This week's guest is Mohammed Marikar. We explore the meaning and implications of AI. Mohammed reflects on AI’s rapid evolution from narrow tools to general-purpose systems, while balancing optimism about efficiency with concern for lost human development and resilience. We probe questions of education, faith, parenting, and morality, discussing how AI intersects with character formation, spiritual life, and societal structures. The conversation ultimately highlights both awe at AI’s capabilities and anxiety about dependence, emphasizing the need for grounding in fundamental skills, moral frameworks, and embodied human experiences.

Mohammed is a technologist, investor, and AI leader with over 20 years of experience at the intersection of finance and technology. At the Royal Bank of Canada, he founded the bank’s first Innovation Lab in Europe, deploying its first agentic AI system in 2016, and also ran the bank’s UK academic partnerships, sponsoring PhD research in applied AI at leading universities, including Imperial College London.

On leaving RBC, Mohammed co-founded Neem Capital, an AI-native investment firm that connects global capital with high-impact opportunities in developing markets. He is also Head of Institutional Development at FLock.io, a decentralised AI company pioneering federated learning and privacy-preserving AI, where he helps bridge frontier AI research into institutional and commercial use cases.

In addition to his industry work, Mohammed serves as an Adjunct Fellow at the University of Southampton, where he trains PhD students at the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in AI for Sustainability on translating their research into industry applications.

A London native and Mathematics graduate of Imperial College, Mohammed began programming at the age of five and continues to tinker with open-source projects and white-hat hacking. He also sits on the board of The Brokerage, a social mobility charity helping young people access careers in finance and technology.

We’re excited to share a new sponsor: The Brueggeman Center for Dialogue at Xavier University, here in Cincinnati, is dedicated to deepening understanding across faiths and promoting systemic change.

Avenue M is produced by Bespoken Live with music by Zach Swelber, who plays in Circle It and Mosant.

Zaakir Tameez is a scholar of antitrust and constitutional law. A graduate of Yale Law School and the University of Virginia, he has published award-winning scholarship and coauthored amicus briefs before the Texas and United States Supreme Courts. He is a Fulbright Scholar and Humanity in Action Senior Fellow from Houston, Texas.

Zaakir's new book, Charles Sumner: Conscious of a Nation, bridges personal identity and American history. He talks about why a young Muslim guy chose to tell the story of a 19th-century abolitionist and shows how neglected narratives of Reconstruction and civil rights can inspire us today. Woven throughout our conversation are themes of faith, courage, solidarity, and the shared responsibility of all Americans to claim, tell, and act upon their history.

We’re excited to share a new sponsor: The Brueggeman Center for Dialogue at Xavier University, here in Cincinnati, is dedicated to deepening understanding across faiths and promoting systemic change.

Avenue M is produced by Bespoken Live with music by Zach Swelber, who plays in Circle It and Mosant.

John Faherty still cannot believe his good fortune in getting a job at The Mercantile Library. His nightstand is filled with books because he is a slow reader, but he doggedly marches on with his pattern of one challenging book followed by one fun book. John thinks few people are actually worth biography and fewer yet of autobiography. John loves historical fiction and confesses a weakness for well-written crime procedurals. He has a particular affection for everything written by Kate Atkinson. He received a History degree from the University of Chicago in 1987. John lives with his particularly adorable family in Hyde Park.

We talk to him about why he chose to stay in Cincinnati, the library’s history and mission, and how it fosters civic dialogue and cultural life. He also shares personal stories about his faith journey and surviving a pancreas transplant while emphasizing gratitude, empathy, and striving to live a present life in honor of his donor.

We’re excited to share a new sponsor: The Brueggeman Center for Dialogue at Xavier University, here in Cincinnati, is dedicated to deepening understanding across faiths and promoting systemic change.

Avenue M is produced by Bespoken Live with music by Zach Swelber, who plays in Circle It and Mosant.