VRC: Humans In The Loop

New Podcast Episode:

AI conversations often focus on policies, tools, and governance frameworks. But real success with AI is ultimately about people. In this special episode, Rob and Dawn welcome Dr. Camille Howard, an ethics, HR, and Emerging Technology leader with nearly two decades of experience helping organizations navigate the human side of innovation.

Together, they explore how businesses can move beyond fear, hype, and check-the-box governance to build responsible, human-centered AI strategies that protect trust, accountability, and long-term resilience.

In This Episode:

• AI’s Real Impact on the Workforce — separating fear from productivity and opportunity

• Creating a Sandbox — why organizations must let employees learn, explore, and adapt

• AI Exceptionalism & Accountability — remembering that humans, not AI, own the outcomes

• Governance That Actually Protects You — legal, ethical, and compliance realities leaders must face

• Pause Authority & Speak-Up Culture — empowering employees to question AI outputs safely

• Cross-Checking AI Outputs — practical ways to validate accuracy and reduce hallucinations

• Designing AI With Experts in the Loop — why subject-matter expertise must shape AI models

• Starting With the “Why” — aligning AI use with business value, stakeholders, and mission

If your organization is wrestling with AI risk, workforce anxiety, or governance uncertainty, this conversation delivers rare clarity from a leader who understands both the technology and the human impact behind it. Listen now!

Featured Article

Sponsored by

Just over a month into 2026, cybersecurity and HIPAA breaches show no signs of slowing. HHS Office for Civil Rights data highlights ongoing attacks targeting healthcare, law firms, and education, all sectors rich in sensitive data but often inconsistent in compliance and training.

Reactive approaches create exploitable gaps. Without proactive audits, vulnerability testing, and documented reviews of systems, policies, and procedures, cybercriminals gain easy access. The fallout? Expensive ransomware and hacking incidents, lost trust, reputational damage, and hefty federal/state fines in the thousands to millions.

Key questions for your organization:

• Do you know your vulnerabilities?

• Do you have processes to patch them quickly?

• Where do you even start?

Generic online checklists offer only bare-minimum coverage. In a threat landscape evolving with AI (new risks like unsecured tools and data leaks), minimal effort invites maximum disruption and recovery failure. VanRein Compliance (VRC) provides expert tools, guidance, and coaching to build proactive compliance programs that stay ahead of threats.

VRC Tabletop Exercises (TTXs) simulate real cyber, HIPAA, or AI incidents, revealing decision gaps, improving coordination, and preparing leadership to respond effectively under pressure. VRC Auditor Bennie Cleveland, a leading U.S. cybersecurity and compliance expert, explains: “A tabletop exercise is a structured simulation that tests how leadership and technical teams would respond to a cyber, HIPAA, or AI-driven data incident—before it happens in real life. It exposes decision gaps, strengthens coordination, and ensures the organization can act quickly under pressure.”

2025 shattered records (per HHS/OCR):

• Healthcare breaches impacted 61-million people (with major incidents exposing millions each).

• Ransomware and hacking dominated, exploiting weak encryption, exposed AI tools, and unpatched systems. 3.14 million incidents.

• Education: 62-million students private information compromised

In 2026, AI governance and audits are becoming mandatory priorities to safeguard protected health information (PHI) and other data. AI can streamline operations, but without proper safeguards, training, and oversight, it heightens risk to your business, employees, and clients.

Don't wait for a breach to force costly fixes. Empower your people, processes, and tech with a clear, expert roadmap.

VanRein Compliance turns policies, procedures, and people into strong, performance-driven defenses. Act now before the next incident hits. Contact VanRein Compliance today for a consultation, vulnerability assessment, or tabletop exercise. Protect your organization, reputation, and future. Let's build unbreakable compliance together.

Compliance Feature

Let’s cut to the chase: implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI) brings a lot of “unknowns” to our daily work. Rather than trying to eat the entire apple at once, you need to take it bite by bite.

Before jumping into the deep end, start by assembling an AI Team. This is your opportunity to strengthen company culture with an “all-in” mindset. By bringing together executives, leadership, and frontline workers, you create an arena for collaboration. This diversity of viewpoints builds stronger relationships, sparks better ideas, and ensures your implementation plans are grounded in reality.

At AI expos and conferences throughout 2026, the consensus among everyone, from multinational corporations to local “mom-and-pops" is clear: Human-In-The-Loop (HITL) must be the foundation of your planning, governance, and roll-out.

This week, the VRC Podcast took a deep dive into the "people" side of this rapidly evolving tool. We sat down with Dr. Camille Howard, one of the country’s foremost experts in Artificial Intelligence, to discuss how AI impacts your most valuable asset: your employees.

Dr. Howard highlights a critical warning: AI without solid governance guidelines and accountability is a recipe for disaster. Your company must define exactly how AI will be used, identify which business needs it solves (and which it doesn't), and, most importantly, ensure your sensitive and protected information remains contained. Safety protocols are not optional.

Early AI implementation is going to be bumpy; that’s unavoidable. However, if you empower your AI Team and frontline workers to speak up when something seems "off," you’ll have the guidance you need to navigate the experience safely. Then you need to evolve that rollout into training. VRC is putting together training material to help minimize those “accidents” that are almost inevitable.

VanRein Compliance strongly urges you to listen to or watch this week’s episode. Keep this discussion with Dr. Camille Howard handy as a reference as you transition from voluntary AI use to mandatory, regulated AI compliance.

Sponsor Spotlight

Introducing the first AI-native CRM

Connect your email, and you’ll instantly get a CRM with enriched customer insights and a platform that grows with your business.

With AI at the core, Attio lets you:

• Prospect and route leads with research agents

• Get real-time insights during customer calls

• Build powerful automations for your complex workflows

Join industry leaders like Granola, Taskrabbit, Flatfile and more.

👉 Try Attio Pro for free

Learn AI in 5 minutes a day

This is the easiest way for a busy person wanting to learn AI in as little time as possible:

1. Sign up for The Rundown AI newsletter

2. They send you 5-minute email updates on the latest AI news and how to use it

3. You learn how to become 2x more productive by leveraging AI

Sign up to start learning.

Podcast Essentials

YOUR WEEKLY PODCAST FEATURE

Newsletter Features

COMPLIANCE DISCOVERIES

A VanRein Compliance Reminder