BASELINE
A long-form conversation series uncovering how innovation really happens, hosted by technologist Ian T. Smith.
Each episode brings together founders, policymakers, scientists, and strategists shaping the future of AI and digital systems.
About Ian T. Smith
A technology founder and enterprise operator, Ian has built, scaled, and exited multiple software ventures across AI, infrastructure, and data security. He co-founded Butterfly Software, acquired by IBM, where he went on to lead global product management. He later founded Gospel Technology, backed by Salesforce Ventures and adopted by AstraZeneca and Rolls-Royce.
Ian created BASELINE as an independent space to explore the future of AI and digital systems. It has grown into a platform used by founders, policymakers, engineers, and investors to understand both the opportunity and the risk in the next wave of technology.
He now leads the development of BASELINE as a growing technology company focused on insight, responsible innovation, and the tools that help organisations operate with confidence in an AI driven economy.
Testimonials
“Such a great interviewer.”
“That guy has a depth that’s rare in these discussions.”
“The multibody problem analogy was brilliant.”
“So entertaining to watch.”
Why Low Earth Orbit Is Becoming Dangerous - Bianca Cefalo
Low Earth Orbit is getting crowded, chaotic and harder to manage. In this episode, Space DOTS founder Bianca Cefalo explains why satellites are failing, why 90 percent of orbital anomalies have no known cause, and how space weather and hidden threats are reshaping the environment above Earth.
We explore the reality of Kessler syndrome, rapid material degradation, non kinetic attacks and why current data is no longer enough. This is the intelligence layer we need for the next decade of space operations.
Artificial Intelligence: Utopia or dystopia?
What Really Breaks Through in PR and Media. Leila Hrycyszyn
AI generated content now floods every feed, and journalists are overwhelmed with synthetic pitches, misinformation and noise. In this episode, PR strategist Leila H joins me to reveal how real influence actually works in 2025.
We explore what breaks through in the modern media landscape, why chasing the algorithm is a losing strategy, and how journalists choose the most interesting comment over the most senior voice. Leila shows why some stories generate thousands of reactions within an hour, how emotional content still drives attention, and why brands fail when they rely on AI to create generic pitches.
We discuss PR, media trust, AI creators, the future of influence, the hidden power behind the feed, and the new rules for getting seen when the internet is saturated with bots, auto-generated content and hyper-personalised news feeds. If you want to understand what breaks through in a world shaped by PR, AI and algorithms, this is the episode to watch.
Artificial Intelligence: Utopia or dystopia?
Why You Must Protect Your Freedom to Think. Susie Alegre
As algorithms begin to decide what we see, believe, and even feel, one right becomes more important than any other - the right to think freely. Susie Alegre has spent her career fighting for that freedom. From the United Nations and Amnesty International to global courtrooms and parliaments, she has defended the idea that human thought itself must remain beyond the reach of governments and machines.
In this conversation, she and Ian explore the frontline of cognitive liberty from AI bias and behavioural micro-targeting to the legal “reset” that could define the next century. Alegre argues that freedom of thought is an absolute human right as fundamental as the bans on slavery and torture and she shows how we can still reclaim it before it’s rewritten by code.
Artificial Intelligence: Utopia or dystopia?
Inside the AI Bubble. Danvers Baillieu
Is the AI boom a repeat of the dot-com bubble or something entirely new? In this episode of BASELINE, Ian sits down with Danvers Baillieu: tech lawyer, startup operator, and co-founder of GVT Labs to explore what’s real and what’s hype inside the AI bubble. F
rom advising early internet founders and co-creating Bootlaw, to scaling Hide My Ass VPN and InfoSum, Danvers has lived through every wave of digital disruption. Together they unpack how privacy, regulation, and trust are colliding with the speed of automation, and why AI’s foundations may be stronger than the markets think.
Artificial Intelligence: Utopia or dystopia?
