly integrate AI into
their workflows.
One of the biggest game changersin my own AI journey was joining
this space.
It's where I learned, connectedand truly enhanced my
understanding of what's possiblewith ai.
(38:04):
And the best part, they offermultiple membership levels to
meet you where you are.
Whether you want to DIY, your AIlearning or work with a
personalized AI consultant foryour business, The Collective
has you covered.
Learn more and sign up using myexclusive link in the show
notes.
One big thing that AI is going to have to come to terms
(00:04):
with, with Washington is datacenters.
And as more data centers startto build, you're going to get
more pushback from theenvironmental working groups,
from local municipalities thatare wondering where's the upside
for us to have this in thebackyard of our communities?
And so it's understanding how totalk to these local communities,
the municipalities, the leaders.
(00:26):
I was on a panel with a formermayor of St.
Louis, Missouri, who was talkingabout her experience dealing
with data centers wanting to bebuilt because you cannot stop
them right at this point AI isoutpacing everything.
And so we're past the point oftrying to hamper on the
expansion of data centers.
We are at the point where theyare going to be built, so how do
(00:47):
we build them in a way that'senvironmentally friendly and
then also an economic benefit tothe community around them.
Brooke (00:54):
Welcome to How I AI the podcast featuring real people,
real stories, and real AI inaction.
I'm Brooke Gramer, your host andguide on this journey into the
real world impact of artificialintelligence.
For over 15 years, I've workedin creative marketing events and
business strategy, wearing allthe hats.
(01:15):
I know the struggle of trying toscale and manage all things
without burning out, but here'sthe game changer, AI.
This isn't just a podcast.
How I AI is a community, a spacewhere curious minds like you
come together, share ideas, andI'll also bring you exclusive
discounts, and insiderresources, because AI isn't just
(01:39):
a trend, it's a shift, and thesooner we embrace it, the more
freedom, creativity, andopportunities will unlock.
Have you just started exploringAI and feel a bit overwhelmed?
Don't worry, I've got you.
Jump on a quick start audit callwith me so you can walk away
with a clear and personalizedplan to move forward with more
(02:00):
confidence and ease.
Join my community of AI adopterslike yourself.
Plus, grab my free resources,including the AI Get Started
Guide.
Or try my How I AI companionGPT.
It pulls insights from my guestinterviews along with global
reports, so you can stay aheadof the curve.
Follow the link in thedescription below to get
(02:21):
started.
My guest today is Yemisi She'sbeen in the rooms where the
toughest calls about technologyand democracy get made.
She spent years inside Congressand the White House guiding, how
we talk about policy at the verytop.
In this conversation, we don'tshy away from the hard
questions, what guardrailsshould exist, how communities
(02:45):
really feel about data centers,what cybersecurity risks can't
be ignored, And how lawmakersare trying to keep up while AI
is moving at lightning speed.
If you want the inside view onhow Washington is shaping the
future of AI and what it meansfor your business and everyday
life, then you'll want to listento this one all the way through.
(03:07):
Let's dive into it.
Today I have a very specialguest.
Her name is Yemisi Egbewole.
I'm so excited to have her heretoday.
She's a global voice in policyand political communications
with nearly a decade at theheart of US government shaping
messages from Congress to theWhite House.
Welcome.
Thank you so much for beinghere.
(03:29):
Thank you for having me.
Yes.
So I love to open the floor foryou to share all about yourself
and how you ended up at theintersection of AI now.
Yemisi (03:42):
So I moved to DC back in 2017, right at the change of
Obama to Trump into the WhiteHouse, and I had come off of
kind of campaigning in gradschool and moved down to dc,
went into the US Senate to workfor Senator Mark Warner.
Big telecom guy, really big inthe tech regulation space, and I
(04:04):
worked for him as a tech andtelecom staffer.
We did a lot of stuff on theearly alarm sounding of
disinformation, algorithm risks,big tech oversight.
Then I moved over to Senator AmyKlobuchar, who sat on senate
commerce, which had oversighton.
All of the things that I'd beenworking on with Warner.
She was one of the big earlypushes when it came to
(04:26):
technology election, likeelection integrity
accountability with platforms.
We did hearings where we had,you know, Jack at the time, who
was running Twitter when it wasnamed Twitter at the time.
Come forward, we did hearingswith like Mark Zuckerberg.
