Your Voice Is Intellectual Property: How to Stay Human in the AI Era | Alex Sanfilippo

Full Episode Transcript

This is the full recorded conversation from The Human Protocol Podcast, published by The Human Protocol Group. © 2026 The Human Protocol Group. Please link to and attribute the original episode when referencing this conversation.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (00:01.43)
In the AI era, your voice is no longer just expression. It becomes your intellectual property. If your thoughts can be replicated, your humanity will become your defendant. Welcome to the Human Protocol, the podcast about staying human while building the future. I am your host, Michael Salomon. Today's conversation is about something bigger than just podcasting, right? It's about ownership. And because in this era with AI,

We are entering a world where your voice, your stories, your ideas, your frameworks, your presence, all of that becomes part of your intellectual property. And if that is true, then podcasting is no longer just a content strategy. It becomes really your brand archive. My guest today, it's Alex Sanfilippo, entrepreneur, founder, and someone who has spent years helping podcasters grow.

monetize and build a real community. So Alex, welcome to the Human Protocol.

Alex Sanfilippo (01:07.576)
Michael, thank you so much for having me. Really glad to be here today.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (01:10.474)
It's a real pleasure to have you on the show and thanks for taking the time to be with us. And to kick things off, I would like to ask you if you can tell us a little bit of who Alex is, where Alex has been and where Alex is going.

Alex Sanfilippo (01:28.084)
Sure. I mean, the way you open this up today, no pressure, right? Like this is my IP I'm to share, you know? Like I got to make it sound good. Yeah, I actually have a background. You and I both come from leadership, global teams, client relationships. Like you and I both share that. I know you've been in that space for a long time as well. And so my background was doing that in the aerospace industry. And before anyone hearing this thinks I was super interesting, I wasn't an astronaut, wasn't a skydiver, wasn't a fighter pilot. I worked behind a computer. We were manufacturing plant. We focused on building parts for

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (01:31.65)
Ha

Alex Sanfilippo (01:57.7)
aircraft that serviced below the atmosphere. so it's kind of like on paper, really boring job. might sound a little fun because I use the word aerospace, but I actually loved it. Like I enjoyed it. So I come from like a corporate background. Like as a kid, I did some entrepreneurial things, but got into business as soon as I could. Loved it. Did a 15 year career before going full-time into podcasting. And so now it's, I went full-time podcasting during 2020, no correlation to

the pandemic during that time. just happened to be the same year, but my company was actually doing really well, but I decided the end of 2020 was December 7th was my last day in corporate. And I shifted to full-time entrepreneurship as a software founder. And what I do today is I work in podcasting. So I'm behind the microphone a lot as a guest and as a host, but bigger than that is my service called Podmatch. And Podmatch is a software subscription. So SAS that is a company that connects podcasts, guests, and hosts for interviews. And the way a lot of people describe it is it works kind of like a dating app.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (02:23.458)
Wow.

Alex Sanfilippo (02:52.878)
but instead of can't go for dates, connects them for podcast interviews. So you can meet on the platform. You can have conversations there. You can go schedule. Michael, we even connected through pod match. That's like how we're here today. So, and that's what I do full time and I love it. And I've got, the last thing I'll share here is I have good work life balance for the first time in my life. And I'm really happy to share this because when I was a corporate guy, was psyched to get on salary, but then I realized I was working 80 hours a week instead of but getting paid for 40, right? Like, and when I shifted to full time entrepreneurship, I told myself, hey,

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (02:54.318)
Yep.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (03:02.434)
That's correct, yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (03:19.618)
Hahaha

Alex Sanfilippo (03:22.616)
For a little bit, was doing a full-time job and then I was doing the side hustle, which is now my full-time thing, Pod Match, right? So I was working a ton, but I devoted myself to saying, you know what? I'm going to find some proper balance in life. And I'm really grateful now. My wife has helped with this. She's one of my co-founders as well, but I work about 44 hours per week, which for me is absolutely perfect. And I say about, that's actually exactly what it is. Like I have timer set, everything like that. And the rest of my time is spent doing things that I enjoy. I live near the ocean in Jacksonville, Florida.

I like to ride bikes. I like to play pickleball, like soccer, like working out, being outside with friends. That's, that's my thing. And right, like even right after this, I'm to go do a cookout with some friends this afternoon. And so really excited about that and love my work. And I've learned to actually enjoy my life outside of work as well. And I think it's actually made a positive impact in way I show up for others as well in the professional sphere.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (03:51.734)
Awesome.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (04:11.15)
That's awesome, Alex. I'm very happy to hear that. And thanks for sharing, sometimes I think we all get such in a busy mood daily, daily busy that we forget to really enjoy life more and more. And it's needed, right? And it's always a good reminder that even though when you're passionate and you're working and busy, it's also as important as just taking time for you and enjoying life, as you were saying. So appreciate you sharing that.

And you know, you were mentioning that dating app for podcasters with all pod match. And then that's really how we met. and, and some of the guests and my beginning podcasting, I want to tell everyone that is going to be listening. It's it has been through pod match. So I'm really grateful for, for allowing us to have a space where we can interact, meet a lot of cool people and kind of getting this string that we all have when we start getting into podcasting.

a reality, right, which is important. Perfect. So Alex, when did you, what did you see in podcasting that you see others were still missing? So you're telling, you're saying that you started it back in 2020. What did you see back then that you said, oh, this is where I need to go next. That maybe a lot of other people were missing at the time.

Alex Sanfilippo (05:33.828)
Yeah.

Right, yeah. So my podcasting journey, like as a podcaster just on the side, started in 2013. And I had a failed attempt immediately in podcasting another podcast that did really well that I ended up selling that brand. was part of a blog and stuff like that. It was really cool opportunity. And then my current show-ish, and what I mean by that is it's transitioned from what it was, but in 2018, I started the first show where I'm like, this one, I'm gonna do it all right. You know, like I've learned all the things. This is gonna be my real podcast. I'm gonna really kick this one off. And the whole idea of it was,

figure out how to become an entrepreneur. Like literally the art of creating a brand, as we call it creating a brand. was the art of like building something for yourself. And so was interviewing people to try to figure out what they had done to leave a nine to five job to become a successful entrepreneur. And I'm really grateful I actually learned from those people and I'll way over simplify it here, cause it's ultimately what showed me how to figure out what was missing in podcasting. And so it's a four step process and this is simplifying hundreds of people's brilliant information. I don't mean to boil it down to this, but I think it's helpful for everyone here today.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (06:09.358)
Hmm.

Alex Sanfilippo (06:36.226)
It's basically a four step process. Step one is find your area of passion. For me, podcasting, area of passion. Like I loved it. Step two is to get into the community. So I started not just doing my own show, but meeting other podcasters, helping newer podcasters. started getting invited to travel and speak and to be a coach for some people in podcasting. And I fell in love with that as well. The third step is where it really kicks into gear. It's to find the problem, to find the problem. And to your point, Michael, that's what you mentioned. You're like, well, what did you see that no one else was seeing? The reality is nothing. But what I did is I asked.

