The new podcast exploring AI, work, and what it means to stay human.
AI is changing how we work, build, and create — fast.
But beneath the hype and headlines, founders and operators are quietly figuring out what actually works.
Uncomplicated: Humans vs Machines is a podcast about those conversations — the honest, human side of building in the AI era.
Each week, Carly Jefferson sits down with founders, creators, and thinkers to explore how AI is shaping their work, their teams, and their choices — what’s working, what’s breaking, and what’s next.
Listen to The Latest Episodes
EPISODE 07
The Hard Part Isn’t AI. It’s Trust.
with Olivier Babin & Naunidh Bhalla
Private-market investing is still running on PDFs, scattered spreadsheets and manual models. Public markets moved on years ago with real-time analytics and modern data tools. AI seems like the obvious fix, but as Tetrix co-founders Olivier Babin and Naunidh Bhalla explain, most GenAI projects in finance fail not because the technology isn’t good enough, but because the data is messy, the workflows are complex and trust is hard to earn.
Tetrix is taking a different approach. Instead of building for hype, they spent months speaking with more than 400 investors to understand where decisions actually break down. What they found wasn’t a need for “more AI.” It was cleaner data, clearer context and tools investors could rely on.
In just over a year, Tetrix has grown 10x, signed dozens of institutional clients and built a platform that automates the painful parts of data collection and analysis while keeping people in the loop where judgment matters most.
This episode gets into why private-market data is so difficult to work with, where AI genuinely helps, where human insight still matters and what it takes to scale an AI product in one of the most conservative industries in the world.
Olivier and Naunidh’s story is a reminder that the future of investing will not be automated. It will be augmented, pairing technology with the people who know the problem deeply.
EPISODE 06
Why Most AI Fails and the Founders Fixing It
with João Carvalho & Wael Abdelmalek
Most companies hold years of expertise inside documents, systems and people, yet have no reliable way to turn that knowledge into AI they can trust. João Carvalho, a machine learning PhD who studied why AI breaks in the real world, and Wael Abdelmalek, a former AWS architect, teamed up to solve exactly that.
They founded Uthereal to help businesses build their own private, business-grade AI systems — models that stay inside their cloud, use only their data and deliver answers they can rely on. No hype, no shortcuts, no exposing sensitive information to Big Tech.
In this episode, we talk about why so many GenAI pilots fail after the demo, what it actually takes to build trustworthy AI and how companies can use AI to amplify human judgment rather than replace it.
EPISODE 05
Why Belief Is a Founder’s First Investment
with Nomiki Petrolla
What if the most important thing you invest in as a founder isn’t money, code, or connections — but belief?
When Nomiki Petrolla’s six-week-old daughter was on a ventilator fighting for her life, she walked into her house from the hospital, handed her baby to her husband, and quit her job as head of product at an AI company. That moment forced a complete reinvention. After 15 years building products for other people, she finally bet on herself — and on the women who kept coming to her with ideas but no access.
Nomiki launched a consultancy and helped 43 women build their first tech products in a single year, proving the problem was real: talented women had no path to test, build, or launch without technical backgrounds, capital, or permission. That momentum became Theanna — a platform now helping hundreds of women go from idea to revenue with AI-powered roadmaps, community, and a repeatable path to traction.
This episode is about what happens in the messy middle of building something new — where AI accelerates the work, where it still falls short, and why belief, resilience, and community matter more than perfection.
Nomiki’s story is a reminder that in the AI era, anyone can build something that didn’t exist before — but it all starts with believing you can.
EPISODE 04
The Wrong Problem: Why AI Recruiting Misses the Point
with Danielle McLaughlin
What if the future of recruiting was built on trust, not just tech?
After 13 years building engineering teams at Square, Waymo, and Lyft, Danielle McLaughlin walked away from corporate recruiting to launch 18C Partners — a boutique agency focused on helping women in tech find roles that match their worth.
Now, she’s taking that mission further with 18C.ai, an AI-powered recruiting platform designed to enhance human connection, not replace it.
In this episode, we talk about what happens when you bring AI into the parts of recruiting that matter most — not sourcing more resumes, but understanding people.
Danielle shares what she’s learned building a business rooted in empathy and data, how she’s using AI to make recruiting smarter, and why the best technology still relies on trust, patience, and human judgment.
Her story is a reminder that while AI can streamline the process, it can’t replace what makes recruiting work — real connection.
EPISODE 03
Living in the Gray: Building, Belonging & AI
with Sam Ogborn
What if the future of entrepreneurship isn’t about beating the algorithm — but about building something real?
Sam Ogborn, professor, founder, and marketing strategist, left corporate life at Red Bull and Walgreens to experiment online. What started as anonymous whiteboard videos and “cringe” posts turned into a community of 170,000+ people — and a new career helping others navigate the intersection of AI, creativity, and social media.
In this episode, we talk about what it means to live in the gray — why nuance beats extremes, how to build trust in a world of bots and deepfakes, and why the best founders are learning by doing, not waiting for permission.
Sam’s story is a reminder that the future of work won’t belong to the loudest voices or the most polished brands — it’ll belong to the ones brave enough to stay curious and keep showing up.
EPISODE 02
Don’t Underestimate the Outlier with Trip O’Dell
with Trip O’Dell
The kid they said wouldn’t go to college went on to design products for hundreds of millions — and now he’s tackling a $3.8 trillion problem. Trip O’Dell, co-founder and CEO of 5xFive, calls himself “OG neurodivergent from 1979.” In this episode, he explains why the real issue with AI isn’t automation — it’s understanding. We explore how neurodivergent thinking fuels innovation, why technology should amplify human intelligence (not replace it), and what leaders get wrong about automation.
EPISODE 01
Doing Beats Thinking
with Sophie Theodorou
What happens when you stop overthinking AI and just start using it?
Sophie Theodorou, founder of Teach2AI, shares how she went from teaching middle-school math to training global teams at Adobe, Samsung, and Google. Her “learning by doing” mindset turned curiosity into a 100K-strong community — and a viral video that made $40K overnight. Sophie breaks down how to use AI as a collaborator, not a crutch, and why authenticity beats perfection when it comes to growth.