But Risk Has Never Stopped Progress. Dr Magda Ramada
In The Age of Imperfect Machines, global InsurTech leader Dr. Magda Ramada Sarasola (WTW) joins BASELINE to explore one of the most overlooked questions in the AI revolution: What happens when AI fails and how do we insure against it? From the fear of the first elevators to today’s non-deterministic AI systems, this conversation uncovers why innovation doesn’t come from eliminating risk, but from learning how to live with it.
Magda explains how the insurance industry has always enabled progress by absorbing uncertainty so society can keep moving forward and how that same principle now underpins AI assurance, accountability, and agentic systems.
Artificial Intelligence: Utopia or dystopia?
Ex-Google Engineer: Why Digital ID Will Decide AI’s Future
Digital identity is no longer just about logging in, it’s about who and what we trust in a world where AI agents are multiplying faster than humans. In this episode of BASELINE, I speak with Jacoby Thwaites, ex-Google technologist and now CTO of Magic ID. We dive into the UK’s plans for mandatory digital ID by 2029, Switzerland’s national e-ID referendum, and why identity has become the #1 attack vector in cyber security.
Jacoby explains why humans today are “ghosts in the digital world,” why bots already outnumber humans online, and how trusted communities could give people and AI equal standing in digital society.
Artificial Intelligence: Utopia or dystopia?
Dr Michael Barros on Brain Connectivity and Embodied Intelligence
Dr Michael Barros brings a rare blend of scientific depth and human clarity. From showing us why every neuron is important to revealing how electroceuticals could transform medicine and how true intelligence is embodied, he turns complex frontiers of neuroscience into ideas anyone can grasp.
His work at the University of Essex and the Alan Turing Institute is pioneering, but more than that, he speaks with humility and hope about the future of humanity and AI. This is one of those conversations that makes you rethink what it means to be alive, to learn, and to imagine what comes next.
Artificial Intelligence: Utopia or dystopia?
The Algorithmic Leap | AI, Innovation, and the Rules of the Game - Dr John Fletcher
In BASELINE052, Ian Smith sits down with Dr John Fletcher an Oxford, Imperial, and Cambridge-trained physicist and Chief Scientist at The Innovation Game. John is not just a world-class academic - he’s a rare innovator who bridges the gap between research and real-world impact.
At The Innovation Game, he is building technology that creates genuine competitive advantage, not just another layer of AI hype. His work proves how algorithms can solve critical problems in logistics, medicine, and science showing that the future of AI is about application, not buzzwords.
Artificial Intelligence: Utopia or dystopia?
Are We Giving Up Our Minds? Prof Reinhold Scherer on Brain Interfaces & AI Outsourcing - BASELINE045
Professor Reinhold Scherer is Head of the School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering at the University of Essex and a global leader in brain-computer interface (BCI) research. In this episode of BASELINE, he explains how BCIs are already restoring movement, hearing, and communication, and what it means when we begin connecting human brains to machines.
We explore the ethics of neural implants, the rise of synthetic intelligence, and how tools like ChatGPT are reshaping memory, attention, and human thought. From non-invasive brainwave decoding to the psychological impact of cognitive outsourcing, this conversation reveals what happens when machines do more than serve us - they begin to shape us.
Artificial Intelligence: Utopia or dystopia?
The Man Teaching Banks to Think - Dr Paul Dongha, NatWest - BASELINE041
Dr Paul Dongha was studying intelligent agents before most people had internet access. Today, he leads Responsible AI at NatWest, shaping how artificial intelligence supports financial customers while protecting trust. In this conversation, Paul unpacks how GenAI is changing the relationship between banks and individuals, why emotional AI must be treated with caution, and how his 1996 PhD on goal-directed agents is now shockingly relevant.
We explore what it means to act ethically with AI, how regulation and innovation can coexist, and why the future of finance might look more like a conversation than a transaction.
Artificial Intelligence: Utopia or dystopia?