I'll never forget it was the beginning of 2020. So before the world shut down, I was on stage at a conference in Orlando, Florida, about 2000 people in the room. was, I believe I was the last speaker, the last speaker before a break or something like that. Cause when I was wrapping up, I just said, Hey, if anyone will just give me two minutes of your time, I've just got a question for anybody here. And also I got a hug if anyone's a hugger. Cause I always give hugs on these conferences. Right? So, so free hugs. Well, no, not free that day. I had a question for you. Right? So almost free, small strings attached, but uh,

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (07:22.606)
Mm-hmm.

Free Hawks.

Alex Sanfilippo (07:34.972)
I was really grateful. Hundreds of people lined up to talk to me. again, so thankful for that. And I asked one question, what are you struggling with right now in podcasting? And I heard all kinds of things that day, but I heard a common thread, a common trend. And it was Alex, I'm having trouble finding the right guest for my show. I've got people who want to be on it, but they're usually not the right people. Or, Hey, I've got a bunch of the right guests, but it's so much work to do all the administration behind it. it takes us, it takes us hours to finally get to the recording session where we can have a remote recording. Cause there's so many things that go back and forth.

And that's where I found that that was the problem, right? So again, my area of passion, I was in the community, I found the problem by asking. And the last thing is to offer the fastest possible solution. As you and I know in our biz, like we call it the MVP, Minimum Viable Product. Like as fast as you can, solve that simple problem, try not to overcomplicate it, find the simple thing. And I'll never forget, I went home and I whiteboard the whole thing out. When I kind of boil it down to was that we're gonna build something like a dating app. I'm not gonna reinvent the wheel. Someone's already done this type of tech before, right?

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (08:18.584)
Mm-hmm.

Alex Sanfilippo (08:33.932)
something like that, but that connects podcasts, guests, and hosts for interviews. So long-winded answer to your question, the backstory that I think is important to kind of hear the framework of how it came into being, it wasn't just an idea that I pulled out of my head or I didn't try a hundred things. I asked and I, fast as possible, offered that solution to it. And that's ultimately was the beginning of PodMatch. We started development on March 10th, 2020. On June 15th, 2020, we launched our early beta version of it for people to try out.

I got all these people's email addresses, by the way, that I met at that conference. And so I emailed all of them and said, hey, try it out. Does this work? Does this solve the problem you told me you had?

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (09:05.774)
That's beautiful, That's beautiful because when I'm listening and I love the framework and a lot of people can learn from it, it's also the beginning of the dream, right? And how that dream was kind of how you make it realize. And it tells me something that is still as accurate and as real as it ever been, which is the power of

building relationships and talking to people, right? You really talk to people to understand what problems do they have. And based on that, that's where the idea came along and you said, this is a problem that I'm trying to solve. And in this new era with AI and this new feature, wherever we're going and heading next, it's still a human problem that we're always gonna try to solve. So I love that part of your story and I think a lot of people can actually resonate and connect with.

Alex Sanfilippo (09:58.404)
Yeah, thank you. The moral of the story is just that free hugs work, right? You can ask a question if you give someone hug. While you're embracing, you're holding somebody like, got a question for you. Just whisper it see how goes. I'm just kidding. Terrible advice. And all the introverts there are probably already screaming. Screaming. They're like, why would you do this? You can skip the hug part, but ask the question. I think it is important.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (10:02.094)
It's a good advice. You know, it's, we're not, as you say, we're not, we're never going to oversimplify things. And for some people it's easier than other to connect and to start an ask, you know, and take that first step.

But it's really all it takes is that first step and even if you're an introvert, but it's really you need to try to connect with people, right? One way or the other, try to find what is the best way for you to connect and start understanding what is it that you can do next? Because for some people, Alex, what I found out is that some people, don't even know what they want to do, right? And they haven't even put thoughts on it.

What is it that they're good at? What is it that they want to do with their lives? And that's kind of the most critical question that we need to ask about ourselves is really, who do we want to be? Where do we want to go next? And that answer is how you then take the next step on how you're going to start getting there.

Alex Sanfilippo (11:15.042)
Michael, if I could ask, cause I think that's super insightful and you're right. I think that most people are in that space and because AI has covered a lot here, like a lot of us, immediately go to AI to help us figure out what we want. I don't know if that's always the best approach, but just like curiosity, like, and I don't mean to turn this over on you. Like I'm my inner podcasters coming out and curious person. Like, what do you tell somebody who's like, I don't know what I want to be when I grow up or like, don't, I don't know what's next. Like, how do you help someone start to navigate that? I'm, genuinely curious myself.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (11:24.929)
Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (11:42.754)
Yeah. And I've had that with even with my friends, right? There are some friends that I have to push them to take that first step. And that first step would be instead of them taking the first step, because I care about them, is me pushing them to answer those questions. Who you are, where do you see yourself next? What do you want to do? Right. What are you good at? There was an exercise that I went over last year.

which is actually was how the whole thing around the human protocol was burned at, right? Which is, it's called Ikigai and it's a Japanese concept that you answers a few questions. What are you good at? Where do you want to go next and how you can leverage your skills. So that whole exercise was how I answered the question of really what I wanted to do next. Because until then I was just living my life, just my...

full-time job, family, house, you know, the same routine. And that pushed me really to, I need to do something, what is gonna be my legacy and what is it that I want to go next? And it's really asking those questions and pushing people sometimes, you know, putting them in uncomfortable situations, Alex, is that's how you can try to get the most out of it. So...

What I've done with friend is really asking uncomfortable questions. Are you happy with your life? What is it that you want to do next and what you're good at? And let's start there. And we continue from that point on.

Alex Sanfilippo (13:17.24)
man, that's asking somebody if they're uncomfortable with their life. That is a bold question. Like that takes, like I'm thinking even like my closest friends to ask that question. Like you gotta really like have some courage, you know? Like I love this, cause what you're telling people to do is ultimately you're saying challenge the status quo. Cause you just mentioned the family, the house, the job, like that's on like paper, that's what everyone's after. And it's like, you've already got it, but you're challenging. Like this is the status quo of what people say you should have, but there's something more. Like you're literally going out there and saying, no, I'm gonna, I'm gonna challenge that this is enough or would I,

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (13:22.754)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (13:32.302)
Mmm.

Alex Sanfilippo (13:46.828)
ultimately want or would bring the most happiness, the most joy. Dude, that's good.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (13:51.278)
And we're human beings, right, Alex? For the most part, we don't like to be put on uncomfortable places. We don't want to be asked things that we don't like to be asked, for example. So I'm not, you know, I'm going to be honest with you. Some questions were hard and push people to, you know, to think about themselves. And I have some friends that they never got back to me for a week because they didn't like the question and the push.

But after a week, they got back and said, OK, after this conversation, this is, I think, what I want to do. So it's just life. And of course, I don't do that with everybody. needs to be a very good friend. not a, you know, so it's, of course, you need to know who you're going to do it with. But that's how everything started. Start with the question and then.

Alex Sanfilippo (14:31.225)
Right. Yeah, that's called discernment. You don't walk into a random person on street and like, you getting enough out of your life? Do you want more? They're going to think you're selling them something.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (14:47.778)
The answer to that question may be what happened the rest of your life. But some people spend the rest of their lives not asking those questions.