Important to note all of thathappening in the space of 2017,
right to 2019.
Very pre pandemic.
Pre COVID.
(04:46):
You never really used.
The words AI regulation, right?
It was like focusing onaccountability.
What can tech do?
And so in the background of allof this, AI is growing, building
and creating its own kind ofniche within like this big thing
we call tech.
And now it's so interesting tosit here working in government
today where AI is at theforefront and you wouldn't have
(05:10):
a hearing with anybody in thetech space without first
bringing up ai.
And so my foray into AI was likekind of.
In the background of what wasbuilding by just like the focus
on big tech.
Brooke (05:22):
That's incredible that you were able to experience the
come up of everything and be atthe heart of it.
Um, so bring us to where you arenow.
How has that experience parlayedto how you show up and the tech
space within dc which I canimagine be a very exciting time
right now?
The White House just releasedits AI policy and it's having
(05:44):
its moment.
Yemisi (05:45):
I, it's so interesting now because AI really is the hot
IT girl in Washington and it'sfunny'cause the people who
really get to have theconversations about AI are a lot
of folks who have been inWashington since the seventies
and eighties.
And so now a lot of what I do.
Is catching them up to like,what is AI kind of, um,
(06:07):
dismantling some of the mythsthat I think a lot of people can
feel about ai.
Mm-hmm.
But also highlighting a lot ofthe uh, political.
The political tools that AI canuse to help educate or, um,
disin inform folks when it comesto politics.
I mean, there are like memes ofdifferent things that go around
that are AI generated, but theneven like more deep in the weeds
(06:30):
of it, of how do we help a lotof these companies that start up
AI on entrepreneurs, startups,how do we invest in them?
Angel funding grants.
So.
That's a lot of what the spaceis.
It's a lot of the old standardbearers that exist in
Washington.
Your idea of a member ofCongress right, is not young.
It's quite old.
And having all of these newfolks come in, like Dario, who
(06:51):
ran Anthropic that's growinghis, um, his DC arm of it in
Anthropic just a week and ahalf, two weeks ago, held a
really great kind of expo aboutthis is who we are, this is what
we do.
Um, Nvidia that's grown.
Their, their staff and ha hashosted like salon dinners and
happy hours OpenAI, which as.
Just blown up in the city andit's constantly like sponsoring
(07:13):
and hosting things.
So it's also connecting thosedots of, now we've got a lot of
San Francisco that is payingattention to DC Obviously this
current president is reallyingrained with those who are
tech leaders really having themat the table.
And so there is this hyperfocus, but it's making sure that
the people.
The members of Congress, thepeople in the administration
that decide a lot of like how AIshapes and funnels and how they
(07:36):
get to work overseas andnational security concerns are
actually knowledgeable on theissue.
Brooke (07:42):
What an empowering role to be in right now, because I
know the role of ethics andgovernance and information bias
is so important within ai.
And as I speak to my peers, alot of them are saying we're
about 10 years behind where weshould be, um, with AI policy
(08:03):
and the things that arehappening right now on the
internet.
And you touched a little bitabout.
Big tech and oversight, um,misinformation.
So I would love to dive deeperon this and, and hear how you
really go in and, and shape andform AI policy.
Even speaking to lawyers thatare in the AI space and advising
(08:25):
on this they're like, we have noidea what the next two, three
years is gonna look like whenall of this starts to come to
light.
Kind of a, a loaded topic.
But if you could speak more towhat's happening, how the laws
are shaping how you're seeingthis play out in real time.
Yemisi (08:43):
Yeah, I mean, and, and to cosign a lot of what your
colleagues are saying.
We don't know what happened intwo years.
I mean, if you had said tosomebody two years ago, like,
who is Jensen Huang?
Had you been a niche person inthe industry, you'd go, well,
yeah.
Semiconductors.
And you'd be able to have thatconversation.
Now people are looking aroundand they're going, yeah, who is
Judson Huang and how is healways with the president?
(09:05):
How does, what is this companyNvidia?
And so I think in the next twoyears we might be saying, who is
somebody else at this exact sametime?
Mm-hmm.
Um, one thing I always point outare, the ways that these almost
subsidiary grow, right?
You look at a scale AI that hasbeen like kind of.
