5 min read
To understand the current state of artificial intelligence, one must look back at the history of computing. We often feel as though we are living in the final act of a technological revolution, but in reality, we are likely only in the opening...
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5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Apr 29, 2026 6:30:00 AM
If you work on the events side of an association, the math probably looks familiar. Budgets have been flat for years. Costs — venues, catering, AV,...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Apr 28, 2026 9:15:00 AM
Here's a story you may have heard a version of: a small team launches a free app in the App Store. Two weeks later, Apple calls — unannounced,...
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41 min read
Mallory Mejias: Apr 28, 2026 8:54:02 AM
Summary: What happens when you put a Siri co-creator and longtime AI pioneer together with a next-generation events strategist? Adam...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Apr 23, 2026 12:25:40 PM
More associations are building AI-powered knowledge assistants every month. The pitch is compelling: members get instant answers drawn from your...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Apr 21, 2026 6:30:01 AM
Most AI conversations in associations start with the same question: which model should we use? Claude or ChatGPT? Gemini or something open-source?...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Apr 20, 2026 6:30:00 AM
In early 2023, if you wanted access to the smartest AI available, you paid about $30 per million tokens to use GPT-4. It was expensive, it lived in...
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38 min read
Mallory Mejias: Apr 17, 2026 12:16:35 PM
Summary: This week on the Sidecar Sync, Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias trace one of the biggest stories in AI: how cutting-edge intelligence...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Apr 17, 2026 11:38:59 AM
Associations have always been in the trust business. Members come to them for credentialing, education, industry standards, and reliable information...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Apr 14, 2026 3:31:18 PM
Many associations are operating with IT teams of one, two, or three people — and those teams are responsible for protecting sensitive member data,...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Apr 13, 2026 3:09:21 PM
Many association professionals have moved past the "why AI" question. They've attended the webinars. They've read the articles. Many have...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Apr 13, 2026 1:37:54 PM
Twelve trillion dollars. That's the estimated annual volume of cybercrime flowing through the dark web — a figure that surpasses the GDPs of Germany...
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37 min read
Mallory Mejias: Apr 13, 2026 1:06:01 PM
Summary: In this interview edition of Sidecar Sync, Mallory sits down with Eric O’Neill—former FBI counterintelligence operative, attorney,...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Apr 8, 2026 6:30:00 AM
Computer use — the ability for AI to see your screen, click buttons, open apps, and navigate software on your behalf — has been technically possible...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Apr 7, 2026 9:40:56 AM
In late March, a misconfigured content management system at Anthropic left nearly 3,000 unpublished assets publicly accessible. Among them was a...
3 min read
Mallory Mejias: Apr 6, 2026 5:57:47 PM
If your association has been watching voice AI from the sidelines — maybe impressed by the demos but put off by the cost or complexity — the calculus...
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36 min read
Mallory Mejias: Apr 2, 2026 12:18:11 PM
Summary: This week on the Sidecar Sync, Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias unpack a whirlwind of Claude news, from Anthropic’s accidental “Mythos”...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Mar 31, 2026 6:30:00 AM
A lot of associations spent the past year or two making what felt like a big decision: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot. Teams were assembled....
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Mar 30, 2026 11:36:54 AM
If you've been anywhere near AI news in the past few weeks, you've probably seen the name OpenClaw. NVIDIA's CEO compared it to the arrival of Linux....
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38 min read
Mallory Mejias: Mar 27, 2026 12:43:33 PM
Summary: In this episode of Sidecar Sync, co-hosts Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias dive into the explosive rise of OpenClaw—an open-source AI...
7 min read
Mallory Mejias: Mar 25, 2026 6:30:00 AM
Your members don't compare your website to other association websites. They compare it to every other digital experience they have in a day —...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Mar 24, 2026 6:30:00 AM
In late January, a group of 14 people gathered at a beach house in Florida for six days. They worked 16 to 18 hour days, mostly self-directed, with...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Mar 23, 2026 11:44:51 AM
Sidecar recently launched Grace, a voice AI agent that lives on our website. You can talk to her about Sidecar's offerings, ask questions about the...
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30 min read
Mallory Mejias: Mar 20, 2026 9:33:03 AM
Summary: In this episode of Sidecar Sync, Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias pull back the curtain on one of Sidecar’s most ambitious experiments...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Mar 20, 2026 9:09:37 AM
Ask a room full of association leaders what's standing between them and meaningful AI adoption, and a version of the same answer comes up repeatedly:...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Mar 17, 2026 6:30:00 AM
There's a version of the current AI story where associations aren't really in the picture. The disruption is happening at the enterprise level, the...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Mar 16, 2026 11:23:43 AM
Earlier this year, a JP Morgan report flagged something that should get the attention of anyone running an association: the S&P 500 software index...