Alex Sanfilippo (14:55.564)
Yeah, man, that's good. That's good. mean, for all of us, like myself and listeners, like asking ourselves these questions is appropriate too. Like I wrote them down. So like later today, that's gonna be one of my practices. Like as I mentioned earlier, I'm go to a cookout today, right? On my drive there, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna sit down and think about it a little bit. what am I going in the right direction? So thank you, man. That was, that's insightful.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (15:08.472)
Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (15:15.362)
Yeah, not a problem. That's what we're here for at the end of the day, right? That's what we do in part, podcasting is just also to make people think about their lives and everything that is going with their lives. So Alex, back to the topic of this conversation, which is about building your brand and your IP. I'm curious to hear from you about

Alex Sanfilippo (15:19.107)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (15:43.759)
At what point did you think about podcasting more than just content? That it was about building your identity and your brand, right? Because I think it's extremely important for people that are starting like myself and just started a few months ago, or even people that are thinking about starting podcasting. This is more than content if you really think it in a way.

Alex Sanfilippo (16:08.067)
100%. I think that that's something that's probably one of the biggest oversights about podcasting is that people just say it's another content channel. It's a way to produce more. can repurpose it. And listen, all this stuff is true. And honestly, I do think that podcasting is one of the best ways to get content to repurpose, to have something visual or at least audio for your brand or yourself, even if it's just like a personal brand. It's great for that. But when I launched Podmatch and we had the podcast going with it,

And I'd ask people, Hey, how'd you find out a pod match? And be like, I heard about through some friends, but really I've been listening to your podcast. And I'm like, okay, interesting. Like, yeah, I had no problem signing up and paying for it. Cause like, felt like I already knew you. And so like, and I heard that once or twice at first. And I was like, that's pretty cool. Like I told the team, like there's like, check this out. Someone found this through our podcast. They liked what I said. They felt like they could trust me. They signed up, they paid for it instead of like being like, I don't know if I want to pay for this. Right. And, and that started happening more and more and more to becoming

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (16:42.958)
Hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (16:47.374)
Hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (16:59.918)
Hmm

Alex Sanfilippo (17:03.746)
the absolute norm as to how someone was finding our business. And I didn't build my podcast to be a funnel. As matter of fact, if you go listen to my show, if anyone goes and listens to it, it's called podcasting made simple. It's super boring if you're not a podcaster. If you're podcaster, it's fun because it's an industry type podcast. But I don't talk about pod match. Like it doesn't even come up. People are just like, who is this guy? I feel like I know, like, and trust him. Those are the key words, know, like, and trust. And so I realized it's like, this isn't just content. This is actually a relationship building tool.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (17:25.792)
Mm-hmm.

Alex Sanfilippo (17:32.548)
In today's world that we live in where there's so much noise and there's so much content already, people want to feel like they can have some sort of connection with another human. And I think that in my mind, podcasting is one of the most beautiful ways of doing that. And nothing against like someone who solely does YouTube or solely does something on one of the major social media platforms. But a lot of stuff is heavily curated, like the amount of editing and work that goes into it, it kind of strips out the rawness of it. And don't get me wrong, Michael is gonna have to clean this up a little bit. Like he's gonna edit because I stutter a little bit and all that stuff, right?

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (17:53.547)
f-

Alex Sanfilippo (18:01.284)
speak on my words and be like, cut that part out. But the thing is, you're still going, what you're gonna shine through is my authentic real voice. And I think that that, in my mind, is the actual beauty of what podcasting can do. Someone can hear you talk as a guest or as a host, and they can decide, do I feel like I know, like, and trust this individual? In today's world, that's the most valuable asset that we can have, I personally think.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (18:22.592)
Like, know, and trust. Beautiful. It makes me think about authenticity at the end of the day, right? Because for the most part, the podcasts are a vehicle for you to really become and be seen as your authentic self. Because those are the conversations that we are trying to have on the podcast. And that's what, at the end of the day, podcasting should be about, right? Just being your authentic self.

conversation between two humans, at least for now, who knows in the future, maybe it's an AI where you are. And I'm still, I'm still, we will have to put something on the screen that say this person is a human, you know what I mean? Or this person is an AI, who knows what's going to happen next. Yeah, something man, cause it's, it's wild.

Alex Sanfilippo (18:54.702)
Wait, you're human, aren't you? Michael, last time I checked. Okay, cool.

Alex Sanfilippo (19:04.292)
Right? We're gonna give him a little human pin so you can put a little pin on your shirt that says, am a human. We know.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (19:13.982)
Alex, but we can worry about that in the next few months or in the future whenever that happens next. So Alex, I know that you're passionate about this, And which is we become our IP or individual property, right? How do you see all this playing out, especially in times of AI?

Alex Sanfilippo (19:39.428)
It's AI is by the time anyone listens to this and watches however, you can see in this is already gonna be outdated That's what AI has done to the world like this not saying it's not gonna be a good conversation But like what I could tell you about AI right now, like all the points will no longer be valid But the one thing I can tell you to be sure to be true is that AI can replicate pretty much anything at a really high level at this point and I have so many people reaching out every single day like hey I want to be on podcast. I'm afraid that whatever I say to the host They're gonna change it and make it their own moving forward. They'll like repeat it in their own way

And I'm hearing that more and more. I always, same on the flip side, people's like, oh, they're come on my podcast, they're gonna share the episode, they're gonna take the clips, they're gonna use it on their own channels, they might not give me credit for it. And my big thing is I'm like, well, all the content in the world's already been created, right? Like it's all there. And people are like, that's my IP, though I've worked hard to learn that. And I've come to the conclusion now, like at one point, maybe that was the case, but now just due to the rate of creation and what AI can replicate and do,

I now just think that the IP is us ourselves. And the most real example I can give is a friend of mine the other day, Seth Godin recently let out a new book. He always lets out new books. He's a very famous marketer, sales, he's incredible. He's a great speaker. And so every time he released a book, my buddy instantly goes and buys it. And so I just, just to use this as an example, if I went to that same buddy and said, hey man,

Seth Godin just released this book about marketing, but there's this other person that released a book that's actually even better, been proven that it's better in every single way. I think you should buy this one instead. My friend is not going to go buy that book. He's still going to buy the Seth Godin book because Seth Godin is the IP he's looking for. He's like, I know, like, and trust this Seth Godin guy. The way he writes, I've already confirmed I like that. That's what I want. So someone could literally rip Seth Godin's book and say, make all this using AI. Take everything he said in this book and make it just a little bit better using more current data, more current research.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (21:12.238)
Yeah

Alex Sanfilippo (21:33.06)
make it a little bit longer, make it a better title, all that stuff, right? But it's still not going to sell the way that Seth Godin's is because at the end of the day, his IP is who he is. And I used him as an example, he might have some fame, but the reality is the same for all of us. People are going to connect with us as humans more than ever before. That's the IP that people want is, hey, not what is this person saying, but how are they saying it how does it make me feel? That's what someone's really looking for now.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (21:49.176)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (21:58.968)
And that's what attaches us to brands as well, right? It's that connection that we have with the brand owner or whatever. It's really what makes us go back again and again with that person. And what you just said is a beautiful example of really what the power of IP in the future. It's really how you connect with that person that will continue to get you out there more and more. Because as you were saying as well, AI is able to replicate everything.