Sucked up a by Meta and they'vestarted a partnership and now we
(09:26):
have scale AI having a hugepresence in dc.
But a huge thing thateverybody's always going to have
to talk about is how AI and howthese tech companies relate to
our national security and howthey help domestic manufacturing
production here.
So when.
People in government talk aboutai.
They wanna talk about upskillinglabor, right?
Because these people representstates and districts where
(09:46):
employment and labor workforceis key.
That's how they get reelected.
It's the biggest complaint whenthey go back to their district
and they have a town hall.
I don't have a job, I don't haveinsurance.
Like, um mm-hmm.
So how do we employ folks here?
Well, when we worked in Bidenadministration, you had the
Chips and Science Act, whichlike really worked to boost
semiconductor.
Production in the United Statesso that we remained in
(10:07):
competition with Taiwan.
In order to do that though, youalso have to put restrictions on
how much, uh, American companiescan engage with China overseas,
and so.
What oftentimes entrepreneursand business owners in that work
in the AI tech space face in theUnited States is that they
cannot accelerate at a rapidgrowth because we almost hamper
(10:28):
them a bit to keep them here, tomaintain the jobs so that they
get the tax breaks so that theycan grow.
But we really also are lookingat this kind of ai intellectual
race with China and thinkingabout ways that.
We don't want them to use theskill, the skillset that we have
here.
I mean, China produces, I thinkover 300.
(10:50):
They have over 300,000 engineersto our, that cracks it like
around a little bit over ahundred thousand.
I mean, they, they outweigh usin kind of like the mental skill
and also the labor force whenyou look at the population of
China.
And so that'll always be theback and forth with, um, with.
Not wanting China to capitalizeon what we have growing here,
but also trying to maintain,keeping up with the race that
(11:13):
China is.
'cause they outpace everyone 10to one all the time when it
comes to technology.
Brooke (11:18):
I have been very loosely following along everything
that's happening with open AIand you know, the decisions
being made to build more datacenters.
And I can see both cases ofpeople being like, oh, we're,
you know, this isn'teco-friendly and good for the
environments, and where are weheaded?
Also at the same time isremaining competitive against
(11:39):
mm-hmm.
Countries.
Uh, and being that, you know,leader when it comes to AI
adoption and not hindering andbeing left behind and, and
ultimately add to unfairadvantage compared to other
people in the workforce, whichis now global at this point.
Mm-hmm.
We are working globally.
Um.
So I'm curious what yourthoughts on that.
(12:02):
How do you kind of ride bothsides of, of that and, your
thoughts when it comes tobuilding more data centers and
all of the decisions being madeat the White House right now.
Yemisi (12:11):
One big thing that AI is going to have to come to terms
with, with Washington is datacenters.
I mean, I participated in theCongressional Black Caucus Week
and they hold a huge conference.
Have like all of these memberswithin the Congressional Black
Caucus speak and have lobbyistsand business leaders.
All these people convene.
(12:32):
I.
I was on a panel and one of thebig topics is ai digital
technology in the energy sectorand data centers.
And as more data centers startto build, you're going to get
more pushback from theenvironmental working groups,
from local municipalities thatare wondering where's the upside
for us to have this in thebackyard of our communities?
(12:53):
And so it's understanding how totalk to these local communities,
the municipalities, the leaders.
I was on a panel with a formermayor of St.
Louis, Missouri, who was talkingabout her experience dealing
with data centers wanting to bebuilt because you cannot stop
them right at this point.
Ai, AI is outpacing, isoutpacing everything.
(13:14):
And so we're past the point oftrying to hamper on the
expansion of data centers.
We are at the point where theyare going to be built, so how do
we build them in a way that'senvironmentally friendly and
then also an economic benefit tothe community around them.
So that, I think data centers isgonna be one of those huge, like
one of the largestconversations.
Brooke (13:36):
I, I think that tracks for me as well.
Um, bringing it back to more ofa personal space.
At what point did you start tolean into this, maybe with your
personal strategy, uh, preparingfor presentations or talks?
How do you use it on a personallevel?
Yemisi (13:54):
Yeah, it is.
So when I left, I worked in theBiden White House all four
years.
And, um, working in governmentAI is, is just a no-no, it's
blocked.
You can't use any of the, it'slike ChatGPT, all of that stuff
is blocked on governmentcomputers.