1 min read
John Huisman: Mar 16, 2026 11:03:15 AM
We built something we're excited about and wanted to share it. If you visit sidecar.ai now, you'll notice something new: a research preview of our AI...
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38 min read
Mallory Mejias: Mar 16, 2026 10:12:31 AM
Summary: In this episode of Sidecar Sync, Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias unpack three major developments shaping the AI landscape for...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Mar 13, 2026 11:38:01 AM
Eighty percent of organizations surveyed in Anthropic's 2026 State of AI Agents Report say agents have already delivered measurable financial impact....
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Mar 11, 2026 12:26:12 PM
When organizations across industries were asked what they plan to implement with AI agents over the next 12 months, the top answer wasn't customer...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Mar 10, 2026 12:10:29 PM
For a long time, the conversation around AI in associations has been about tools — things you ask, things that respond, things that complete a task...
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25 min read
Mallory Mejias: Mar 5, 2026 1:05:50 PM
Summary: In this special solo edition of Sidecar Sync, Mallory Mejias unpacks Anthropic’s 2026 State of AI Agents report and translates what it...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Mar 5, 2026 6:30:00 AM
Model Context Protocol — MCP — has quickly become the standard for connecting AI tools to external data sources. If you've heard the term floating...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Mar 4, 2026 6:30:00 AM
When association leaders hear the term "AI data platform," there's usually a familiar response: "Oh, so it's like a data warehouse?" Not quite.
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Mar 3, 2026 3:13:36 PM
On a recent investor call, HubSpot CEO Yamini Rangan was asked how the company plans to respond to clients using AI agents to pull data out of...
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40 min read
Mallory Mejias: Mar 3, 2026 1:05:55 PM
Summary: In this episode of the Sidecar Sync, Mallory and Amith dive deep into two seismic shifts rocking the AI landscape for associations: the rise...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Feb 25, 2026 2:08:42 PM
For generations, the trajectory of professional development has pointed in one direction: deeper. You specialize. Then you sub-specialize. You become...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Feb 25, 2026 6:30:00 AM
If you've been following AI developments, you've probably seen impressive image generators and video tools. You type a prompt, you get a visual....
3 min read
Mallory Mejias: Feb 24, 2026 12:22:02 PM
Most association leaders making AI decisions right now are doing something that feels responsible but is actually a strategic mistake: they're...
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31 min read
Mallory Mejias: Feb 24, 2026 9:59:44 AM
Summary: In this episode of Sidecar Sync, Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias zoom out to explore the AI infrastructure quietly reshaping everything...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Feb 19, 2026 6:30:00 AM
Most associations were built on a promise that still holds: bring the right people together and good things happen. That idea launched thousands of...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Feb 18, 2026 6:30:00 AM
If you've been paying attention to AI news over the past year, you already know the feeling. A new model drops and the benchmarks are unprecedented....
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Feb 17, 2026 2:25:34 PM
I recently bought a home, and like anyone staring down empty rooms and a budget that isn't infinite, I went deep — books, YouTube channels, design...
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36 min read
Mallory Mejias: Feb 17, 2026 10:08:57 AM
Summary: If you think the future of AI is being decided only in Silicon Valley or Beijing, this conversation will stretch your perspective. Amith...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Feb 12, 2026 6:30:00 AM
Associations are adopting AI at a pace that would have been hard to imagine even two years ago. Content generation, member service tools, internal...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Feb 11, 2026 6:30:00 AM
On January 30th, Anthropic released a set of domain-specific plugins for Cowork, their enterprise AI product. The plugins target legal, finance,...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Feb 10, 2026 10:03:59 AM
Most association professionals have a working mental model for AI at this point. You give it a task, it works through it, and it gives you something...
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38 min read
Mallory Mejias: Feb 5, 2026 3:12:59 PM
Summary: In this high-octane episode of Sidecar Sync, Amith and Mallory cover an ambitious trio of AI developments with massive implications for...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Feb 4, 2026 6:30:01 AM
When people talk about AI risk, they tend to focus on dramatic scenarios. Mass unemployment. Superintelligent systems escaping human control. Robots...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Feb 3, 2026 1:49:26 PM
Most conversations about AI and employment follow a familiar script. Jobs will be lost. Workers will need to reskill. Organizations should invest in...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Feb 2, 2026 1:22:02 PM
There's a question lurking in the back of many association leaders' minds right now: Who am I to lead an AI initiative?