Really, it's a make it better with other words, whatever. So at the end of the day, it's really going to be us, what we stand for and how authentic we come to people and how they can relate for whatever we talk about basically, right?

Alex Sanfilippo (22:44.484)
Yeah. I think that this should be a little bit scary for us and challenging, but at the same time comforting. Like we don't have to always keep up. And I think that that's one of the things that I think is a bad notion set in today's world. Like we have to do more. And I actually want to call out a previous episode of your show, Michael, you had, um, I don't know, her name was, uh, Larissa. I don't remember her last name. sorry, but okay. Uh, it was season two, episode 12 aired on March 25th, 2026.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (23:05.27)
Yes, lottery says neither. Yeah.

Alex Sanfilippo (23:13.188)
usually pretty good dates and numbers and just really good about how like if you just wait five minutes on any platform these days and you hit refresh you're gonna see a whole new set of of trending things and things that are going viral like at any given time and it's moving so fast we've just got to give ourselves the permission and now this is me speaking again we can't just give ourselves the permission to unsubscribe from having to be that right like yes we want to get seen yes we want to get heard but not by the whole world just by the people that we know we serve just by the people we know we help

And that can be a very human experience to be like, who are the people that are actually my people? How can I find them? Where are they? Where are the humans that are those things hanging out? And so again, this can be scary. This can be overwhelming, but at same time, it should be comforting because it gives us the permission to work at a slightly different pace than anybody who's just trying to hit that viral mark.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (24:00.108)
And you're just making me think right now what you're saying is, know, that old saying, know, it's your vibe, finds your tribe, something like that. At the end of the day, what you stand for, it's really community, right? We need to find those that are connecting with our message. It's like we don't want to serve everybody. Not everybody will connect with us, and that should be fine. But the authentic part of it is really connecting.

with those that are really interested in what we're saying. And that should be okay as well.

Alex Sanfilippo (24:32.996)
Yeah, yeah, I've never heard that. Find your or it's your vibe. Find your tribe. I like that, Michael. That's good.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (24:37.838)
It's something like that, your vibe finds your tribe, something like that I think. Yeah.

Alex Sanfilippo (24:41.848)
Yeah. I think it's good. There's that temptation we have to overcome though. Like I get, sounds more fun to have a lot of followers and to be the influencer or to any of that. Like it sounds fun, right? But like, don't know if that really, does that really like going back to the question Michael's been asking his friends and even asking me today, like, what do you really want? Like, do you really just want to go viral? Like, and if that is the case, great, then pursue it. But if there's like, well, no, I want to go viral so I can.

Well then skip the viral and just say, so I can. And what is that thing? Maybe that's what you skipped to.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (25:14.958)
Find your why. What is your why? Is your why becoming famous just for the sake of becoming famous? Or is your why really trying to get your message out there as many people as possible or for those that... I mean, it depends where you stand. But back to this topic right now, you're saying followers. And you probably have seen this. We are coming from a social media era that is now the interest media.

Alex Sanfilippo (25:17.326)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (25:43.054)
It's where the number of followers is not even kind of what's driving your reach and what the algorithm is working with anymore. It's really your content put in front of people, and the majority of them may not be your followers.

Alex Sanfilippo (26:02.34)
Yeah, yeah, the whole thing is changing. I hadn't even really thought about that. It really is. I think we all remember time, I shouldn't say all of us, I have to just date myself here a little bit, but going back to early days of social media, if you looked at any sort of public or explore type page, like the main feed for everybody, it was always the same famous people, like the high level influencers. And now to your point, if I go to any of that, I don't know who anybody is. I don't even click to see how many followers they have.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (26:28.717)
Yeah.

Alex Sanfilippo (26:31.018)
for me, was it funny or was it informative? You know, like, or was it a combination of the two? I'm happy after that.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (26:36.77)
Yeah, it's people nowadays that are just putting their phone in front of them and just, you know, saying whatever, no production, and those are going viral. So the whole thing has changed, right? And it's all about more what type of content that you're putting out there. That's what's driving there. So let's see what's happened next. But Alex, you know, you have been in podcasts, doing podcasts.

Alex Sanfilippo (26:46.723)
Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (27:06.52)
for a few years now. We have seen AI slowly, but trying to get into the film industry more and more. I saw the news the other day, Ben Affleck, AI movie company was sold to Netflix, something like that. We're probably going to see more lot of AI actors in the future. So what's going to happen with this?

Do you anticipate a future where we are going to be talking to an AI that is an avatar of Alex Sanfilippo, for example? Just thinking about the future out loud right now, no filter.

Alex Sanfilippo (27:50.306)
Yeah. Yeah. No, no filter is good for me personally. And maybe this is me sounding old school. And so forgive me everyone who's listening today, but like the answer for me is no. it's you, you talk to me if you want to talk to me, right? Like, and I'm not saying that's like what everyone has to do. That's just my own personal conviction of it. Like I want to actually be there. And like right now, anything that kind of comes down from movies, that's kind like the, I guess from like a media standpoint, that's, that's the top of the top, right? Followed by TV shows or maybe it's vice versa. I don't know, but one of the others, like the top,

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (28:07.0)
Hmm.

Alex Sanfilippo (28:19.556)
And it's just kind of everything funnels down through every form of media, everything, right? And so podcasting someone on that list, and we've already seen quite a bit of infiltration in podcasting where some of those people will have a cohost on their show. So it's a human, a cohost, and then they'll interview like a real person guest. But the cohost is all AI. And some of these have gotten popular and others have kind of crashed and burned. And right now the tech isn't quite there. Like anyone who listens can kind of tell like, okay, that's an AI, right? Like then kind of get the vibe of like, this doesn't feel human or whatever.

But I don't know, at some point, maybe we won't be able to tell. You know, I really don't know. also at some point, there'll be the opportunity for me to basically clone myself using an AI, right? So not physically clone myself, but a digital clone of Alex that can show up same mannerisms, share the same thing, probably share better than I can, right? I'm never the person gonna turn that on personally. Again, not saying there's anything wrong with it. I just, this is what I love to do. Like if I have a favorite part about my job, Michael, this is it.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (28:59.658)
Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (29:08.334)
Yeah.

Alex Sanfilippo (29:17.764)
Like getting to be a guest on someone else's podcast, getting to do my own show. Like don't get me wrong. I love the software side of it. Like I'm a founder through and through. Like I think I was made to do that. Like if there's someone else put on earth to do, it's to be a software founder. Like I'll say that, but this, this is where the joy is. This is where the passion is. This is where the fun is. And I don't want to step back and let something do it all for me moving forward. Cause I still grow and develop and learn even from our conversation today. I already have real takeaways today. And if this was some sort of

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (29:28.504)
Ha ha ha.