You cannot download them ongovernment work phones.
I think now people are startingto loosen a bit, and I know like
(14:14):
at certain agencies you can useit, but it was just, we didn't
access it, we didn't touch it,we didn't.
It wasn't for governmentworkers.
Now, when I left, I decided toopen my own political consulting
firm.
And what I realized was veryquickly was that AI was going to
be my best friend.
I am a type, a highly organizedperson.
(14:35):
I feel as though I always keepmy ducks in a row.
I didn't know what keeping ducksin a row was until I really
started to delve into ai, um,into the organizational
components of it.
Um.
Into the tracking systems thatit can do for you.
It tracks in a way that it isyour own Microsoft Excel
document in a sense.
And so as I started picking upclients as I was like, I've got
(14:57):
meetings here.
Um, what are the best ways toengage with folks?
A, I mean, AI has been one ofthose things that has really
kind of settled my life in away.
I think it's the best tool forsomeone who wants to, how do you
start a business?
Well, like I learned how to makean LLC.
Through ai, step by step.
I said, this is the business Iwant.
(15:18):
This is like the kind of personI am.
And it helped me put it alltogether.
Even coming up with the name ofit, I'm, you know, I founded
this company, Podium Strategies,and that came through having a
conversation with AI about.
Who I am, what I've worked on,and we settled on, I was the
chief of staff to the WhiteHouse press office.
And so I spent most of my timein the White House press
(15:38):
briefing room.
And one of the things we alwaysdid was you get the press
secretary up to the podium andyou get the president up to the
podium.
And so that was just at thenexus of like a lot of the work
that I had done.
And so, you know, AI says to me,why don't you just call it
Podium Strategies?
And I went.
That is really smart andobvious.
So obvious.
In fact, I would've neverthought about it because I'm
(16:00):
such a, in the weeds kind ofperson.
And that's one of themisconceptions I think people
have about AI is that it'll giveyou answers and it'll do things
in a way that's like so highlevel.
And I, and I go, no, sometimesthe beauty of AI is that it
tells you the simple things thatare right in front of you that
you don't see.
'cause you are the one doing thedeep dives.
So,
Brooke (16:20):
yeah, I love that share because I relate so much to it
as I've leaned more intoconsulting and, and launching my
podcast.
I, I had never done videoproduction before.
Um, and I also formed an LLCjust last year and had chat GPT
walk me through the wholeprocess as well.
(16:40):
So thank you for sharing that.
What else do you feel likeyou're leaning into with ai?
Are you playing around withcreating tools or products?
I know that product creatingproduct is really big right now.
People are using tools likeBolt.
I'm sure for someone like youcan have a very unique use case
for wanting to create your ownproduct.
(17:01):
Have you like leaned into thatat all?
Yemisi (17:04):
Well, so a lot of what I do in my consulting is um, I do
a lot of like media training andengagement, and I also go on
network television and I work asa political commentator.
I've gone on M-S-N-B-C, FoxNews, BBC, news Nation.
And what AI really helps me dois it helps me create a program.
(17:24):
And I actually did like a betaversion of this with Anthropic
at their expo.
Like I, we kind of created thislike website and they gave me
the link to it and everything.
It was so cool, um, where I willtype in different things that
are things that I'm trackingthat are top of mind in the
news, right?
And I would say make meflashcards of questions that I
could be asked as a commentatorwho really, who has to answer
(17:47):
this and know this stuff andremain on top of it.
So they helped me create thiswhole program where.
I can put in what is top of mindand so it actually really helps
me.
Figure out what are thequestions I'm gonna be asked on
this?
How, how should I already bethinking about these issues and
situations?
It gives you 50 differentviewpoints into one topic, and
(18:10):
that was, that's absolutelyincredible.
And no, no human I think couldcreate something like that.
That's really something that canonly exist in, in like the AI
landscape.
Brooke (18:21):
You just reminded me of an interview I had yesterday
where she was sharing about twoLLMs debating each other.
Um, and my immediate thoughtwas, oh, this would be really
good for debate practice.
A hundred
Yemisi (18:33):
percent.
And as a former high schoolcollege debater.
I could not imagine what thatwould be like to have that
resource and how, to me it'salmost like how empowering is AI
for a lot of young people.