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29 min read
Mallory Mejias: Feb 2, 2026 12:59:16 PM
Summary: What do AI companions, deepfakes, and White House briefings have in common? Bruce Reed. In this episode, Mallory Mejias and Amith Nagarajan...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jan 29, 2026 6:30:00 AM
Every association claims to have a focused strategic plan. The board retreat happened. The priorities were narrowed. The strategic pillars were...
7 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jan 28, 2026 1:14:51 PM
Economists Philip Trammell and Dwarkesh Patel recently published an essay that's been making the rounds in policy and technology circles. The premise...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jan 27, 2026 12:18:18 PM
The United States builds the most advanced AI systems on the planet. American companies created ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. American data centers...
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33 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jan 27, 2026 11:42:44 AM
Summary: In this episode of Sidecar Sync, Mallory Mejias and Amith Nagarajan unpack two powerful narratives shaping our AI future: the surprising...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jan 21, 2026 6:30:00 AM
CES 2026 delivered its usual mix of the practical and the peculiar. But this year, even the quirky gadgets pointed toward a consistent theme: AI is...
3 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jan 20, 2026 6:30:00 AM
Robotics dominated CES 2026 in a way we haven't seen before. More robots appeared at this year's show than ever, but what's notable isn't the...
3 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jan 19, 2026 6:30:00 AM
CES 2026 just wrapped in Las Vegas, and while the Consumer Electronics Show has historically been about TVs, phones, and gadgets, this year's biggest...
33 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jan 15, 2026 1:52:05 PM
Summary: CES 2026 brought the heat—and the robots. In this episode, Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias break down the biggest stories from the...
3 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jan 14, 2026 6:30:00 AM
A study from MIT's Sloan School of Management found that 95% of enterprise AI initiatives fail to reach production with measurable impact....
3 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jan 13, 2026 6:30:00 AM
Your AMS vendor just announced an AI assistant module. It's an additional $10,000 per year. Your LMS now offers AI-powered content generation for a...
3 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jan 12, 2026 4:51:26 PM
When association leaders decide to "do something with AI," the default instinct is predictable: build a chatbot. It makes sense on the surface....
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29 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jan 12, 2026 4:21:34 PM
Summary: In this episode of the Sidecar Sync, Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias dig into the startling findings of a recent MIT study: 95% of...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jan 9, 2026 12:42:32 PM
The conversation around AI skills has shifted. What was a "nice to have" a few years ago has become a baseline expectation. According to Microsoft...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jan 6, 2026 1:57:14 PM
AI agents have been "coming soon" for a while now. Every year brings new announcements, new frameworks, new promises about autonomous systems that...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jan 5, 2026 10:30:51 AM
We're officially in the second half of the decade. And if 2025 felt like the year AI went from interesting to unavoidable, 2026 is shaping up to be...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jan 5, 2026 6:30:00 AM
Every association claims to offer excellent member service. Mission statements promise it. Strategic plans prioritize it. Staff work hard to deliver...
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36 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jan 2, 2026 11:09:49 AM
Summary: In this annual predictions spectacular, Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias kick off 2026 by looking back at how well their 2025 AI forecasts...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jan 2, 2026 10:17:23 AM
There's a lot of speculation about how people use AI. Productivity boosters. Coding assistants. Research tools. The assumptions tend to skew toward...
27 min read
Mallory Mejias: Dec 30, 2025 10:50:20 PM
Summary: In this special holiday edition of Sidecar Sync, Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias unwrap two stories that feel wildly different—but point...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Dec 30, 2025 6:30:00 AM
The NFL has been quietly monitoring a supersonic jet company. Not as an investment opportunity. Not as a sponsorship play. League executives have...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Dec 24, 2025 6:30:00 AM
Somebody is going to train the lawyers of the world on how to use AI in legal practice.
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Dec 23, 2025 6:30:00 AM
One in four US doctors now uses OpenEvidence, an AI platform trained exclusively on peer-reviewed medical journals. That's 15 million consultations...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Dec 22, 2025 2:20:02 PM
In October 2025, two lawyers from a prominent UK firm launched Three Points Law, a legal practice built entirely on AI platforms from day one. No...
27 min read
Mallory Mejias: Dec 22, 2025 10:37:08 AM
Summary: Domain-specific AI is having its ‘main character’ moment—and Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias break down three sharp examples. They unpack...