Alex Sanfilippo (29:44.876)
AI clone of me, I don't have the takeaway anymore. Sure, give me a recap afterwards and be like, here's what you learned, Alex. But that's not the same, right? It's that human connection that changes things. listen, you're more well-versed this than I am. I know I know the podcasting space really well, but what are your thoughts? Am I off on this? Do you have any other perspective? Because I would love to learn from you as well.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (29:51.788)
Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (30:04.077)
No, I'm with you on that. I'm a fighter for us keeping our humanity as much as possible. I'm sure a lot of things will transform, will evolve. We're gonna see robots in our houses in a more traditional way. Probably what we have seen from the movies that we thought it was gonna be in the very...

you know, far future from now is going to be really in a couple of years. It's things are accelerating so much. But at the end of the day, I think we're all going to be longing for imperfection connection, right? When make us humans, humans. And there's nothing that will ever will replace what it feels to be a human. And it can be AI, robotics, whatever come next. But I think we all of us.

we are gonna continue to really miss those old days where we connect more with each other. And I was reading the other day, I was actually watching a video from Gary Vee, you probably know Gary Vee, Where he was saying, it's very soon humans will want to be out more and more and connect with other humans. And I think he's right, because the more all of these accelerates, Alex, the more I think we are gonna miss

those old days, what it was to be a human with our imperfections, mistakes, you name it, right? And that's my hope. I really want us to keep fighting for us, right? Because we don't want to be replaced by an AI. I would hate to see it that way. So yeah, I'm with you on that as well, man.

Alex Sanfilippo (31:48.312)
Yeah, you know, I know that when your main offerings, I know that you help do automation services for small businesses and even individuals at times. Right. And I think that that's, that to me is the beauty of this whole AI thing. Is it like for the first time ever, like a real expert like you, Michael can come in and you can be like, Hey, here's 20 things you're doing manually that we can fully automate. And not so you can go do more, but so you can reclaim your time to be a person. Like, I don't know if like what you use necessarily like, well, no, you do. say staying human while building the future with AI.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (32:11.693)
Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (32:17.109)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Alex Sanfilippo (32:18.114)
Right? Like those are literally your words, not mine. And I think that that notion is great. Like all this is good. And I think that for some of us, it sounds scary. Our jobs aren't going anywhere. Our jobs might just look different. Right? And that's okay. Humans have always evolved and we've always, we've proven that our work is never going away. Cause if you remember even the industrial revolution and after that, people were like, there's gonna be a time where people aren't working. And now we look back, we're like, we're working more than ever. Right? Like, what do you mean? But the reality is if we can find ways to actually do it.

Michael's people do like to invest in even hiring Michael to basically say hey, like let's let's automate some of these things Let's take some of us off our plate so that we can spend more time maybe being a guest on podcasts So we can you can further develop our own IP, right? Yes Yeah, I think that that so to me it's all exciting. I just think that we Each individually have to come with their own boundaries for what? What is our own IP that we need to be involved in and what should and could be automated like?

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (32:58.412)
Yeah. Added more value to our lives. Right? Exactly.

Alex Sanfilippo (33:15.746)
That conviction is gonna be different for each of us. And for me, I feel like I might be sounding old school by saying, hey, if you're talking to me, you're only ever actually talking to Alex. Never a robot, whether it's on screen, whether it's text, whether it's just audio, it's always gonna be the real me. But that's my personal conviction. And that's where my IP, I feel, really begins, is at that point right there.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (33:34.978)
I love that part where you mentioned reclaiming our more time to be on other podcasts, because that was kind of the next topic that I wanted to cover with you. Because for some people, may see in a podcast, a podcast is just someone in front of a microphone, right? But it's really a mirror for how people think. And I wanted to ask you, based on your experience, Alex, how does being a podcast guest, right?

can help people to build authority in this new era.

Alex Sanfilippo (34:09.656)
Yeah, so first and foremost, it develops that know, like and trust, right? And so when it comes to just what you're communicating, someone who listens to this and like, I've heard, I know Michael, this Alex Sanfilebo guy, I've heard of him, let me listen to hear what he has to say. You're gonna decide if you like me or not real quick, right? Like you're gonna decide if you think you can work with me. Like aside from that, like the next thing that really develops, I think is your own personal character, your own personal understanding. Like you're developing more as a person by communicating. I think that most of us can tie

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (34:13.323)
Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (34:24.067)
Right.

Alex Sanfilippo (34:37.92)
our results and our growth in life back to a conversation that we had, right? Like I can think back to a few like really pitiful conversations in my life that literally changed the course of my directory. And it's not interesting. So I don't have like some crazy story for all, but I can just remember times when friends sat down with me and said, Hey man, we gotta talk. And they got bold with me. And I was like, man, you're right. I didn't even think about this. And I pushed back on some of it, right? But like those conversations shape us, they mold us. And so for many of us, like we get into this conversation, like Mike and I, we know each other a little bit.

but not super well, but after this, we're gonna feel like we know each other pretty well. And that's cool, right? We'll both leave different people the way we showed up if we're truly engaged, true listening, because it's going to inform our mindset, which is going to expand it, it's going to change it. And so for you as a person, like being a podcast guest, like just think about that. Like what it does for you, like yes, you're develop that know, like and trust, but internally, you're going to continue to evolve and change in a positive way. That for me,

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (35:06.755)
Mm-hmm.

Alex Sanfilippo (35:32.152)
is absolutely one of my favorite parts. Like forget about the business growth and all that stuff that comes with it, or even just the SEO boost that you get from being posted on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Google, YouTube, and everywhere else in the world, right? Like all that stuff is great, but think about what it does for you as a person and how it informs the future version of yourself. Like that's wild, you know? Like what an experience to get to have. I feel like I was really deep, Michael. If that doesn't answer your question, help me. Okay. Okay. was like, help me get back on track, man.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (35:42.04)
Mm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (35:52.366)
Hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (35:58.218)
I love, I'm just flying here. I'm just flying here with everything that you're saying. Cause it's like, when you're talking about it, makes me think about a door that opens to many opportunities after that. Right. And that's really what a podcast, conversation like this really it's built on people, right? It's really many opportunities then can come after that. Cause

Alex Sanfilippo (36:01.732)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (36:24.642)
the way people connect through conversations. And we have seen historically that conversation between people can even avoid wars. It's a very important thing that's especially nowadays, I think it amplifies the need to have more more conversations, even when people that you may know little, because after an hour of this conversation, I'm going to feel that I know a lot about you. And you're probably going to see that you're going to feel that you know.

lot about me as well based on where this conversation took us. So yeah, I totally agree with you. This is the door that opens to many other opportunities, especially when you are on someone else's podcast, right? So, beautiful. All right, Alex, let's jump into our next section, right? Which is from your own...

you know, point of view and personal professional point of view. Have you thought about what are those skills that you think are going to be more valuable as AI continues to improve and for people that are looking into this feature? What is it that I'm going to do if AI is taking a lot of our jobs and especially we can tie it to this environment that we are, which is podcasting and building our brand. Curious to hear from you on that.

Alex Sanfilippo (37:48.898)
Yeah. The first thing I to share here, like when it comes to like what skills are going to be valuable moving forward, number one is going to be self-discipline, which sounds a little bit weird. me explain. AI is fun. I don't know what it is. Like we all get a dopamine hit from using it, writing a book for us from it. Like here's an example. I've been thinking about like a specific, my wife and I, we've driven one car ever since COVID. Like we started the business. We actually like sold everything during that time. And we downgraded to just like one car.