I mean, one thing I try to tell,uh, members, especially the ones
that are a little gun shy ontechnology and they wanna talk
about online safety and thoseare, look, those are real
(18:53):
conversations to have, likeprotecting children, protecting
families.
Those are real conversations tohave, but not at the expense of
how you can empower individualsand communities that would not
always have access to thosekinds of resources.
I mean, a reminder, some of thethings that AI can do are things
that you would've hired anexpensive private tutor to do.
(19:14):
Now, how incredible for somebodywho is disadvantaged from a
minority community.
To just get on their computerand have access to the same
things that would've been$350 anhour with a private tutor at
some fancy school.
Now you can, you can train upyourself at the same level.
That was always only availableto those who had high privilege.
(19:35):
I mean, to me, AI levels ofplaying field so much.
I mean, we're seeking heroes.
Women starting an LLCI, I hadasked people, I had asked a
bunch of men around me that areconsultants.
I was like, how do I do this anddah, dah, dah.
Because my,'cause the ai I useknows me so well.
It taught me how to make an LLCin a way that I like to be
spoken to in the way that I liketo engage with people, um,
(19:58):
thought through details andissues that, um, I, I would've
not thought of myself.
And so, uh, it's nice to havethings to like kind of bounce,
bounce off of to like tell ideasto, to tell like your craziest.
Ideas that would maybe get youlaughed out of a room and you're
putting it into ai and they'regoing, yeah, I can logically
(20:20):
think of a way you can accessthis, that you can get to this
path, and that, that isincredible.
That is gonna be so empoweringfor women.
That's gonna be so empoweringfor young people.
Brooke (20:29):
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I love that you talked aboutthis empowerment On the flip
side of that,'cause you talkedabout access to resources and
disparities.
You know, there's a lot of worryout there that this will just
(21:12):
further the divide of peoplethat are able to leverage this
technology right now andminorities that maybe don't have
access or um, computer or thetechnology to leverage their
learning.
I'm curious what your thoughtsare on that.
Do you see it bringing it closertogether or it's gonna further
(21:33):
the divide?
Yemisi (21:35):
That's, I think we have to increase accessibility to ai.
And what I oftentimes tell, youknow, politicians, local
leaders, is if you start to putrestrictions on this, right,
because you believe that certainfolks can't be trusted with it,
well then now you've only madeit available to a subset of
people.
And now those people have fullcontrol over it.
(21:57):
Get to use it to theiradvantage.
I mean, AI is wonderful ifeveryone can access it.
If we start to put restrictionson it because we're scared of
it, well now it's the people inpower who have the access to it.
And as somebody who lives inworks in Washington DC I don't
want just the folks inWashington to have the hold on
AI.
I want everyone to be able to.
(22:18):
Pursue it.
I mean, I think about I readsomewhere about this wonderful
story about somebody who lived,like in the middle of the
Midwest, had always dreamedabout being a playwright, um,
starting kind of their ownmusical used AI help to put
together a show, put it inpractice and performance.
I mean, these are really toolsthat can help people achieve
their dreams and, and changetheir lives.
Brooke (22:41):
Absolutely.
I'm just so happy to hear thatthere are people like you at
the, in, at the forefront of allof this in DC you know, bringing
these in the minority Yes.
And, and bringing theseimportant topics to life and
really fighting for theserights.
What about looking ahead, do youthink there's a greater shift
(23:02):
coming when it comes to AI andpolitics or even global
leadership?
Like how do you see thingsshifting quite a bit?
Mm-hmm.
Yemisi (23:10):
Well, it's fantastic that we're having all of these
global conferences like Davos.
I mean, even, um, UNGA.
The United Nations gatheringlast week, there were multiple
conversations about ai, aboutethics, about governance, and
so, mm-hmm.
I think it's starting to be oneof those things that no matter
where you go or wherever youspeak, right, ask an ideas
(23:30):
festival.
AI is gonna be a part of it.
There's gonna be a panel,there's gonna be somebody
heavily involved in ai.
All of these.
CEOs too, have such an eye on itas well and are so tuned in,
even from like, even frombusiness, like outside of a tech
sector, right?
Because we're starting to marryit to different things, right?
Healthcare is really starting todip in each year as we go along
(23:52):
more and more into ai, that'ssomething that we're gonna have
to pay attention to, right?
Healthcare means very intimate,personal and private, um,
records and data.
