17. Claude Cowork - AI Agents Working For You (feat. Barbara Johnson, COO, Kortical)

Can anyone get AI Agents working for them? In this episode, we explore the shift from AI as a corporate mandate to AI as a personal utility. While much of the discussion around artificial intelligence focuses on high-level strategy, the real revolution happens when individuals use it to solve their own "boring" problems, like data extraction, research automation, and the endless cycle of copy-pasting. Our guest is Barbara Johnson, the Chief Operating Officer and non-technical Co-Founder of the award-winning Auto ML company Kortical. With a background in commerce and marketing rather than engineering, Babs shares her firsthand experience of "practicing what she preaches" by automating her own professional and personal worlds.Show links:Barb's Linkedin video post about Claude CoWorkGetting started with Claude: Step-by-step guides (thank you Ruben Hassid)Anthropic's "Get started with Claude Cowork" guideBarbara Johnson on LinkedinKortical websiteKey topics discussed in this episode:The "Aha!" Moment: When AI stopped being industry news and became a personal tool that no longer required a developer to implement.Claude CoWork vs. Claude Code: Understanding the differences between these tools and how non-technical users can steer agents back on track when they encounter "black box" errors or hallucinations.Building with "Lego Bricks": A look at the current tech stack and how to connect tools like email and spreadsheets to an "AI brain" to summarise your work week.The Control Problem: Navigating the risks of agent access and the technical nuances of UI-based automation versus text-based codebase interaction.Empowerment over Replacement: Why the future of AI is about unburdening humans from robotic tasks to make room for creative, high-value work.Listen, Watch and Subscribe on all your favourite platforms: Apple, Amazon, Youtube, Spotify, Jiosaavn, Deezer and more: https://linktr.ee/humanxmachineSponsorship or interview opportunities: Contact Christopher LomasMore:📢 For DAILY POSTS on Emerging Tech, Product Management, Leadership, AI, Gen AI, Automation and Quantum Computing updates, follow Christopher Lomas on Linkedin💙 If you enjoyed this episode, who else might? A colleague or a client? Share it with them as a part of the way you provide value to others. Or share it on Linkedin, WhatsApp, Telegram or other Social Media channels. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.