And we both work from home and we've never had the need to go back. the first time ever, we're starting to be like, there's been enough times where it's like, this is really inconvenient. Maybe it's time, right? And so I was like, man, what color car would you want? I'm like, I've never actually asked myself these questions. We just got whatever came to us, right? And for the first time ever, we're in a position where it's like, we might be able to choose something. And so I used AI to make, not make a car, but I just was like, here's a make and model I'm interested in. Can you show me a couple different color combinations that these are made in, right? I was like, let me just see what's out there. And that was super fun.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (38:20.6)
Yeah.

Alex Sanfilippo (38:48.364)
Right? But other people are like, I'm going to vibe code. I'm going to write a book. I need a new marketing plan. give me this. Give me this. Right. It's fun for us to do because we feel like we're getting a result with very little effort and it's going to take some self discipline. I think is one of the first skills that's going to be valuable to say, no, I don't need to use AI right now. I don't, I don't need it for this. I don't need a new marketing plan. What I'm doing is working. need to buckle in, have some self-discipline and get the work done. So I think number one, the biggest skill it's going to, that we're going to see in the future that is coming from this.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (38:50.936)
Mm-hmm.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (38:58.701)
Right.

Alex Sanfilippo (39:16.512)
is the person who's actually willing to put in the work. Because in the day, someone's got to push a button to make something work. Someone's going to actually physically do something to make it work. I've met plenty of people now who have written. Yeah, make a decision. Huge. Yeah. So that that's means number one. The next thing is to actually understand it though, to understand what AI can do what's capable of, so that you know the things that you need to do versus not. And this is where hiring someone like Michael, I think makes a lot of sense, even just at a consulting level, be like, can you just explain to us

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (39:24.672)
or make a decision, right?

Alex Sanfilippo (39:45.144)
what we need to use it for, don't need to use it for. Knowing the knowledge of what it can do for you can help a lot. A wrong example of this is I broke an Excel spreadsheet that I had and I'm pretty good in Excel. I've been using it, I used it a lot in my corporate life and I broke something. This formula was unbelievably in the macros behind it. I it was unbelievable. I did put in so much work but I broke it. And I'm sitting there an hour in so frustrated because I'm like, I can't figure out what I broke and it's just, I use this thing every month, it's not working anymore. And finally it just clicked, I'm like, well, let me just.

Let me just see if AI knows. I fed it to AI, I've got paid subscription and everything, because I did the deepest level of it figuring out. And I was like, it's going take an hour to even come up with anything. Five minutes go by and it's like, well, here's your error, but also you messed up this and that's why this got messed up. And it's like, here's the corrected version of it. And I was like, I sat here for an hour hitting my head against the wall because I broke something when I could have just been like, make me this formula. And then I got to go back to myself this one, now I got to go do the work, right? But that's other thing is knowing what it does. So be self-disciplined, know what it does.

but not a tie it to podcasting. think automating everything you possibly can, aside from the room that me and Michael are in right now, being a virtual recording studio, aside from this, automating and delegating the rest of it that you possibly can, again, automating and delegating everything you possibly can, is gonna go a long way. Because Michael, we could sit here and tell people all day how we did a pre-call and how we spent hours coming up with the idea for the episode or how it took us forever to figure out to get scheduled together, right? Nobody...

cares about that and not because they don't care, it's because like that's not, that's not the value that's getting added here. We could be like, it took us six months and eight hours. Yeah, right? Like, yeah, it took us hours to figure this out. like, well, that doesn't matter. You're here now. And the reality is we show up better, the less effort we have to put on the administrative side of things, right? The less lifting before this, being like, whoo, okay, I'm sweating. You ready? You know, like we've already done so much work to get here. Like the more we can kind of remove that friction to just be here.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (41:17.292)
Right. That's our problem.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (41:34.871)
yeah, and it's a lot, yeah.

Alex Sanfilippo (41:39.16)
would be helpful. like, still call podcasting a labor of love. Like it is, it's a lot of work that goes into it,

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (41:43.432)
It is. That's what I tell everybody, especially when you're getting started. Alex, mean, and you have a full time job and then this is another full time job. It's the outreach, very good, bearing gas, reaching out to people, taking a look at see how you're going to edit the videos, right? SEO, caption, uploading content, strategy, scheduling. mean, what is it?

Alex Sanfilippo (42:07.524)
You're speaking to all of it. Listen, if you're listening to this, just want to do a slight, this is a total sidebar note here, but this is for listeners only. If you have not left a five star rating on Apple podcasts for this show, for Michael, The Human Protocol, please go do that. Take the few minutes. It takes a few minutes to do, I'll be honest. But trust me, he reads them and trust me, there's days where he's like, why am I doing all this work? Maybe your review will help him. So please, for me and for Michael, just go do that real quick. And now we're back in the conversation.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (42:30.124)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (42:35.022)
I that. I appreciate that because again, people don't think what happened in behind the scenes, right? And it's not for them to see, but it's also good to bring that reality in front of people because maybe there people that are going to be listening to us today trying to get into podcasting. It's not that we're trying to push anyone away. This is a labor. This is really a labor of love. If you really want to do it the right way as we do, you need to put dedication.

Alex Sanfilippo (42:37.144)
Yeah.

Alex Sanfilippo (42:41.261)
Right.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (43:02.474)
It's not us jumping on a microphone. let's grab this conversation out of the blue. There's a lot of preparation and time from the minute that we started communicating until now to make this happen. And then after this. really, it's still worthy. It is. It's a lot of work. It is. But if it's your passion and if it answers your why, back to the conversation that we had, right, Alex, it's really the way to go.

Alex Sanfilippo (43:32.004)
Yeah. And to go back to your question that we're at here, like what skills mean most valuable? The last one I'll share here, cause it ties to all this, is the ability to finish things. And it kind of goes along with self-discipline, right? To actually do the work, but like to finish things. And like that's the thing with podcasting and the reason I think it's so special is like when the episode's out, you're like, it means you finished something, right? Like you can't release it and then still have like all this like, Oh, I need to edit it. I need to do all this. Like, like when it's out, it's like this dude finished something for real.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (43:41.518)
oooo

Alex Sanfilippo (43:59.256)
And I think the ability to actually be somebody that gets things not to 99%, but a hundred percent done. I think that skill is going to become insanely invaluable in the future. think that that's what people are going to hire for.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (43:59.822)
you

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (44:10.686)
dude, you make me think since the ability to finish things applies to a lot of things, a lot. Many people get started and they never finish, right? Along the way, they find excuses or something happened that they're not able to pursue. I totally am 200 % in agreement with you. The ability to finish, you know, really getting to the finish line.

and being consistent because you need to be consistent if you really want to finish things, right? Especially if you're a lot of things at the same time. It's really gonna be instrumental to how successful your future will be. Totally agree. I love that part. Yeah. Thanks for sharing that.

