Forward Future Live | 10/10/25

This episode features discussions with three AI industry leaders: Wade Foster of Zapier on workflow automation, Garrett Langley of Flock Safety on public safety and AI, and Adrien Lewig of Tools for Humanity on online identity and proof of humanity.

• Zapier leverages AI agents for advanced workflow automation, emphasizing deterministic workflows for reliability across unstructured data.

• Flock Safety uses a network of AI-powered cameras and drones to significantly reduce crime and increase clearance rates in communities.

• Tools for Humanity's World ID and Orb provide a private, anonymous proof of humanity to combat bots and enhance online trust without centralizing personal data.

The hosts discuss cutting-edge AI developments with three industry leaders. Wade Foster explains how Zapier's workflow automation is evolving with AI agents to handle unstructured data, stressing the importance of wrapping agents in deterministic workflows for reliability. Garrett Langley shares how Flock Safety uses AI-powered surveillance, including drones and cameras, to reduce crime rates and enhance community safety, emphasizing 'amplified intelligence' over predictive policing. Adrien Lewig from Tools for Humanity details World ID and the Orb, a solution designed to establish anonymous proof of humanity online to combat AI-generated content and bots while protecting user privacy.

Podcast Guests & Topics

• 00:05:06 The episode begins by introducing three special guests: Wade Foster from Zapier to discuss workflow automation and AI agents, Garrett Langley from Flock Safety to cover public safety and community surveillance, and Adrien Lewig from Tools for Humanity to explore proof of humanity and Worldcoin. Before diving into the interviews, the hosts touch upon recent AI news and personal updates, including one host's move to the Bay Area.

Figure 03 Humanoid Robot

• 00:07:10 Figure has introduced Figure 03, its third-generation humanoid robot, praised for its 'gorgeous' design and advanced features. Key innovations include cameras in its hands, touch-sensitive fingers, and inductive charging in its feet, allowing it to self-charge like a Roomba. While impressive for its dexterity and ability to handle delicate objects, rumors suggest the robot in the promotional video might have been remote-controlled, raising questions about its autonomous capabilities, which Figure has yet to clarify.

AMD-OpenAI Partnership

• 00:12:58 AMD and OpenAI have announced a strategic partnership to deploy six gigawatts of AMD GPUs, reflecting OpenAI's urgent need for more compute power. Greg Brockman of OpenAI emphasized the insatiable demand for GPUs, stating that supply cannot keep up. This partnership is a significant win for AMD, whose stock has seen a 40% surge, indicating a shift towards diversification in the GPU market beyond Nvidia, as building on AMD chipsets requires only 'a little' additional work.

OpenAI's Agent Kit

• 00:14:52 OpenAI's Agent Kit, showcased at Dev Day, offers a visual canvas for creating multi-agent workflows, a connector registry, and a Chat Kit for embedding chat-based agent experiences. This development is seen as OpenAI building tools that might compete with its partners, reminiscent of Twilio's strategy. While currently a basic product, it allows for intuitive workflow actioning, with Zapier's MCP connector integrating 8,000 tools to enhance its capabilities beyond mere chat responses to include performing actions like drafting emails or creating Jira tickets.

Zapier in the AI Era

• 00:18:02 Wade Foster, co-founder and CEO of Zapier, describes Zapier as an AI orchestration platform that has evolved from simple integrations to powerful AI-driven workflows. Pre-ChatGPT, workflows were deterministic, handling structured data like lead capture into CRMs. Post-ChatGPT, Zapier leverages LLMs to process unstructured data, enabling more sophisticated automations such as internet searches for lead enrichment and automated sales brief generation, significantly improving data handoffs between teams.

AI Implementation & Strategy

• 00:20:51 Many enterprise companies struggle with AI implementation due to reliability and cost issues associated with purely agentic use cases. Zapier's accidental A/B test shows that wrapping agents within deterministic workflows significantly increases reliability. Wade Foster highlights Zapier's model-agnostic approach, connecting to over 8,000 tools, as its key differentiator against platform-specific workflow builders. The future is expected to see immense 'agent sprawl,' necessitating robust orchestration platforms like Zapier to connect numerous specialized agents across various platforms.

Flock Safety's AI Mission

• 00:55:00 Garrett Langley, founder and CEO of Flock Safety, explains the company's mission to enhance community safety through AI-powered hardware and software. Flock Safety provides stationary cameras, drones, and audio devices to neighborhoods, local governments, and enterprises, processing billions of images. The company aims to aid in roughly a million criminal arrests this year, covering crimes from car theft to human trafficking. Flock Safety's unique approach involves creating a network layer that integrates existing cameras and its own hardware, allowing communities to work together on safety initiatives.

Proof of Humanity with World ID

• 01:36:30 Adrien Lewig, Chief Architect and CISO of Tools for Humanity, details their mission to establish a 'root of trust' for online identity using 'proof of humanity.' This is achieved through the Orb, a physical device that scans a person's iris to verify they are a real human, addressing the growing challenge of distinguishing humans from AI bots online. The World ID, a privacy-centric, zero-knowledge proof-based identity, is held by the user and allows for anonymous verification with services, ensuring data is not centralized or shared with advertising networks. The Worldcoin token facilitates the sustainable operation and expansion of this network, with mini-apps being built on the World Chain to leverage verified human identities for various interactions, including microlending.