2 min read
Bruce Moe: Dec 19, 2025 10:30:00 AM
Executive Summary
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Dec 17, 2025 6:30:01 AM
Many associations have launched online communities in recent years. The pitch was compelling: give members a space to connect, share knowledge, and...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Dec 16, 2025 12:49:06 PM
Ernie Svenson made an observation in our recent Sidecar Sync podcast conversation that should give association leaders pause. Ernie is a former New...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Dec 15, 2025 12:10:30 PM
A lawyer recently made a claim that got people talking: most attorneys get more practical help from a $20/month ChatGPT subscription than from their...
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37 min read
Mallory Mejias: Dec 15, 2025 11:34:49 AM
Summary: In this eye-opening episode, Mallory Mejias sits down with Ernie Svenson—better known as Ernie the Attorney—to talk tech, tradition, and the...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Dec 10, 2025 6:30:01 AM
A post has been circulating on LinkedIn that should make every association leader uncomfortable. It shows what's now possible with AI image...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Dec 9, 2025 10:28:32 AM
Microsoft. Google. Salesforce. Adobe.
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Dec 8, 2025 12:37:22 PM
The AI leader from January isn't the AI leader now. And the leader now probably won't hold that spot six months from now.
36 min read
Mallory Mejias: Dec 8, 2025 12:04:31 PM
Summary: This week on the Sidecar Sync, Mallory Mejias and Amith Nagarajan unpack one of the most explosive weeks in AI so far—from the stunning...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Dec 3, 2025 6:30:00 AM
Most associations have decades of content sitting in their archives. Journals, conference proceedings, research publications, technical standards,...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Dec 2, 2025 10:55:04 AM
If you've been waiting for your board to greenlight an AI initiative, you're not alone. Board buy-in is a common blocker association professionals...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Dec 1, 2025 3:01:25 PM
A recent podcast conversation with Jay Gilbert, Director of Scientific Programs and Product Development at the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT),...
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26 min read
Mallory Mejias: Dec 1, 2025 12:44:30 PM
Summary: When an association with 85 years of food science knowledge decides to launch an AI product, what happens? In this episode, Mallory Mejias...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Nov 26, 2025 6:30:00 AM
This month, Google announced Project Suncatcher, their plan to build scalable machine learning compute systems in space. The vision: constellations...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Nov 25, 2025 6:30:00 AM
This month, Inception Labs released an upgraded version of Mercury, their diffusion-based language model that first launched in February 2025. The...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Nov 24, 2025 6:30:00 AM
Anthropic just released Claude Haiku 4.5, delivering frontier-level performance at a fraction of the cost and twice the speed of previous models....
34 min read
Mallory Mejias: Nov 21, 2025 2:05:37 PM
Summary: In this episode of Sidecar Sync, Mallory Mejias and Amith Nagarajan dive into three high-octane AI developments reshaping the landscape of...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Nov 19, 2025 6:30:00 AM
Strategy typically flows in one direction. The board sets vision. Executive leadership interprets it. Senior management translates it. Staff execute...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Nov 18, 2025 6:29:59 AM
Most associations operate under constant addition. New programs stack on top of existing ones. Member requests become new initiatives. Strategic...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Nov 17, 2025 9:44:00 AM
Return on investment doesn't always arrive in a spreadsheet. Sometimes it walks up to you at dinner. Sometimes it shows up as a percentage drop in...
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21 min read
Mallory Mejias: Nov 13, 2025 9:27:19 AM
Summary: Live from digitalNow 2025 in Chicago, this special edition of Sidecar Sync brings together voices from across the association world, sharing...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Nov 12, 2025 6:30:00 AM
Dr. Denise Herzing has spent 40 years studying dolphin communication in The Bahamas. She founded the Wild Dolphin Project in 1985, recording...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Nov 11, 2025 9:42:03 AM
Dr. Denise Herzing has spent 40 years in The Bahamas studying how dolphins communicate. She records their clicks, whistles, and burst pulses, then...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Nov 10, 2025 1:12:45 PM
Dr. Denise Herzing has spent 40 years listening to dolphins in The Bahamas, recording their clicks, whistles, and bursts in an effort to understand...
29 min read
Mallory Mejias: Nov 6, 2025 6:30:00 AM
Summary: In this episode of Sidecar Sync, Mallory Mejias is joined by marine biologist and behavioral researcher Dr. Denise Herzing for a...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Nov 5, 2025 10:57:04 AM
I'm sitting here on Day 3 of digitalNow 2025 in Chicago. Over the past few days, we've seen incredible sessions on implementation, infrastructure,...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Nov 5, 2025 12:18:25 AM
Day 2 of digitalNow 2025 just wrapped in Chicago. Over the past two days, we've seen incredible sessions from association practitioners, AI experts,...
