We sat down with Luís Rodrigues, CPO & Lead Middle East at Lab49, for one of the most wide-ranging conversations we've had on the show.

We covered a lot of ground:How AI is actually landing across financial services, telecom, and government. Why encryption doesn't have to be the end of network intelligence. What it really takes to move an enterprise from legacy infrastructure to AI-native operations. The "segment of one" concept and what true AI personalization looks like at scale. Why most AI initiatives fail when they lose sight of business KPIs. What Gen Z should know about AI and the future of work. And why Dubai might be the most interesting AI experiment happening right now.

Plus his favorite AI tools, his take on AI literacy, and the book that shaped how he thinks.