Skip to content
AI-DIALOGOS

About

AI-Dialogos

AI-Dialogos is a podcast and Substack series on what leaders need to know about AI: strategy, implementation, and ethics. The video podcast, co-hosted by Alfred Essa and Teresa Martín-Retortillo, features conversations with guests from business, research, and policy, and the Substack essays explore AI topics in depth.

AI-Dialogos is also home to the AI Essentials for Leaders book series, published by De Gruyter Brill: concise, non-technical primers for navigating the complex world of Artificial Intelligence, written by leading experts for business leaders, practitioners, policymakers, and curious learners.

The name Dialogos — from the Greek dialogos (dialogue) — reflects our belief that the most important questions about AI are best explored through open, ongoing conversation across disciplines and perspectives.

The Series

Each volume in AI Essentials for Leaders synthesizes a foundational AI topic through a focused lens — technology fundamentals, business strategy, entrepreneurship, leadership and governance, or ethics and privacy. The goal is to give leaders the conceptual clarity they need to make informed decisions about AI adoption, strategy, and governance.

View the full series overview and themes.

Hosts & Series Co-Editors

Alfred Essa

Alfred Essa has led pioneering AI and advanced analytics teams across academia and industry. As Simon Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University, VP of Analytics and R&D at McGraw Hill Education, and CIO at MIT's Sloan School of Management, he has bridged the gap between theoretical innovation and practical implementation.

He is the author of Artificial Intelligence: Shaping the Future of Innovation (De Gruyter Brill, 2025) and Practical AI for Business Leaders, Product Managers, and Entrepreneurs. He holds degrees from Haverford College and Yale University.

Teresa Martín-Retortillo

Teresa Martín-Retortillo is a senior executive with deep global experience in strategy and innovation, spanning executive boards and boards of directors of both private and listed companies. After two decades advising private equity investors and global corporations, she has spent the last decade executing digital business models.

Her work at Goldman Sachs, Bain and Company, McGraw Hill Education, and IE University has made her a sought-after thought leader. She is the author of Artificial Intelligence: Rethinking Business Strategy (De Gruyter Brill, 2026). She is a graduate of Harvard Business School.