Stuart MacDonald and Tom Bush sit down with Payal Thakur, Chief Data & AI Officer at JobsOhio, to discuss how practical education and talent development are driving regional AI transformation: How Ohio earned the #1 spot for doing business, the launch of AI Ready Ohio and its free micro-credentials, and why talent readiness, not infrastructure or compute, is the real bottleneck holding organizations back.
Guest: Payal Thakur, Chief Data & AI Officer and Managing Director, Data Analytics and AI, JobsOhio
In this episode:
• How Ohio built a comprehensive tech and manufacturing ecosystem
• AI Ready Ohio: free micro-credentials to bridge the gap between AI haves and have-nots
• Why talent readiness, not infrastructure or compute, is the true bottleneck
• Moving from AI replacement anxiety to workforce amplification and agentic workflows
Free learning resources at AI Ready Ohio and wrap-up
Connect with Payal:
LinkedIn: / payal-thakur-mba-usa
JobsOhio: https://www.jobsohio.com
AI Ready Ohio: https://www.aireadyohio.org
Recorded live at Columbus AI Week (Sept 10–11, 2026), produced by the Enterprise Technology Association with JobsOhio: https://www.joinaiweek.com/columbus
ABOUT ACTUAL REALITY — The actual reality of AI in the real world. Hosted by Tom Bush, CEO of Actual Reality Technologies, and Stuart MacDonald, award-winning magician and AI consultant.
🔔 Subscribe: / @actualrealitypodcast
🌐 Website: https://actualreality.show
Tom on LinkedIn: / bushtom
Stuart on LinkedIn: / stuartmacdonaldmagic
📚 Stuart's book, Putting in the Work: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HFKV5848?...
Actual Reality Technologies: https://actualreality.tech
As an Amazon Associate, Actual Reality Podcast earns from qualifying purchases. #ActualRealityPodcast #ArtificialIntelligence #JobsOhio #AIReadyOhio #WorkforceDevelopment