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5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Nov 3, 2025 9:50:58 PM
digitalNow 2025 kicked off this morning in Chicago, and if you're following along from home or planning to join us for Days 2 and 3, here's what you...
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26 min read
Mallory Mejias: Nov 2, 2025 12:57:47 PM
Summary: In this solo episode, Mallory Mejias takes the reins to unveil what digitalNow 2025 reveals about the current state of AI in...
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38 min read
Mallory Mejias: Nov 2, 2025 12:41:24 PM
Summary: In this episode, Mallory Mejias sits down with UX and content strategy expert Bryan Kelly to explore how the longevity economy—a massive...
2 min read
Erica Salm Rench: Oct 30, 2025 3:01:00 PM
WASHINGTON, DC, and NEW ORLEANS, LA — ASAE and Sidecar today announced a strategic partnership to deliver comprehensive artificial intelligence...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Oct 29, 2025 6:30:00 AM
This blog is based on insights from Bryan Kelly, UX strategist and content design leader, who will deliver a keynote on this topic at digitalNow 2025...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Oct 28, 2025 6:30:00 AM
This blog is based on insights from Bryan Kelly, UX strategist and content design leader, who will deliver a keynote on this topic at digitalNow 2025...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Oct 27, 2025 3:40:59 PM
This blog is based on insights from Bryan Kelly, UX strategist and content design leader, who will deliver a keynote on this topic at digitalNow 2025...
7 min read
Mallory Mejias: Oct 22, 2025 6:30:00 AM
Anthropic just released its third economic index report, and the findings are striking. The company analyzed millions of conversations across...
9 min read
Mallory Mejias: Oct 21, 2025 6:30:00 AM
Citibank just made headlines by requiring all 175,000 of its employees globally to complete AI training within 60 days. Every single employee, from...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Oct 20, 2025 2:44:24 PM
A robotic hand waves at the camera. It holds a pen casually between two fingers, the way you might fidget at your desk. The movements look...
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34 min read
Mallory Mejias: Oct 16, 2025 10:45:55 AM
Summary: In this episode of the Sidecar Sync, Mallory Mejias and Amith Nagarajan dive into three seemingly distinct but tightly connected topics: a...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Oct 15, 2025 6:30:01 AM
OpenAI just committed over a trillion dollars to AI infrastructure. AMD will supply six gigawatts of GPUs. Nvidia signed for ten gigawatts. Oracle's...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Oct 14, 2025 6:30:00 AM
While you sleep tonight, an AI assistant could be researching your top professional interests, analyzing your calendar, drafting meeting agendas, and...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Oct 13, 2025 11:54:20 AM
OpenAI just unveiled AgentKit—a no-code platform that lets anyone build AI agents. In theory, you, a non-technical association professional with zero...
1 min read
John Huisman: Oct 10, 2025 9:30:00 AM
I keep hearing the same question from association leaders: "Which AI tool should we use?"
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34 min read
Mallory Mejias: Oct 9, 2025 11:18:15 AM
Summary: This week on Sidecar Sync, Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias dive deep into OpenAI’s biggest moves of the year—starting with how ChatGPT...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Oct 8, 2025 6:30:00 AM
AI can generate photorealistic videos. Write entire novels. Pass the bar exam. These capabilities make headlines and dominate conference keynotes....
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Oct 7, 2025 6:30:00 AM
Here's a problem many associations know intimately: you have software that works, sort of. Maybe it's an AMS from 2008. Maybe it's a conference...
7 min read
Mallory Mejias: Oct 6, 2025 10:20:38 AM
You know that moment when your board approves a website redesign, you collect quotes ranging from $200,000 to $800,000, and the timelines all stretch...
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58 min read
Mallory Mejias: Oct 3, 2025 9:47:42 AM
Summary: In this jam-packed episode of Sidecar Sync, co-hosts Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias tackle five cutting-edge AI developments, all...
7 min read
Mallory Mejias: Oct 3, 2025 9:10:09 AM
When you measure success, you count heads. How many people attended the conference? How many members completed the certification? How many downloaded...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Oct 2, 2025 2:29:38 PM
Your association just launched an AI assistant to handle member questions. The vendor demo was impressive. The pilot went well. Leadership expects it...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Oct 1, 2025 5:05:36 PM
Your association just spent six months building a new member portal. The features are impressive. The interface is clean. Leadership loves the demo....
7 min read
Mallory Mejias: Sep 30, 2025 11:14:53 AM
In Episode 100 of the Sidecar Sync, we made several predictions about what's coming. One stood out: by Episode 200, hundreds of associations will...
