AI isn’t a future concept anymore. It’s the infrastructure the economy is running on more and more, and it’s starting to show up in places that feel very real, very physical, and sometimes very uncomfortable. Cities, energy systems, offices, and the buildings we keep arguing about all seem to be getting pulled into the same conversation.

Throw in massive AI investments, data centers that need more power than entire towns, communities asking tough questions, and a workforce that’s clearly restless, and things get complicated fast. Some of this feels exciting. Some of it feels messy. And some of it probably deserved a little more thought before it showed up in our backyard.

In this episode we talk about:

• How AI has become the infrastructure the economy runs on and why this isn’t a short-term cycle
• The Stargate project and what massive AI infrastructure means for cities, energy, and local communities
• Data centers, power constraints, water usage, and the growing pushback against large-scale AI development
• Why commercial real estate sits at the center of the AI transition and can’t stay on autopilot
• The future of offices, burnout, and what it means when over half of the workforce is looking for change
• Why the physical environment still matters and how space influences behavior, productivity, and retention
• Quantum cities and what places like Dubai and Singapore reveal about different models of urban innovation
• Singapore’s Smart Nation approach, digital identity, and why trust matters more than technology
• Why there is no single blueprint for a quantum city and why some models don’t scale
• The mistakes AI leaders risk repeating from the social media era and the growing gap between tech and society
• Energy, infrastructure, and the question of whether big tech becomes the next generation of utilities