Tech & Toast-Hiring AI with David Townsend

Hiring AI presents unique hurdles, including defining specific job roles, assessing AI capabilities, ensuring compatibility with existing systems, addressing ethical concerns, and mitigating potential job displacement. Learn how to unleash the potential of AI while navigating the complexities of integration: Let’s explore the challenges and opportunities of hiring AI.

David Townsend (Ph.D., Oklahoma) serves as the Schulze Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship and the Academic Director of the Apex Center for Entrepreneurs in the Department of Management in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech. He is also the founding faculty director of VT Tech Fellows, an interdisciplinary technology commercialization fellowship program focused on the development and growth of ‘deep tech’ ventures. He primarily teaches courses in technology strategy, artificial intelligence, and technology entrepreneurship in Pamplin’s graduate business programs. He also serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneur & Innovation Exchange (EIX.org) and Family Business (familybusiness.org), the leading global platforms connecting evidence-based entrepreneurship research with practicing entrepreneurs, serving more than 15 million readers per year. His research explores fundamental questions at the intersection of artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship, and organization theory, and has been published in a variety of premier academic journals and profiled in the business press. He currently advises numerous startups and corporate ventures in the ‘deep tech’ space.