The AI Drop
Unlock the future of artificial intelligence with The AI Drop, a podcast dedicated to delivering cutting-edge insights on how AI is transforming industries worldwide. Each episode features expert interviews and actionable strategies to help you harness AI, drive business value, and navigate evolving legal challenges. Fresh drops every week so you never miss a beat.
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The most effective AI governance programs don't slow innovation down. They create the guardrails, visibility, and trust needed to scale AI responsibly and confidently.
In Part 2 of this conversation, Anna Gressel welcomes back Polina Zvyagina, Director and Executive Lead Counsel for AI & Data Governance at General Motors, for a deep dive into what effective AI governance looks like in practice. From NIST's AI Risk Management Framework to the challenges of AI agents, shadow AI, evaluations, and scalable governance, Polina shares practical insights on building governance that works in the real world. The conversation also examines why governance should function as a "seatbelt, not a brake," helping organizations innovate faster while maintaining trust, transparency, and accountability. They also discuss the importance of human judgment, evaluating AI outputs, fitness-for-purpose testing, and avoiding overreliance on AI systems as organizations scale adoption. For governance leaders, legal professionals, and business leaders alike, this episode offers a important insights for building responsible AI programs that can evolve alongside the technology.
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In this episode of The AI Drop, Anna Gressel sits down with Polina Zvyagina, Director and Executive Lead Counsel for AI & Data Governance at General Motors, to explore one of the most sought-after legal roles in tech today: AI Product Counsel. Polina shares how she helped pioneer the AI product counseling field and explains why the future of AI governance depends on embedding legal, policy, and risk expertise directly into the product development process.
Together, Anna and Polina explore how organizations can move beyond treating AI governance as a compliance exercise and instead use it to enable responsible innovation. Polina also offers a behind-the-scenes look at the AI product counsel role, sharing how legal teams work alongside engineers and business leaders to balance innovation with privacy, transparency, consumer protection, and other key risks. For lawyers and governance professionals alike, the conversation provides practical insights into one of the fastest-growing roles in the AI ecosystem.
