The Role of AI in Tech Teams with Mike Todasco of San Diego State University

Episode Summary
AI has the potential to amplify our skills, spark our creativity, and help us innovate faster than ever before—if we use it right.
In this episode of the Scaling Tech podcast, Arin sits down with Mike Todasco to discuss the use of AI in tech teams. Mike is a visiting fellow at San Diego State University's Center for Artificial Intelligence and the former Senior Director of Innovation at PayPal. With a deep focus on AI and technology management, he brings a wealth of experience to the table. Mike holds an MBA in Entrepreneurship from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business and a Master of Fine Arts from Johns Hopkins, where he explored the intersection of AI and writing.
Drawing from his background in scaling innovation within large organizations, Mike shares actionable strategies for integrating AI tools into workflows, enhancing team productivity, and addressing the ethical and human aspects of scaling tech in software teams.
If you’re looking for resources on how you can use AI to unlock new levels of creativity and efficiency in your team, this is your episode. Tune in now to learn more!
About Guest:
Name: Mike Todasco
What he does: He’s a Visiting Fellow at San Diego State University Center for Artificial Intelligence.
Company: San Diego State University
Where to find Mike: LinkedIn
Key Insights
⚡AI tools can amplify our creativity. Contrary to common fears, AI tools won’t necessarily replace humans or take over our jobs. Instead, they can serve a more inspiring purpose of expanding our capabilities. As Mike puts it, “They can do a decent job at writing. They can do a great job of brainstorming. They could do a pretty good job of editing. A wonderful feedback partner. But natively, these tools aren't very creative. [...] These are all still tools and they are very much tools that can make creative people more creative. And that's really how I like to think about them and focus on them.”
⚡AI is accelerating innovation. AI tools are transforming how we approach innovation, making it faster and more accessible than ever. Mike explains, “I think it's going to lead to more prototyping, more rapid iteration, more just like, ‘Okay, let's just build four different versions of this because we couldn't do that before, and let's see what's out there and just see which one's going to stick, and then iterate and iterate and iterate.’ I think the concept of making MVPs, minimum viable prototypes for products, I think it's just going to be quicker to get to that, and you're going to be able to try and experiment so much more than you would have been able to do otherwise.”
⚡AI-first engineering teams are the future. As AI continues to shape the future of tech, its impact on engineering teams is becoming more profound. Mike explains, “We don't even know what they're capable of. The creator tools don't know what they're fully capable of. We're discovering stuff. And especially for engineers, the act of discovery and finding new things and learning new things. This is the stuff that engineers thrive on. So, managers, just put in those constraints, and you are going to then see your team become not just an engineering team, but kind of an AI-first engineering team, and eventually that is what we're all going to become.”