So.
You ignore AI and itsdevelopment at your own peril,
because either way, this issomething that exists and it's
going to grow.
(24:12):
I, I tell people, I'm like, it'slike having a puppy.
The puppy's gonna eat.
The puppy's gonna grow.
The puppy's gonna be there.
Even if you put it in a room byitself, the you are gonna open
the door.
The puppy's gonna be a littlebit bigger every single day.
Now, do you wanna shape thebehaviors of that puppy?
Do you want to be able to takethat puppy outside and it greets
dogs, it's friendly withchildren, or do you wanna
(24:33):
condition that puppy in a waywhere it's scared of others?
It lashes out, it barks, itbites.
It's certain things itshouldn't.
I mean, we get to control nowwhat AI looks like two years
from now, 10 years from now, andin the future globally.
We get to be a part of and aleader in the conversation
because regardless, globally.
(24:54):
AI is gonna happen.
So do you wanna be at the tableor do you wanna be looking
inside the room at everybodyelse at the table?
Brooke (25:02):
Such key points there, and you're reminding me of a
interview I saw with Sam Altmanand Theo, I'm sorry, I always
forget his last name, and he hadsuch an eloquent way of really
just navigating and steering theconversation into more positive
light and empowering and reallyputting us back in the driver's
(25:25):
seat that we're, we're the oneslike creating the future.
And it's up to us as leaders toreally shape all the things that
are coming with ai.
Um, I'm curious to touch oncybersecurity and what's going
on in Washington because I seewhat's coming and I think that
there's just gonna be such anincrease in spam and identity
(25:50):
theft.
And now there's voice agents,like do you see the laws
changing or do you see a lot oftightening up happening with
cybersecurity right now?
'cause it is a bit of a, a scaryspace right now with agents just
being able to go out and buythings and make purchasing
decisions on our behalf.
Yeah, there's a lot ofnervousness when it comes to
(26:13):
just thinking about banking, youname it.
Um mm-hmm.
I'm cur I'm curious about yourtake on all of this.
Yemisi (26:19):
No.
Yeah.
During, um, when we were in theWhite House, one of the things
that there were like some prettyhigh pretty big public high
level hacks that had happened,and so they, um, folks got
together in the White House andtalked about putting together an
executive order that would belike mandatory reporting for
hacks because Right.
We don't know how to stop hacksunless people are actually
(26:39):
reporting that they'rehappening.
Mm-hmm.
We talked about you know, youput the burden on big tech and
on these innovators to put inlike certain guardrails.
Now, when we talk aboutguardrails, there are some folks
that go lock everything down.
Like guardrails to me is anuanced conversation because
there are folks on one side thatsay.
Lock it all down.
No, no backdoor keys, nothing.
(27:01):
Um, and then there are otherpeople that say zero guardrails.
Let it let nature run itscourse.
And so I did find that I Iworked in a space in a White
House that was like very much inthe middle, and so we'll see how
that goes.
But cybersecurity huge, hugeconcern.
A main reason why you couldn'teven have any kind of AI tools
on government computers,government laptops, hacking is
(27:23):
always foreign actors are alwaysat the top of mind, and that is
cybersecurity is one of thebiggest reasons for those who
are against any kind of, uh, AIacceleration is always
cybersecurity.
And so I think ignoring.
The national security risksactually puts us at more of a
detriment in the conversation.
Brooke (27:40):
Absolutely.
I also think it's gonna be oneof the biggest jobs coming up.
Yeah.
My brother works incybersecurity and you know, a
lot of people are curious whatkind of jobs are coming through
in the next couple years.
That's absolutely gonna be a bigone.
Um, I like to always wrap it upwith, what's one key takeaway
(28:01):
that you are hoping listenerswould want to take from this
conversation?
Yemisi (28:08):
I wanna talk about jobs manufacturing and the fear that
AI will erase those.
Hmm.
We are moving forward withtechnology and advancement
regardless if grandpa keeps hisjob in the factory, those jobs
are just eventually going tophase out.
(28:29):
And there's really nothing thatwe all can do about that because
we are so used to receivingproducts at a certain rate and
at a certain time.
Um, some of the biggestcompanies in our country, like
Amazon produce things at such arate that 10 men on a line are
just not gonna keep up with thesupply and demand nature that we
now exist in.