Alex Sanfilippo (44:49.186)
Yeah. Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (44:56.662)
All right, my friend. So, I really want to get your thoughts on, on community, right. And, and, and, and how important do you see community in podcasting and brand building? So I know that you have been, you have your community and you have been at events for people that are trying to find a, how can I make it? how you can tie success to.

being part of community and events and building your brand that way.

Alex Sanfilippo (45:29.764)
Yeah, if if we go back that framework I shared earlier of passion, community problem solution, like passion, typically once you're in it, isn't going to change a whole lot. Like you might have some ebbs and flows, right? But like my passion stays the same, but I repeat those other three all the time. Community reinvesting community. What's the problem? What's the solution? And for me, I've had the self-discipline to say that within the context of what pod match does, I'm not going to be the guy who launches a second company or has another podcast or does anything other than what I'm doing right now. So I say, okay, this is my community.

If within that context, what's the problem I see that pod match can help solve and how fast can get that solution out. So I'm just repeating that whole process. so for me, community is the lifeblood of figuring out what we're doing. Is it working? Is it actually serving a human? Right? Like what, who is this for? And we continue to evolve and iterate this thing along the way. Community is the core of everything I do. Absolutely the core of everything I do. And for that reason, that's why throughout this conversation, I've said like, if you're going to talk to me, you're going to get me right.

whether it's video, whether it's audio, whether it's text, like I don't use any AI, I don't have any virtual assistant or anything like that. I'm not against those things. I just see the value of me really understanding the pulse of what I'm creating in the community I'm fostering. Like really knowing the pulse myself, having that understanding, having that knowledge has informed so many things that we've done to serve podcasters in PodMatch. And people are always like, how did you get this idea? I'm like, like 30 people told me, like I didn't come up with the idea. I just listened.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (46:53.454)
A hug, a hug and a question, right?

Alex Sanfilippo (46:56.484)
Right? Like I just listen, like that's it. So like, just listen and like, I hear it. say, okay, what am going to do? And so for me, I not only is community important for us because of these reasons, but also like last, like in 2025, I spent a lot of time going to podcasting events. I went to like all over the place, like everywhere I traveled and I'm always looking for the pulse of the industry. So not my pod match community, but the global podcasting community. What are people looking for? And what I found more and more is that the sessions, the actual events are gone, the speakers, the rooms where they were in.

We're pretty empty, but not because there wasn't built these conferences. They're on the hallways because like I've got all the education I need. AI is honestly kind of open the, like you can get anything you need right now. Right. But what you can't replace is ability to connect with another person. Especially if you're like you and I would, do remote recordings. Like we, this is the closest. Yeah. This is the closest we get. And so people are all in the hallways and everyone I talked to is like, yeah, I just, want more community events. want more meetups. I want more events where it has a networking focus. And so with me realizing that.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (47:42.69)
learning from others.

Alex Sanfilippo (47:55.746)
I can even tell you right now, the future of PodMatch is to go even deeper in community. And yes, we're mostly virtual, but we'll continue to find ways to help humans feel connected to their humans. Right? Not so we can get more ideas for our product, but just so we can help solve that need that I'm seeing more of. To me, it's going to become the core of every industry, every business. And for me, I want to make sure I'm ahead of that. And I feel like we're definitely ahead of the curve by focusing so heavily on it right now. But that is the thing we've all got to be really looking at here.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (48:21.272)
Have you thought on live events?

Alex Sanfilippo (48:25.78)
man. Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (48:25.89)
meaning pod match, pod match, live events type of thing.

Alex Sanfilippo (48:30.37)
That scares me so bad. If I can just be real, like the idea of like, I just look at the work involved, man. Like, yeah, I've thought about it. I'm toying the idea for the first time ever. I've always instantly said absolutely a hundred percent no, but for the first time I'm actually like really thinking about it, which scares me a lot. Full transparency, I'm terrified of it. Yeah, yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (48:37.078)
Yeah, it's not.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (48:50.222)
It's not easy. It's not easy. But what I've noticed and what I've seen from different type of events, Alex, it's experiences driven these events, right? People are getting started in smaller, you know, a smaller type of settings and dinners or smaller experiences and then building and building and building on to get to a big event. But I'm with you. Events take a lot of work.

Logistically, it's a lot.

Alex Sanfilippo (49:22.392)
Yeah. I like that you mentioned experiences though, because that's ultimately what people are looking for, right? It's like the experience that you're to have with another person or a group of people. And that can release some of the pressure even now that I'm thinking about it, because I don't need to have a group with 5,000 people there or even 500 people there, even 50. I could bring 30 people together and we can create a really high level experience. It's at a restaurant or doing something fun, right? I need to ponder it from that direction a bit more. I think I'm just preconditioned to say big, right? Thank you.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (49:37.89)
Right?

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (49:47.96)
Food for thought, food for thought, okay? All right, my friends. So the next section is gonna be the last section of our conversation today. Think about it's one question, but intended for different groups, different groups of people, okay? And this is usually how I end this conversation. So I ask my guests always these questions and see where you are.

Alex Sanfilippo (49:51.748)
Thank you.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (50:17.838)
depending on the group that I'm asking. So I'm gonna kick it off. it's really, what's gonna be your piece of advice that you would give individuals trying to build their brand in the AI era? These are regular people, regular human beings in a way.

Alex Sanfilippo (50:40.408)
Yeah, so for anyone who's saying like, okay, I'm building my brand, like maybe even just getting started, world of like new world of AI, like how do I even get started? I think the first thing we've already mentioned a couple of times, you've got to start with your internal why. Like, why am I, why am I actually doing this? Like get really clear on that. Cause I think that a lot of us, we haven't done that hard work, which really is the foundation. And because they haven't done that work, we're kind of, we shape shift, right? We like adjust, we move in real time. It's cause there's no real foundation.

And the other problem is if something starts to work and you have a real foundation, you might find that you hate what you're doing or it's not fulfilling. And so like my first piece of advice, step one is to figure out your internal purpose, your internal why. Like why are you doing this for you? And hand in hand with that, you have to do it immediately afterwards is why are you doing it for others? So your internal why, your external why. So internally it's for you and that can be selfish. I want a better life for my family. I want to quit my job. Like that's fine. That's great. But you have to have a powerful external why that can connect with that as well.

Because if you just do it all for you, it's gonna be really hard to succeed. But if you can add that external why, I'm saying, okay, how is this going to serve somebody else? How is it going to help somebody else? What is the positive impact it'll have on the world by me doing this? What is the why behind that? Now you've got something you can build a really strong foundation upon. And then from there, it's having the self-discipline, the commitment, the accountability in your life, even to say, this is what I'm doing. I'm gonna go this course and give yourself a timeline. Say I'm gonna try it for a year before doing anything else. I'm not gonna turn to an author.

or someone to make software or anything else that AI can do, right? I'm gonna do this thing that I committed to doing. This is the idea, this is the lane. I'm gonna go out there and try it. And you start going, you start building. What informs you to know if you're going the right way or not though, is talking to people, talking to other humans. And for me, nothing beats in person. Like where do people that are gonna do what you're doing for them, right? So that external why, the problem you solve, where do they hang out? Go there, it can be uncomfortable, but just start talking to them and see what you can learn. Like you don't need to ask questions.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (52:34.029)
Yep.

