.png)
The Entropy Podcast
Hosted by Francis Gorman, The Entropy Podcast brings together intelligence community veterans, post-quantum cryptography pioneers, CISOs, business leaders, and frontline practitioners for unfiltered conversations on the threats, complexity, and geopolitics shaping our world.
Past guests include former senior CIA officers, leading cryptographers, digital forensics experts, and security and technology leaders from across financial services, critical infrastructure, and government, voices rarely heard together in one place.
Each episode goes beyond headlines to explore how cyber risk, emerging technology, and geopolitical instability are reshaping the way organisations operate, compete, and defend themselves. Expect candid insight on quantum risk, nation-state threats, AI, espionage, financial crime, business resilience, and the human dimensions of leadership.
Designed for CISOs, board members, founders, technologists, policy thinkers, and the professionally curious, Entropy sits at the intersection of business, technology, and cybersecurity a space for genuine conversations with unique minds, the kind that don’t fit neatly into a press release.
The name Entropy reflects the growing complexity and unpredictability of the systems we depend on, and the discipline required to lead through them.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on The Entropy Podcast are those of the host and guests in their personal capacity and do not represent the views, positions, or policies of their respective employers, affiliated organisations, or any government body. Guest appearances do not constitute endorsement by the host, and the host’s commentary does not constitute endorsement of guests’ views. Content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute professional, legal, financial, or security advice.
One of the topics I cover a lot on this show is post quantum readiness, I believe awareness of this emerging technology is key for a safer world into the future. To support this awareness I have built a free resource to help you explore the world of quantum and learn as you go. You can find it here: www.postquantumready.com
Buy Our Swag:
We now have some slick new swag you can purchase through our Esty store.
https://theentropypodcast.etsy.com
Watch and Subscribe
You can also watch full episodes and exclusive content on our YouTube channel:
www.youtube.com/@TheEntropyPodcast
Achievements
The Entropy Podcast delivered strong chart performance throughout 2025, demonstrating consistent international reach and listener engagement.
- Regularly ranked within the Top 20 Technology podcasts in Ireland.
- Achieved a Top 25 placement in the United States Technology charts, holding the position for one week.
- Charted internationally across multiple markets, including Israel, Belgium, and the United Kingdom.
This performance reflects sustained global interest and growing recognition across key podcast markets.
Audio Quality Notice
Some episodes may feature minor variations in audio quality due to remote recording environments and external factors. We continuously strive to deliver the highest possible audio standards and appreciate your understanding.
The Entropy Podcast
Why Artificial Intelligence Needs a Mother with Lucy Batley
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this episode of The Entropy Podcast, Francis Gorman sits down with Lucy Batley AI strategist, speaker, and founder of Traction Industries, named number eight in the UK's Top 100 Digital Leaders in AI in 2025 (recognised at the House of Lords). With a 30-year career spanning the birth of the internet designing for David Bowie, Audi, Barclays and the Manic Street Preachers Lucy now helps organisations adopt AI strategically, with strong governance and real business value.
This is a conversation about why most AI investment fails to deliver, why the real barrier sits in the boardroom rather than the technology, and why the rush to deploy AI agents without securing the underlying data is heading for a reckoning. Lucy also introduces Mother, her new venture building AI on quantum-resilient infrastructure and makes the case that the most underestimated risk isn't superintelligence, but our growing dependency on the tools themselves.
Key Takeaways
- AI is a leadership problem, not a technology problem. The organisations that win aren't the ones with the biggest budgets they're the ones whose leaders have the foresight to grasp how fundamental this shift is.
- Start with the human problem, not the tool. Most organisations don't even understand their own workflow processes. Design thinking and relentless questioning surface the real issue which is often smaller and easier to fix than anyone expected.
- ROI comes from strategy, not spend. One case study: six "AI colleagues" deployed for ~£500k returned ~£6.5M in ten months driven by an opportunity spotted in a workshop, not the technology itself.
- Security can't be an afterthought. Homegrown AI agents going into organisations without secured data are a backlash waiting to happen. Secure by design from day one.
- Quantum changes the game. With "harvest now, decrypt later" already underway and ~300 quantum computers in existence, quantum isn't theory. Mother's approach moves from algorithms and code to mathematics and physics protecting data without touching it.
- The real risk is dependency. Societies don't collapse because technology gets clever they collapse because they forget how dependent they've become.
- Stay human. AI has no experience, no conscience, and no emotion. The advantage lies in the things that make us human and using the tools to amplify them.
Soundbites
"Artificial intelligence is not a technology problem, it's a leadership problem."
"It's a technology so profound that everything else is going to have to be redesigned around it."
"Forget about the technology — what human problems are you trying to solve?"
"Societies rarely collapse because a technology becomes clever. They collapse because they become vulnerable."
"Artificial intelligence needs a mother. It needs protecting."
"We're moving away from algorithms and code to mathematics and physics. It's a completely different beast."
"Good leader, good organisation. Bad leadership, absolute chaos."
"We're literally in the toddler stage."