Because of that, it isimperative and it's almost
(28:50):
disrespectful, I say, whenpeople refuse to think about AI
training and certification.
I don't think you have to go tocollege in order to operate AI
in order to work at a companythat that uses ai.
I think certification is gonnabe one of the biggest booms and
factors in helping maintain thelabor workforce and push back
(29:13):
against the idea that AI willerase jobs for Americans.
No, it will not.
If you work in tandem with itand educate people as they come
up and go along.
Why are there not AIcertification training courses
in high schools in the same waythat they used to do?
Um, what was it?
The shop classes where theywould teach you how to fix a car
that is in that same way, thatis what we should be doing for
(29:34):
young high schoolers, people whowanna go into trade, you should
be working on certificationbecause manufacturing jobs, the
landscape is going to change andit's our job.
If we care about people, if wecare about your community, care
about the citizens in the UnitedStates, it's your job to adapt
to how things are changing.
'cause you can't stop it.
Brooke (29:53):
I love that you talked about the job industry and the
workforce and where everything'sheading.
You also just touched a littlebit on education, so I think we
can't leave without talkingabout that hot ticket as well.
Mm-hmm.
Um.
Certifications, upskilling, oureducation system is gonna shift
so much.
Absolutely.
(30:14):
A lot of people are justwondering what it is that we can
even teach that you can't answerquickly.
Within ChatGPT, what's the pointin learning half the things
we're learning now?
What's your take on educationand how that's going to shift in
the coming years?
Yemisi (30:30):
Yeah.
Well, I always tell people, um,look, AI doesn't replace your
teacher.
There are still human thingslike emotion discernment that
you are only gonna understandas, as a human being with
emotional value.
Right.
AI isn't something that's hereto teach you sympathy, uh, here
to teach you compassion.
Those are human traits.
(30:51):
Uh, almost like rightanimalists, animalistic in
nature that we are all justgoing to have to teach each
other, right?
A lioness does not teach itselfthrough ai.
There's still, there are stillthings that we are just gonna
have to depend on because we'relike nurture in nature.
So let's not be scared of AIbecause we think that AI is
(31:12):
trying to educate our children.
No, no, no.
You still have to teach otherpeople how to be good people.
AI cannot do that.
AI can teach you how to be.
Smart and let's create good andsmart people.
I think it's just that simple.
Brooke (31:29):
Very simple take.
I agree as well.
You shared a little bit aboutupskilling and learning through
certifications, which alsoreminded me about the course
industry.
I personally feel like we'regonna be shifting so much more
into the course industry, andyou're gonna see the rise of the
(31:49):
entrepreneur, the solopreneur,where we're gonna be learning
from each other.
You mentioned about learningfrom each other.
I agree.
I think that we're gonna learnfrom real world experience in a.
And a faster rate and fasterpace.
Mm-hmm.
With the help of tools andtechnology and ai.
But I also think it's reallyimportant to have that
(32:11):
one-to-one connection and, andpeople learning those soft
skills, those interpersonalemotional intelligence.
There's this group called AlphaSchool.
I'm gonna try to attend one oftheir orientations that they're
having.
They're expanding to Miami inthe coming weeks,'cause I'm
dying to talk to their teachers.
They've started in Texas andthey really integrate AI into
(32:35):
their learnings and they havesuch a unique way of approaching
education and because of that,they see people really excel
faster and they're aboutteaching them real life skills.
Um, how to run and manage anAirbnb is one of them.
Like, think about.
Mm-hmm.
How incredible that would be tohave had that passive income
right away and learn that incollege.
Yemisi (32:56):
Wow.
I think that's incredible andespecially like, look, the price
tag of college is astronomicalnow.
I can't even imagine, likethinking about having kids
multiple wins and helping thempay their way through college is
crazy to think about the debtthat they're saddled with.
So I.
I think that we are living in atime where people, right, you
(33:17):
have a podcast, I mean, 15 yearsago you only got your news
through like five channels, andwe can name'em all right?
And now there are people who areleaving the news that exist on
Substack, on YouTube.
There are people who are makinga living off of TikTok.
TikTok did 9 billion annuallyjust in the US on e-commerce.
Their entire shops that exist onTikTok, small businesses booming
(33:39):
because of that platform.
People don't have to go to thefive standard things anymore.