Alex Sanfilippo (52:36.11)
To me, like getting this right, if you're trying to build your brand in that world of AI, get your foundation right, because most people are just skipping that today, right? AI can build it for me. No, it can't. You need to build your own foundation and then have that self-discipline, have that accountability, say this is where I'm going, and then start finding the people as soon as you possibly can. I'm not saying it has to what you do forever. You might shift it, but rinse and repeat this process every time you get started, because making sure that you've got that solid start and knowing who it is that you're serving by actually talking to them, this stuff goes a really long way in today's world.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (53:05.688)
Think about the long term, right? And while you're doing it or what you're trying to do. And I'm going to be totally honest with you and probably our audience. I never shared this before. At the beginning, I understood what is it that I wanted to do. I found the why and how to. But I have doubt, Alex. I never liked the sound of my voice, for example. I said, I'm going to be in front of a camera. This being recorded. Put out there.

for everybody to see, it's hard when you have not done it before. And for those of you that may be watching and may be feeling, hey, I'm not those that were designed to be superstars, or I don't have the look, or I don't have the voice, the more important is really your message. And if you believe in it, I'm sure that you can overcome whatever comes next.

So as Alex was saying, just get started and being consistent. Just put it out there. And it's a game of repetition. You get better, and you get better, and you get better.

Alex Sanfilippo (54:13.73)
Man, thank you for being transparent like that. Seriously, like I respect that. But for the record, I think you have a great voice for podcasting. So let the record show. You know, like what I think when you're saying all this though, Michael, is this quote came to mind, courage means being afraid than doing what you have to do anyway. Like you made the decision on what you need to do. like, obviously there's some level of like being afraid or fear involved. Like, I don't like this on my voice. Like even being transparent takes a level of boldness and like security. But like, you're like, you know what? I don't like this.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (54:20.256)
I still hate my voice and I appreciate that.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (54:30.338)
Mm-hmm.

Alex Sanfilippo (54:43.214)
but it's what I'm supposed to do, so I'm doing it anyway. And man, if there's a type of person in the world that makes it, it's that person who says, I'm afraid, but I'm gonna go ahead and do it anyway, because it's what I have to do. Like that makes you stand out so much to me personally. Like thank you for being transparent and sharing that, man. That's amazing.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (54:46.023)
man.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (54:53.379)
Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (54:57.102)
Oh man, it wasn't easy, Alex. I have my doubts and that first video that I created back in August that I put it on Instagram and YouTube that I recorded like, I think I spent two hours, 25, 25 takes, trying to put a million and a half message on why I was doing it. And when I was studying, it was, it's out. I don't care.

Alex Sanfilippo (55:11.661)
THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (55:24.268)
people are going to hate it, people are going to love it. I don't care. It's out. And from that moment on, I continue. But you know, yeah.

Alex Sanfilippo (55:29.614)
Good for you, man. People love it, by the way. I don't mean to laugh. I just remember being very similar. think all of us kind of start the same way with that, right? Yeah.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (55:36.078)
I think so, right? Yeah, I agree. Yeah, unless you were born with super skills and being in front of a camera, which we don't have that experience, we learn it as we go. yeah. Cool. Alex, your piece of advice, you you created PodMatch and you're working with software with a product that is using AI. And what would be your piece of advice to founders and these companies?

Alex Sanfilippo (55:43.108)
Ha ha ha.

That's right, man. That's right.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (56:05.186)
that are building AI regarding IP and human trust.

Alex Sanfilippo (56:10.168)
Remember that you have greatness and creativity within yourself. You have greatness and creativity within yourself. I think a lot of us were downplaying our own skills because of what AI can provide. And don't get me wrong, it's great. But at the same time, like the greatness and creativity we in ourselves, like nothing beats that. Like our IP is ultimately what we create, what we make, not what a replica of us creates. It comes down to us. We're the ones carving out the future and it's being mimicked at a very fast pace, right? But it's us. And so never...

lose that faith in yourself that you have greatness and creativity within yourself. As long as you remember that and you use that, you grow that muscle, because it really is a muscle, you're going to go on to do some incredible things that I think carve a very beautiful future for the rest of us.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (56:52.17)
Love it. Thanks for sharing that. Now, your piece of advice, or what should policymakers start protecting right now?

Alex Sanfilippo (57:04.758)
man, this one, this one scares me, dude. this, I'm not a legal guy. Like I don't know. But I do think that, I think that everyone thinks they're a lawyer now because they can ask an AI like evaluate their documents. Yes. It's like, well, that's terrifying. I've gotten some

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (57:16.118)
Or a doctor or a psychologist. Not a plumber, not a plumber or electrician.

Alex Sanfilippo (57:23.604)
Right? Yeah, I've gotten some very bad advice and some bad legal advice from people that I'm like, you're not a lawyer. You just fed this to an AI. I think that people do need to think about like, we can't be reactive with this from like a lawmaking standpoint from like people that are in that sphere. We can't just be reactive. Like I get that it's easier to because it's coming so fast. We have to just stop and kind of let this thing bleed out a little bit. But think five years from now, what is going to really matter for us to protect?

Like what's going to really matter? And I get that that's, I'm not a lawyer and I think in many ways they have to be reactive. But I think if somehow we can shift our focus that we have to get ahead of this thing, like we've got to, here's an example, firefighters, when they're finding a really big fire, they don't go to where the fire is and try to put it out. They go start a different fire that's controlled to burn where the path is going to go so that it runs out of things to burn. And that's how they're able to say, okay, we can stop this fire in four miles down the road because we've cut off its path. And so I think that people that are making laws and

regulations in the AI space and in the rest of the world, we've got to come that point down the road and say, this is where we're going to draw the line. We're going have to let some things burn for a little bit here, but we're have to get really smart in the future. And again, I am not a lawyer. I'm probably not the best person to ask this, but that's the only future I can see in that space.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (58:38.702)
Yeah, I totally, totally on board. what I would like them to focus more is really, really understanding this whole new future, I think even social media and the internet for some policymakers is hard for them to grasp and understand what's happening. So my concern is that AI is way too above their pay grade that for them to try to understand

it becomes more complicated. But for us that we are doing podcasts and building our brand, it's like you say, it's about protecting, Doing something to really protect our IP and our brand. So yeah, thank you. Thank you, Alex. I really, really appreciate you coming to the show today and sharing all these insights and letting us know a little bit more about you.

and pod mash and all the good stuff you're doing. So I appreciate you taking the time.

Alex Sanfilippo (59:41.314)
Yeah, Michael, thank you. This was a great conversation and I had a blast here today. So thank you for having me.

THE HUMAN PROTOCOL (59:47.048)
Awesome, I appreciate it. And remember, this conversation should be a reminder that podcasting is just not about getting heard, it's about becoming known, documenting your voice, building your archive, because at the end of the day, these conversations are part of our history, right? And owning our own thoughts. And if this episode sparked something on you, make sure that you...

that you share with a creator, your family, your loved one, a founder, professional, or anyone who want to start documenting who they are. Follow the human protocol and see you guys next week. Thank you all.