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I went to New York to meet our customers: @MTA and @Spotify, and while I was there I recorded a couple new episodes of people actually.
And as I was making my way around the city, I couldn’t help but notice that every other billboard seemed to be for a different AI company.
One promised to replace headcount. Another promised to do your job for you. A third basically promised to solve… well… everything. It felt like everyone had the next big AI breakthrough.
Then, I walked into the podcast studio and had two conversations that felt refreshingly different.
I sat down with Anthony Petraco, CEO of ProboTalent, and Biz Dziarmaga, VP Build Americas Sales & AI Partnerships, IBM. And what I loved most is that neither conversation was about chasing the next shiny tool or making bigger and bigger promises about what AI can do. Instead, they kept coming back to the same idea: intentionality.
Being intentional about the problems you’re trying to solve. Being intentional about where people need to stay firmly in the driver’s seat. Being intentional about building governance into your AI strategy from day one.
Because the teams that win with AI won’t be the ones using it everywhere and for everything. They’ll be the ones using it with purpose and intention.
So, if you’re trying to separate the AI hype from what actually works, here are the moments from each conversation that stuck with me the most.
Here’s the short version of what stuck with me:
Episode 6 — Anthony Petraco, ProboTalent:
- Use AI to buy back time for people — let it handle scheduling and early screening so recruiters can focus on building relationships.
- Let AI inform hiring decisions, not make them — role-based skills assessments show what candidates can actually do, and people still make every call.
- Hire for mission fit — skills can be taught and experience gained, but caring about the problem you’re solving can’t.
Episode 7 — Biz Dziarmaga, IBM:
- Move from experimenting to producing — point AI at targeted use cases that solve real business problems.
- Build governance in from day one — guardrails don’t slow innovation, they make it repeatable.
- Don’t confuse new with better — start from the outcome you want, then choose the AI that gets you there.
Episode 6: The New Rules of Hiring in the AI Era
For this episode, I got to go founder to founder with the incredible Anthony Petraco, CEO of ProboTalent (and one of our amazing partners!).
Anthony has spent his career across the HR landscape, working in everything from payroll to recruiting. Add in the fact that he’s built multiple companies himself, and it’s safe to say he knows a thing or two about what great hiring looks like.
We covered everything from AI and candidate fraud to the hiring traits that matter most when you’re building a company from the ground up.
Here are some of my favorite takeaways from the conversation:
The best use of AI? Creating more time for people. There’s a lot of debate about where AI belongs in hiring, but Anthony’s answer was refreshingly simple: use it where it creates more opportunities for human connection. Let AI handle the repetitive work like scheduling interviews or managing early screening, so recruiters can spend more time building relationships with candidates. That’s where the real value gets created.
AI shouldn’t replace recruiters—it should help them make better decisions. Recruiters today are often left staring at a stack of hundreds of applications for a single role…and no one has time to review all of them thoroughly. Anthony shared how ProboTalent’s technology uses AI to build skills assessments tailored to each role, helping candidates demonstrate what they can actually do instead of relying solely on a resume. The result? Recruiters can spend less time sorting through hundreds of applications and more time evaluating a smaller group of qualified candidates. The AI does the heavy lifting, but people still make every hiring decision.
The best hires aren’t always the ones with the “perfect” resume. As someone who’s built multiple companies, I loved Anthony’s perspective on this. Across every business he’s started, Anthony consistently looks for the same thing: people who are genuinely enthusiastic about the problem the company is trying to solve. Skills can be learned. Experience can be gained. But it’s much harder to teach someone to care about the mission.
Watch Anthony explain why AI should create more human connection—not less:
CLIP: https://riverside.com/shared/exported-clip/57baa364ddaa8de38e3e
Listen to the full episode here.
Episode 7: The AI Goldrush Needs Guardrails
This week’s guest has spent nearly two decades at IBM, so if anyone has a front-row seat to the evolution of AI, it’s Biz Dziarmaga.
Biz leads IBM’s Embed AI program, partnering with companies like Employ to embed IBM’s AI technology into the products they build and deliver to customers. (Fun fact: our AI solutions are built with IBM watsonx.governance to help ensure they’re transparent, explainable, and governed from the very beginning.)
Naturally, we spent our conversation talking all things AI—from where the technology is today to where it’s headed next, the biggest mistakes she sees organizations make, and what it takes to put AI to work in a way people can trust.
Here are the three ideas that stuck with me the most from our conversation:
We’re entering a new phase of AI adoption. Over the last year, most organizations have been experimenting with AI—trying different tools, testing new ideas, and figuring out what’s possible. Now, we’re entering a new phase: putting AI into production. That means moving beyond the hype and focusing on targeted use cases that solve real business problems.
Don’t wait to think about governance. One of the biggest mistakes Biz sees is organizations treating governance as something they’ll worry about after they’ve rolled out AI. Her advice was the exact opposite: start there. Because governance doesn’t slow innovation—it makes innovation repeatable. Once you’ve established clear guardrails around how AI should be used, teams can move faster and with more confidence… instead of reinventing the rules every time they launch something new.
Don’t chase every new AI breakthrough. It can feel like there’s a new model or platform making headlines every week. Biz’s advice was simple: don’t confuse new with better. If your current tools are delivering value, you don’t need to rip and replace them every time something new comes along. Start with the outcome you’re trying to achieve, then choose the AI solutions that help you get there. A thoughtful strategy will always outperform chasing the latest trend.
Watch Biz explain why governance shouldn’t be an afterthought.
CLIP: https://riverside.com/shared/exported-clip/825575fcd29953715d1f
Listen to the full episode here.
AI Is Only as Good as the Strategy Behind It
One thing these two conversations reinforced for me: AI alone isn’t the competitive advantage. How you use it is.
AI will continue to evolve. New models will launch. New capabilities will emerge. But the organizations that come out on top won’t necessarily be the ones with the newest technology. They’ll be the ones with the clearest purpose behind how they use it.
That’s exactly why I started people actually. I wanted a place for conversations that cut through the hype, challenge conventional thinking, and focus on what actually helps organizations build better teams. Anthony and Biz did exactly that, and I can’t wait to bring you more perspectives from the leaders shaping the future of hiring.
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