And because of that, I alsothink people don't have to
utilize universities anymore.
If you wanna be an entrepreneur,you don't have to do four years
of college, two years of an MBA,going into a Deloitte, a
McKinsey, or something spacelike that.
I know people who are makingbeyond their means living who?
(34:03):
Aren't your traditional kind ofcollege graduates because they
are utilizing the newenvironment and the space that
we live in.
And I, I mean, I think that'sfantastic.
The alpha, I mean, the alphacourses sound amazing.
Passive income from Airbnb.
Yes.
Why are we not teaching peopleabout all of this?
And in this day and age, asprices continue increasing,
you're gonna need multiplestreams said.
(34:25):
Income, so why not learn?
Brooke (34:28):
Absolutely.
Have you gotten into Substack orare you leaning into being the
face of your brand as aconsultant?
Yemisi (34:35):
I am.
I am dipping my toe intoSubstack more and more.
I've got friends that are very,the people who substack,
substack hard.
It is really its own world.
I've dived into TikTok andYouTube, um, like playing around
a lot with Instagram reels.
It's been interesting.
I go on Fox a lot and they'repushing a lot of, like the Fox
(34:56):
News anchors to have like TikTokaccounts and things like that
because, I mean, I tell peopleall the time.
Yeah.
I sit, I sit on cable news, I goon MSNBC, Fox News.
I don't even own a tv.
I wouldn't even know how towatch myself.
I said, I watch those slips whenthey clip'em and they put'em on
Instagram or YouTube shorts orsomething like that.
And I also find that's the bestway of engagement because people
(35:17):
like things bite-size and quick.
Now nobody's sitting down towatch 60 minutes.
You know, you sit down with yourparents, you'd watch like an
hour long news program.
People don't do that anymore.
The news moves quickly, and soyou gotta adapt to it.
Brooke (35:30):
It does move very quickly.
I attempted to download TikTokStudio yesterday and Live
Stream, one of my podcastinterviews.
It kind of, uh, was too muchprocessing for my computer.
It didn't, It didn't work out.
But I am leaning more into thesedifferent social spheres,
clipping up.
Mm-hmm.
My content more.
(35:52):
I think it's a whole notherconversation that we can have
about being the face of yourbrand and yeah.
Um, driving that, I can see whyFox would, would want its
representatives to be leaninginto TikTok.
But thank you so much.
I loved all the differentdirections this conversation
went.
I really enjoyed Yeah.
Getting to talk to you and askyou kind of some hardball
(36:13):
questions that you didn't
Yemisi (36:15):
flinch at all.
No, it was fun.
It was great.
Um, and I I hope people takeaway from it.
Learning not to be scared, youknow, I'm over here in
Washington talking to peoplewho, who existed before even the
first computer.
And, you know, we're trying toget them as quickly as we can up
to being supportive of peoplegrowing in this AI space.
(36:37):
And not restricting it just fromlike a, this feeling of what is
this?
It's new.
Like, let's put guardrails onit.
No, let's let it grow and let'swatch it.
Help communities.
Brooke (36:48):
Absolutely.
And if listeners wanna get intouch with you, what's the best
way to connect?
Yemisi (36:54):
Yeah, it is Yemisi Egbewole on YouTube, on TikTok.
It's YemYamz on Instagram.
Yeah, and I post a lot aboutwhere I am, what I will be
doing, and a lot of my thoughtsand opinions.
Brooke (37:08):
Wonderful.
I'll have to tag you on YouTubewhen this full video goes live.
I just launched that last week.
Thank you so much for your timeYemisi today.
I really appreciate you.
Yemisi (37:19):
Of course.
Thank you for having me.
Brooke (37:21):
Wow I hope today's episode opened your mind to
what's possible with AI.
Do you have a cool use case onhow you're using AI and wanna
share it?
DM me.
I'd love to hear more andfeature you on my next podcast.
Until next time, here's toworking smarter, not harder.
See you on the next episode ofHow I AI.
This episode was made possiblein partnership with the
(37:43):
Collective AI, a communitydesigned to help entrepreneurs,
creators, and professionalsseamlessly integrate AI into
their workflows.
One of the biggest game changersin my own AI journey was joining
this space.
It's where I learned, connectedand truly enhanced my
understanding of what's possiblewith ai.
(38:04):
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