Ethical, Human-Centered AI: Accessibility, Cost, and Embodied Agents with Robert Vandervoort

Robert Vandervoort, founder of VDV Labs, shares how early curiosity with technology, ADHD, legal troubles, and living with optic nerve atrophy and legal blindness shaped his empathy-driven approach to ethical, human-centered AI.

He describes moving from help desk and operations into solutions engineering, and how employee-experience work at Moveworks influenced his thinking about AI as augmentation rather than replacement.

The conversation explores why many AI initiatives fail without clear business problems, how companies chase hype, and where AI can add value in IT, customer service, manufacturing, and healthcare (e.g., triage, agent assist, transcription, computer vision, radiology support).

They discuss AI’s ...