The ID Talk Podcast

What happens when half of all internet traffic is generated by unaccountable bots and AI? This week, the pod welcomes Evan McMullen, co-founder and CEO of Billions Network, to discuss what she calls an "existential moment for the internet".

Tune in to explore the rise of the "agentic economy," where autonomous AIs act on our behalf, and the urgent need for a new trust layer to verify both human and machine identity. Evan br...

In an internet increasingly filled with AI and bots, how do you prove you're human? This week, ID Talk welcomes Ajay Patel, Head of World ID at Tools for Humanity, to talk about solving one of the internet's biggest challenges. Ajay explains the mission to create a global "human network" to accelerate humans in the age of AI, how the Orb creates a private proof of humanity without compromising anonymity, and why this could...

In observance of International Identity Day, the ID Talk team welcomes Guillaume Lefebvre, VP of Civil Identity at Thales, to tackle the biggest questions in our industry. For example, how can enabling legal identity for all by 2030 help to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goal 16:9?  What does a “trusted identity” actually mean? And how do we secure that identity against the threats of tomorrow? Guillaume shares insig...

In this episode of ID Talk, CEO Lionel Grosclaude explains how Fime has evolved from a compliance testing firm into a global leader guiding the payments and digital identity ecosystem. Speaking with hosts Alex Perala and Dave Barclay, Grosclaude outlines Fime’s unique role as the “good teacher” of digital identity – helping clients strengthen solutions rather than just grading them pass or fail. The discussion explores bio...

What happens to your digital assets when you're gone? It's a critical question that Boris Mofrad, Co-founder of Serenity, set out to answer. In this episode, Boris shares how a simple question from his wife sparked the creation of a biometric cold wallet designed to solve crypto's inheritance problem. He explains how Serenity partners with Idemia to link your biometrics to your assets, ensuring they can be passed on. 

As Bo...

With Identity Week America just around the corner, we are thrilled to welcome back Evie Kim Sing, Editor of IdentityWeek.net, for an exclusive preview of the big event in Washington, D.C.Evie offers a detailed overview of the 2025 agenda, outlining the key themes and presentations set to define the event. 

The discussion covers critical industry developments, including the state-level implementation of mobile Driver's Licen...

As facial recognition technology becomes more powerful, who ensures it's used correctly and ethically? This week, the ID Talk crew takes a field trip to meet the members of the Facial Identification Scientific Working Group (FISWG). We sit down with forensic experts and law enforcement leaders from around the world to discuss their crucial, volunteer-driven work in setting global standards for face forensics. Tune in to le...

With generative AI making fraud more sophisticated and scalable than ever, how can we trust what we see online? This week, we're joined by Nathan Short, VP of Research at AuthenticID, for a deep dive into the "cat and mouse" game of digital identity verification. Nathan pulls back the curtain on their special Identity Fraud Task Force, explaining how they think like hackers to stay ahead of deepfakes, and why "trusted capt...

In this episode of ID Talk, co-hosts Alex Perala, Dave Barclay, and Tony Bitzionis are joined by Jarek Sygitowicz, co-founder of Authologic, a company on a mission to simplify identity verification by aggregating government-issued eIDs, identity wallets, and bank IDs into a single API. Jarek explains how Authologic is helping businesses navigate the complexity of KYC and AML compliance, and how identity wallets are dramati...

In this week's episode, ID Talk's Alex Perala and Tony Bitzionis sit down with Sam Cilento, Business Development Manager at Lakota Software Solutions, for an engaging conversation live from Identity Week Europe – and in a follow-up call for a post-event debrief. 

Sam shares how Lakota, a relatively small West Virginia company, powers some of the world’s largest biometric systems with its Ani SDK and Whorl software, helping ...

In the latest episode of ID Talk, Tony Bitzionis and Alex Perala sit down with Nicole McNamee-Wicks, Director of Biometric Cybersecurity at FaceTec and a former federal agent with over 30 years of law enforcement experience. Nicole shares how her career combating identity fraud with the SSA OIG led her to FaceTec – and why she believes the company’s technology could be a game-changer for securing documents and protecting i...

In this episode of ID Talk, hosts Alex Perala and Tony Bitzionis are joined by Evie Kim Sing, Editor of IdentityWeek.net, to discuss the major trends shaping the identity industry. Evie shares insights from her reporting on deepfake fraud, biometric data in travel, and the importance of inclusive innovation in identity tech.

She also previews what to expect at Identity Week Europe in Amsterdam — from European digital ident...

In this episode, ID Talk welcomes Dan Pinto, co-founder and CEO of Fingerprint, a device intelligence company redefining fraud prevention without collecting personal data. 

Dan shares how Fingerprint achieves industry-leading device identification accuracy, discusses the rise of agentic AI and VPN-based fraud, and explains why Apple’s privacy changes were a growth catalyst. It’s a fascinating dive into the evolving line bet...

Ajay Amlani, the new President and CEO of Aware, joins ID Talk to share his bold vision for the future of biometrics and digital identity. In a wide-ranging conversation with hosts Alex Perala and Tony Bitzionis, Amlani draws on his extensive background – from shaping U.S. homeland security policy to launching innovation units in Silicon Valley – to discuss the transformative role biometrics can play in the age of AI and r...

In this episode of ID Talk, we sit down with Rob Devlin, co-founder and CEO of Metalenz, to explore how metasurface optics are reshaping the future of facial recognition and mobile sensing. Rob walks us through the groundbreaking technology behind metasurfaces—flat, nanostructured lenses that replace traditional optical stacks—and how Metalenz’s latest product, Polar ID, leverages polarization imaging to deliver secure, sp...

Friend of the pod Danielle VanZandt returns to share her key takeaways and expert insights from this year's RSA Conference. As the Research Manager & Program Director for Frost & Sullivan's Commercial and Public Security unit, Danielle brings her usual wealth of expertise to the conversation. It's especially helpful in this case as we onboard the latest member of the ID Tech team, Dave Barclay, who joins the discus...

In this episode of ID Talk, Alex Perala sits down with Alexandre Kech, CEO of the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), to explore how GLEIF is bringing digital identity to the enterprise itself. They discuss the origins of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI), its global adoption, and the foundation’s latest innovation – the Verifiable LEI (VLEI) – designed to give companies and their authorized representatives ...

In this episode of ID Talk, IDnow’s Director of Research, Montaser Awal, reveals how AI is reshaping the fight against digital fraud and deepfake threats. He discusses IDnow’s role in Europe's groundbreaking Achilles Project, emphasizing transparency, fairness, and trust in artificial intelligence. Montaser also shares valuable insights into the importance of data quality, privacy, and bias mitigation in AI-driven identity...