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35 min read
Mallory Mejias: Sep 29, 2025 10:31:17 PM
Summary: In this special interview edition of the Sidecar Sync, Mallory Mejias sits down with Shekar Sivasubramanian, Head of the Wadhwani Institute...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Sep 25, 2025 7:00:01 AM
Looking back at the Sidecar Sync podcast journey from Episode 1 (October 2023) to Episode 100 (September 2025), what has surprised the Sidecar team...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Sep 23, 2025 2:45:57 PM
In honor of 100 episodes of the Sidecar Sync, I wanted to analyze all our episodes with Claude. Simple enough goal, except our transcripts were...
7 min read
Mallory Mejias: Sep 22, 2025 7:00:00 AM
Your association produces the industry's gold standard content. Peer-reviewed research. Expert-validated best practices. Comprehensive certification...
3 min read
Haley Vanness: Sep 19, 2025 2:30:00 PM
2030 might seem far away, but it’s just around the corner. The rapid pace of change in our industry and workforce makes it clear that we can’t afford...
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37 min read
Mallory Mejias: Sep 18, 2025 4:22:40 PM
Summary: In this special 100th episode of Sidecar Sync, co-hosts Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias take a celebratory stroll down memory lane,...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Sep 18, 2025 7:00:00 AM
After formal education ends, professionals lose their built-in peer groups. No more classmates, no more study partners, no more cohorts. Just...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Sep 17, 2025 4:34:25 PM
A 75-year-old association with 300,000 members. A six-year-old startup that's already reached one-fifth of that scale. One has decades of...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Sep 15, 2025 8:25:19 PM
Your association needs music constantly. Conference walk-in music, gala entertainment, educational video backgrounds, virtual event transitions,...
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28 min read
Mallory Mejias: Sep 15, 2025 8:23:50 PM
Summary: Is the future of associations being rewritten by influencers? In this episode, Mallory Mejias is joined by Jackson Boyar, co-founder and CEO...
2 min read
Kim FitzSimmons: Sep 12, 2025 9:30:00 AM
AI adoption in associations isn’t just about tech enablement. It’s about culture transformation. As someone leading AI strategy at our association, I...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Sep 11, 2025 3:18:31 PM
Your association is sitting on thousands of pages of valuable content that most members will never read. Board minutes, research reports, white...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Sep 9, 2025 9:06:32 PM
Most associations accidentally limit themselves geographically—not by choice, but by language. Take a moment to consider your organization's name. If...
7 min read
Mallory Mejias: Sep 8, 2025 8:12:58 PM
What do 14 million labeled images of cats, dogs, and hot air balloons have to do with your next strategic planning session? What does a computer...
4 min read
Dave Dellin: Sep 8, 2025 9:05:57 AM
As the CEO of the American Paint Horse Association (APHA), I’ve witnessed firsthand the transformative power of technology in the equine industry....
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39 min read
Mallory Mejias: Sep 4, 2025 10:04:37 PM
Summary: In this audio-focused episode of the Sidecar Sync, Mallory Mejias and Amith Nagarajan explore three groundbreaking advancements in AI audio...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Sep 4, 2025 1:06:36 PM
I recently interviewed Thomas Altman on the Sidecar Sync podcast, and his story perfectly illustrates the innovation journey many of you are already...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Sep 2, 2025 6:12:29 PM
Three years ago, if you'd told association leaders that AI would be writing their member communications, answering complex certification questions,...
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38 min read
Mallory Mejias: Aug 28, 2025 1:35:24 PM
Summary: Thomas Altman, co-founder of Tasio and Betty, joins Mallory Mejias for an electrifying deep dive into the future of AI through the lens of...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Aug 28, 2025 1:30:52 PM
Have you tested out GPT-5? You might have noticed it's been a bit buggy. Connection failures, voice mode not working, responses that feel oddly cold...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Aug 26, 2025 10:25:38 AM
The open source AI movement continues to accelerate. Microsoft, Meta, Mistral, OpenAI, DeepSeek, and Google have all released open models in recent...
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29 min read
Mallory Mejias: Aug 25, 2025 6:48:46 PM
Summary: In this episode of Sidecar Sync, Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias tackle the latest developments in AI with a fast-paced series of...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Aug 25, 2025 6:06:41 PM
In 1997, world chess champion Garry Kasparov sat across from IBM's Deep Blue supercomputer in one of history's most famous matches. Kasparov's brain...
