WTF is Happening in AI Right Now and the Stuff Nobody's Talking About with Jess Carlin

Host Nadia Koski sits down with Jess Carlin, who is a consultant in the media and entertainment industry and co-creator of the Early Adoptr podcast — where she and Kyle break down AI and tech in a way that actually makes sense. No jargon gatekeeping. In this episode of Still Human, Nadia and Jess get into the trends that are flying under the radar — including Anthropic's study of 81,000 users that revealed AI's biggest value isn't just efficiency, it's scope expansion: giving people skills and capabilities they never thought they had. She also breaks down MCP (Model Context Protocol) — the universal connector that's quietly becoming the infrastructure of AI, allowing tools like Slack, Gemini Notes, chats, and Claude to finally play nicely together. Another deep dive during the conversation explores how AI is replacing jobs — but the full story is messier, and a lot more interesting. Yes, entry-level roles are disappearing. But Amazon had to pause vibe coding after it crashed their site and bring the junior engineers back to do QA. Klarna let go of their customer service team and quietly rehired. The cost of AI tokens is already on track to outpace the salaries of the people companies just let go. So what does that actually mean for the job market, for new grads, and for the next wave of leaders who were never hired to learn?Jess and Nadia also get into the double standard that isn't going away. Research from LeanIn and Harvard Business School shows that women are 32% more likely than men to worry they'll be perceived as cheating when they use AI at work — and studies show that the exact same AI-assisted output is judged as less competent when it comes from a woman. They unpack why that's connected to imposter syndrome, mental load, and a systems gap — not a confidence gap. And then Jess gets into agents: what they actually are (one task, one agent), what agentic means (a string of agents working across a full workflow), what she built over a long weekend connecting Granola → Claude → Airtable to finally get her scattered workstreams into one to-do list — and why you do not need to start with OpenClaw.___SHOW NOTESConnect with Jess Carlin LinkedInFollow the Early Adoptr Podcast LinkedIn · Spotify · Apple PodcastsEarly Adoptr episode referenced: Stop Building AI Agents the Hard Way: Lessons from 25 Years in AI (w/Rob Webster)Subscribe to Jess's newsletter So this happened… by AtonikTry Granola (Jess's affiliate link) granola.aiArticles & Research Anthropic: What 81,000 users reveal about how people actually use AI HBR: The Hidden Penalty of Using AI at Work Harvard Business School: Women Are Avoiding Using Artificial Intelligence. Can That Hurt Their Careers? Sifted: Why women aren't 'missing' the AI train LeanIn.org: AI Women Gender Gap DataStill Human is available wherever you listen to podcasts. New episodes out every two weeks. Please follow, subscribe and leave a review if this one landed.Sound engineer: Morgan BoscCover art: Adam RicharsonNadia Headshot: Alessandro Fibbi