About Steve Chazin

For thirty years, I've helped build the technologies that changed how the world works. Now I'm focused on making sure everyone can use them.

About Steve Chazin

My Story

Artificial intelligence is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes, yet most people writing about AI are either trying to sell you something or scare you. I'm not interested in either. I just want to help regular people understand what's actually happening - and what it means for their lives.

My goal is simple: become the person who makes complicated tech feel human and approachable. I want to be that trusted neighbor you turn to when you have a question about tech. I want to be the expert news programs call when they need someone to explain AI without all the jargon or hyperbole.

Who am I?

I graduated with a master’s in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University and went straight into building defensive missile technology at Raytheon. Five years on, I joined Apple during their darkest decade and resigned nearly ten years later when they were rudderless and adrift. Then, Steve Jobs came back and asked me to help him save Apple. I worked alongside people who reimagined what technology could do, and I learned something critical: the best tech is the tech that disappears. The stuff that just works. The thing you trust.

How did I get here?

Over three decades, I've led teams at some of the most influential companies in tech:

  • Cisco - I helped reimagine WebEx into the collaboration tool millions use today, and built a team collaboration tool that predated Slack.
  • Salesforce - I led the integration of Dimdim's web conferencing technology, bringing browser-based web chat to millions. While there, I earned a cool patent on a screen-sharing feature you've almost certainly used.
  • Symantec - As the company’s first VP/GM for Cloud, I brought simple file sync and share tools to PC users and earned another patent for secure file sharing.
  • Alarm.com - I led next-generation sensing and AI solutions for home security and helped build health and wellness products that keep millions of families safe. I'm especially proud of a patent that turns the phone in your pocket into a passive safety sensor for loved ones.
  • Avid - I helped save this legendary film-editing company from being overtaken by Apple after Steve Jobs vowed to “drive a truck” through its business. My biggest win was out-marketing Steve Jobs while growing Avid. My biggest failure followed soon after: building a video-sharing platform, Make.tv, years before YouTube - without convincing Avid leadership it would change the world. This was 2004. Their response: “Why would anyone post video online?”

Here's my pattern: I kept building things before the world was ready for them - file sharing before Dropbox, video sharing before YouTube, collaboration tools before Slack, cloud computing before "the cloud" was even a phrase.

I’ve launched four startups. I’ve led teams of more than 500 people. I’ve scaled businesses from zero to $1.3 billion. I’ve given keynotes in over 20 countries to rooms full of doctors and executives. I’ve appeared on ABC News, Fox News, and BBC discussing where technology is headed. I was even featured in a documentary about my former boss - and occasional foe - Steve Jobs, complete with an IMDb entry I never expected to be so proud of.

But the moments I value most are simpler: when someone says, “I finally get it.” When a neighbor asks for help and I can make their tech frustration disappear. When I learn something new and feel compelled to share it because I know it can improve someone’s life. That’s what I’m chasing with this site.

When I was 7, my dad brought home technology from his lab that made me ask: 'How can wires think?' Fifty years later, I used AI to help save him when he fell in his Florida home. And now I'm building AI-powered bedtime stories for my grand daughter. I've lived the full arc - from punch cards to ChatGPT, from fearing technology to embracing it. And I'm here to help you do the same. - Steve Chazin

Why the focus on AI?

The Mac was the "Computer for the rest of us." It made hard technology accessible to everyone. I want to do the same for Artificial Intelligence, and make it simple for everyone.

That's why my tagline is AI for the rest of us.

For the past fifty years, truly harnessing computer technology required speaking the machine's language. Learning to code. Thinking in logic and syntax.

That era is over.

AI is the first technology that speaks our language. You don't need to learn Python or JavaScript. You need to ask good questions and recognize good answers. That's it.

This is what I call the Digital RenAIssance. A moment as significant as the printing press or the internet, where the barrier between what you imagine and what you create disappears. Where "Vibe Coders" - people who can clearly describe what they want - can become as powerful as traditional programmers. And where normal people who have never coded in their lives, can become Vibe Coders.

I built an AI-powered bedtime story app called Dream Weaver to prove it. Not because I'm a developer (I'm not), but because AI let me turn an idea I had to brighten the day of my grand daughter into reality just by describing it clearly.

If I can do that, anyone can.

What I Do Now

I write about AI at stevechazin.com and on my weekly newsletter, Tomorrow, Explained. I make videos at youtube.com/@skytechio. I share insights on X (Twitter) and LinkedIn.

All of my content is free. I believe this knowledge should be accessible to everyone - not just people who can afford conferences or consultants ana not just people with computer science degrees.

Because AI will reshape work, creativity, healthcare, education, and daily life whether we're ready or not. The only real question is whether people adapt faster than technology changes.

A Pragmatic Optimist

Every major technology shift trigger fear. The internet would destroy privacy. Calculators would destroy thinking. Email would kill communication. Smartphones would ruin a generation.

And yet, here we are - more connected, informed, and empowered than ever.

AI will be the same. Yes, it will disrupt jobs. Yes, it raises ethical questions. Yes, it demands thoughtful deployment.

But it will also cure diseases, personalize education, eliminate drudgery, and unlock human potential in ways we can't yet imagine.

I focus on that future. Not out of naïveté, but because I've watched technology empower billions of people over the past three decades. This time won't be different. It will just be faster.

Let's Talk

Steve Chazin doing his thing at a Keynote in Dallas, TX

I’m building a speaking career around AI for everyday people. If you’re looking for someone who can explain complex technology in plain language - and has the credentials to back it up - let’s connect.

Subscribe to Tomorrow, Explained at stevechazin.com and join me in exploring this remarkable moment.

Welcome to the Digital RenAIssance.

Thank you!

Steve

Steve Chazin makes AI make sense. After three decades leading tech teams at companies like Apple and Salesforce, he's on a mission to show regular people how to use AI without fear or confusion. No hype. No doom. Welcome to the Digital RenAIssance.