The Wilmac Wire

The Wilmac Wire

Kevin Surace | What’s Changed in AI, the Power Players, & Enabling Rochester to Build

Jul 30, 2026 · 1 hr 5 min · 13 segments

Kevin Surace has a rule: use AI five times an hour. Not five times a day, five times an HOUR, whether he's building a spreadsheet, drafting a keynote deck, or writing a Broadway musical. He says 99%…

Kevin Surace has a rule: use AI five times an hour. Not five times a day, five times an HOUR, whether he's building a spreadsheet, drafting a keynote deck, or writing a Broadway musical. He says 99% of people he talks to are nowhere close, and that one of their competitors already is. In this episode of The Wilmac Wire, hosts Emily McNulty and Steve McDonnell welcome back Kevin Surace — AI pioneer, inventor of the modern virtual assistant, and Chairman/CTO of Advanced.ai — for a wide-ranging conversation on the model wars between OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, why coding jobs are shifting instead of disappearing, and how his company Token is stopping AI-driven identity hacks with biometrics. **Here's what you'll hear about:** - Kevin's "five times an hour" rule, and why most people are already behind - Inside the model wars: OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, and why Kevin calls foundation models a coming commodity - Why security awareness training barely moves the needle — and the biometric fix his company Token is building instead - The real reason coding jobs aren't disappearing, and why nobody cares how you got the result anymore - The Joy Success Cycle, Kevin's new book dropping September 1, and his one-complaint-a-day rule - Whether Rochester is actually building a real AI startup ecosystem **Episode Breakdown:** 0:00 Welcome back, Kevin Surace 2:09 Introducing Kevin's background 3:56 Icebreaker: This or That 6:40 The model wars: OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, and the "commodity model" debate 12:53 Kevin's path into virtual assistants and General Magic 27:09 How Nvidia stumbled into the AI chip business 31:05 Kevin's "five times an hour" AI rule 35:44 Claude Design and the disappearing "interim step" 41:23 Why coding jobs are changing, not disappearing 45:30 The Joy Success Cycle and the one-complaint-a-day rule 52:44 Is Rochester building a real AI startup ecosystem? 58:33 Token, biometric security, and stopping AI-driven hacks 1:04:05 Where to find Kevin, and his new book Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn Listen to more episodes of The Wilmac Wire: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | iHeart | Riverside

Kevin Surace has a rule: use AI five times an hour. Not five times a day, five times an HOUR, whether he's building a spreadsheet, drafting a keynote deck, or writing a Broadway musical. He says 99%…

Show Introduction & Episode Overview0:00 – 2:34

Emily MillerHost

0:00

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening.

Emily MillerHost

0:02

Welcome or welcome back to the Will MacWire.

Emily MillerHost

0:06

Thank you so much for tuning in.

Emily MillerHost

0:08

We are bringing back one of our most popular guests from season two in today's episode of the Will Mack Wire.

Emily MillerHost

0:14

And given how fast the landscape has moved since we last talked a little bit over a year ago, it felt like a no brainer to have him back.

Emily MillerHost

0:25

And we'll probably have him on again in the future.

Emily MillerHost

0:27

We recorded this episode in person at Rockbox Studios as well.

Emily MillerHost

0:30

That first one was virtual.

Emily MillerHost

0:32

So it was even a more fruitful conversation.

Emily MillerHost

0:36

Today, you can expect to hear from Kevin Sorais, AI pioneer, inventor, and one of the most recognized voices on disruptive innovation.

Emily MillerHost

0:46

If you haven't listened to his first episode, you can find it in Season 2, Episode 6, which aired in March 2025.

Emily MillerHost

0:54

Like I said, the conversation was very different back then, which is just incredible to be living this history.

Emily MillerHost

1:01

So here's what you can expect out of today's conversation with Kevin.

Emily MillerHost

1:04

We discuss what has changed within AI since we last spoke.

Emily MillerHost

1:09

We discussed your generative AI, your agentic AI, recursive AI, the model wars that are going on.

Emily MillerHost

1:16

Kevin, he really broke it down and Steve got super into it.

Emily MillerHost

1:21

We talked about the power players, your open AIs, anthropics, perplexity, grok.

Emily MillerHost

1:26

You'll hear Kevin call me out about Gemini, but where things stand and what Kevin is actually using in terms of AI.

Emily MillerHost

1:33

We also discussed the fear narrative around AI and why so many companies are still paralyzed and not moving on it.

Emily MillerHost

1:40

And we also discussed Kevin's work here in Rochester and what he's doing, which one of those things being a new book that he has dropping September 1st that we like to chat about.

Emily MillerHost

1:50

But I will let him tell you about it.

Emily MillerHost

1:55

Kevin, thanks for joining us.

Emily MillerHost

1:56

We're excited to have you back again in the future for our listeners.

Emily MillerHost

2:00

This is a great, really educational episode on AI.

Emily MillerHost

2:04

So let's just get into it.

Emily MillerHost

2:09

Welcome to the Wilmack Wire.

Emily MillerHost

2:11

I'm Emily Miller, joined by my co-host, Steve McDonald.

Emily MillerHost

2:15

On this show, we talk to the drivers, the leaders, innovators, and decision makers pushing customer interaction technology and AI forward.

Emily MillerHost

2:23

And because we're proud to call Western New York home, we also spotlight the drivers in our own community, the people and organizations shaping growth and innovation

Steve McDonaldHost

2:32

right here.

Steve McDonaldHost

2:33

Let's get into it.

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