8 min read
Mallory Mejias: Aug 20, 2025 6:00:00 AM
GPT-5. Claude 4.1 Opus. Qwen. Llama. The new gpt-oss models. If you're feeling overwhelmed by the avalanche of AI options, you're not alone. Every...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Aug 19, 2025 6:00:00 AM
OpenAI—the company that arguably put the "closed" in closed-source AI—just released their first open models in six years. As HubSpot Co-Founder and...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Aug 18, 2025 1:02:03 PM
OpenAI's latest flagship model promises to "just do stuff"—that's how AI researcher and Wharton professor Ethan Mollick describes GPT-5's core...
36 min read
Mallory Mejias: Aug 15, 2025 12:46:17 PM
Summary: In this episode of Sidecar Sync, Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias dive into two groundbreaking releases from OpenAI: the long-awaited...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Aug 12, 2025 11:46:09 AM
You get it. You're reading about AI, experimenting with tools, maybe even using GPT-5 already. But when you bring up AI education at the board...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Aug 11, 2025 1:00:29 PM
In November 2023, the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) made a move that surprised many in the association world: they acquired Semantic...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Aug 11, 2025 11:29:05 AM
Medical coders spend their days translating doctor's notes into standardized codes. Match the diagnosis to the code. Follow the rules. Submit the...
2 min read
Kim FitzSimmons: Aug 8, 2025 1:00:00 PM
AI isn’t just transforming how associations operate internally—it’s opening new doors for how we serve our members. At the American Association of...
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28 min read
Mallory Mejias: Aug 8, 2025 11:16:10 AM
Summary: In this episode of Sidecar Sync, co-hosts Mallory Mejias sits down with Dr. Nicola Sahar to explore how a University of Toronto med student...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Aug 6, 2025 11:15:18 AM
By 2028, AI companies will need twice New York City's peak electricity demand just for training their models. Just for training. Not for the millions...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Aug 5, 2025 1:10:09 PM
Will artificial general intelligence arrive in 2027? Within a decade? Never? Ask three AI experts and you'll get four different answers. Geoffrey...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Aug 4, 2025 11:26:36 PM
In the AI race, the tortoise just lapped the hare—and nobody saw it coming. Anthropic's founders left OpenAI because they thought the industry was...
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39 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jul 31, 2025 2:17:27 PM
Summary: In this episode of Sidecar Sync, Mallory Mejias and Amith Nagarajan cover a trio of urgent topics shaping the AI landscape. They kick off...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jul 30, 2025 3:52:24 PM
Here's a simple line of code: email.send("Hello world") In just a few characters, you've instructed a computer to perform an incredibly complex...
7 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jul 29, 2025 12:45:28 PM
June 2009, Miami Beach. A small team of researchers stands by their poster in the corner of the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition conference....
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jul 28, 2025 11:50:01 AM
Last week, I saw a delivery robot rolling down the sidewalk with someone's Uber Eats order. I was genuinely impressed! This little robot with...
38 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jul 25, 2025 2:45:19 PM
Summary: Are we ready for a world where AI agents write our blogs and robots clean our homes? In this episode, Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias...
2 min read
Jason Marchese: Jul 25, 2025 10:15:00 AM
Over the past 15 years, I’ve developed a lot of learning content, especially during my time with an association overseas. In that role, developing a...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jul 23, 2025 4:50:55 PM
Most AI policies read like a list of don'ts. Don't share confidential data. Don't trust AI outputs. Don't use unapproved tools. Don't, don't, don't....
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jul 22, 2025 4:29:13 PM
Most AI training starts with possibilities—what AI can write, create, analyze, summarize, generate. We've all sat through these presentations,...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jul 21, 2025 2:20:56 PM
The organizations Conor Grennan has trained on generative AI are undeniably impressive: OpenAI, McKinsey, Google, JP Morgan, NASA. But perhaps more...
47 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jul 18, 2025 1:55:47 PM
Summary: In this heartwarming and enlightening episode, co-hosts Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias welcome the dynamic father-son duo, Conor and...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jul 18, 2025 9:09:12 AM
"Hey ChatGPT, what certification do I need to become a project manager?"
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jul 15, 2025 11:02:19 AM
Nine out of ten nonprofit leaders say technology is vital to their success. Yet most spend less than 3% of their budgets on it.
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jul 14, 2025 12:05:34 PM
While you're reading this, AI bots are likely scanning your association's public website, harvesting your blog posts, event descriptions, and...
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31 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jul 10, 2025 5:24:06 PM
Summary: In this dog-dedicated episode of Sidecar Sync (Happy 12th to Ninja!), Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias tackle two extremes of the...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jul 10, 2025 5:07:50 PM
Year one: Let's experiment with AI! Education staff use AI for course descriptions. The membership department uses AI to draft renewal emails.
