Show notes

🎙️ In This Episode of Joe Reads the News:

Special Guest: Will Hawkins (05:48)
Joe Christiansen is joined by Will Hawkins, CEO and Founder of RitewAI (Wrightway AI), at the Partner Vibe 2026 conference in South Padre Island. Will is recognized for his work in “people-centered AI” and recently co-authored a book on Agentic AI with Nancie Calder.

Conference Highlights: Partner Vibe 2026
Location: The event is held at the Courtyard by Marriott in South Padre Island, Texas, from January 28–30, 2026.

Carol Smock (02:31): Joe mentions upcoming stage time with Carol Smock, Executive Director of TechFluent Academy, which focuses on mentorship and training for under-resourced communities.

Rod O’Connor (32:51): Reference to a session on REST APIs and integration standards presented by Rod O’Connor from eOne Solutions.

The News & Algorithm Awards
Joe Yu (14:08): Awarded the “Algorithm Award” for his post on secure AI agents and Microsoft Copilot Studio updates, featuring “guardrails, governance, and scaling with trust”.

Matthew Devaney (23:38): Featured in the feed for updates regarding Environment Variables for knowledge sources within Copilot Studio.

Ramp (16:01): Discussion on the “Ramp” payment and spend management solution, specifically its ease of integration with ERP systems like Dynamics.

AI Reflection & Advice (40:32)
Will shares his philosophy that AI is an “interface for your own conscious experience,” noting that higher-quality prompting leads to “PhD-level results”. He encourages users to use AI for weekly reflection—lining up weekly data against annual macro goals to identify gaps and improve follow-ups.