7 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jul 8, 2025 11:18:53 AM
Here's the reality: There's a version of your association that costs less to run, serves members faster, and delivers personalized value at scale....
8 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jul 7, 2025 3:26:50 PM
Here's a frustrating reality: Your team members are quietly achieving 2-3x productivity gains with AI, cutting tasks that used to take hours down to...
39 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jul 7, 2025 12:38:45 PM
Summary: In this episode, Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias dive into the world of AI agents, hackathons, and the secret cyborgs in your office....
3 min read
Ryan Silhavy: Jul 3, 2025 8:30:00 AM
Artificial intelligence. Two words that can spark excitement, curiosity, and perhaps mild terror in staff meetings. At the Society of Actuaries...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jul 2, 2025 7:00:00 AM
The concept of "catching people doing things right" was introduced to us by John Spence in Episode 88 of the Sidecar Sync podcast. According to...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jul 1, 2025 11:27:53 AM
For decades, associations have served as the gatekeepers of industry knowledge. Individual members paid dues for access to research and best...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jun 30, 2025 8:13:39 PM
Gina had been CEO of her trade association for eight years. By any traditional measure, she was succeeding. MBA from a prestigious university. Two...
3 min read
Danielle Duran Baron: Jun 27, 2025 1:30:00 PM
Why Associations Need to Invest in AI Training for Their Entire Teams, And Fast
31 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jun 26, 2025 11:06:56 AM
Summary: In this energizing interview, Mallory Mejias is joined by leadership legend John Spence to unpack the three essential quotients of...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jun 25, 2025 7:00:00 AM
Apple recently published research that's stirring debate in the AI community: "The Illusion of Thinking: Understanding the Strengths and Limitations...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jun 24, 2025 7:00:00 AM
Back in October 2023, I spent about half an hour creating my AI avatar in HeyGen. I had to train it by recording myself speaking directly to camera...
5 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jun 23, 2025 1:45:45 PM
Think about the last time you asked Siri or Alexa a question. Functional? Sometimes. But warm, engaging, or emotionally intelligent? Not quite. These...
![Sidecar Sync podcast episode cover featuring hosts Mallory and Amith, with the tagline 'AI Knowledge for Associations' and playful sound effect captions like [laughs], [sighs], [whispers], and [cries]. Episode 86.](https://sidecar.ai/hs-fs/hubfs/Sidecar%20Sync%20-%20Ep%2086%5Blaughs%5D%20%5Bsighs%5D%20%5Bwhispers%5D%2086.png?width=1200&height=630&name=Sidecar%20Sync%20-%20Ep%2086%5Blaughs%5D%20%5Bsighs%5D%20%5Bwhispers%5D%2086.png)
38 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jun 20, 2025 11:59:02 AM
Summary: In this episode of the Sidecar Sync, co-hosts Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias dive deep into the cutting edge of AI-generated audio and...
3 min read
Bruce Moe: Jun 20, 2025 9:30:00 AM
This post is inspired by Ethan Mollick’s article “Making AI Work: Leadership, Lab, and Crowd” and by the practical lessons we’re learning at MSTA as...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jun 18, 2025 9:00:00 AM
In our previous blog, we explored how AI-powered workflows enable course creation in two weeks instead of 52 weeks. Sounds great, right? But just...
6 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jun 17, 2025 12:30:58 PM
A team of teachers. One full year. That's what it used to take to create a single comprehensive course. Jason Marchese, Learning Content Specialist...
7 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jun 16, 2025 5:40:22 PM
Need to split the dinner bill with friends? There's an app for that. Want to meditate for just 5 minutes? There's an app for that too. Trying to...
35 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jun 16, 2025 2:34:00 PM
Summary: In this episode of the Sidecar Sync, Mallory Mejias sits down with Jason Marchese, Learning Content Specialist at Sidecar, to explore the...
4 min read
Dave Dellin: Jun 13, 2025 9:30:00 AM
As the CEO of the American Paint Horse Association (APHA), I’m constantly looking ahead to ensure our organization remains a vibrant hub for Paint...
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7 min read
Amith Nagarajan: Jun 12, 2025 4:42:03 PM
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jun 11, 2025 12:19:43 PM
We hit a major AI milestone recently: AI video that looks as real as video shot on a camera. For the first time, we're seeing AI-generated clips that...
4 min read
Mallory Mejias: Jun 10, 2025 3:41:20 PM
If you're using generative AI regularly, you've probably started forming loyalty to one of the major models out there. I'm an avid Claude user...