Deb Liu Says Not Doing AI is like Refusing to Use Excel

Deb Liu Says Not Doing AI is like Refusing to Use Excel

From The Matthews Mentality Podcast by Kyle Matthews

April 28, 2026 · 1h 45m · Episode 112

About this episode

Kyle Matthews interviews Deb Liu about AI adoption and its implications for business and careers.

Kyle Matthews interviews Deb Liu, former Facebook senior executive who built the first mobile ad product, created Facebook Marketplace, and launched Facebook Pay, later serving as CEO of Ancestry and now co-founding Ember AI to bring AI-driven enterprise back office automation. Deb explains how Ember identifies workflow “hotspots” where human time is trapped in routinized tasks—often in procurement/invoicing and customer service— then re-orchestrates systems securely for leverage and insight, arguing “fast eats slow” in AI adoption. They discuss practical AI fluency for non-technologists, using multiple models to reduce hallucinations, and concerns about job impact. Deb shares why she started Women in Product, notes a gender gap in AI adoption, recounts her path from Stanford to PayPal and Facebook, reflects on growing up as an immigrant child in South Carolina, and discusses leadership, intentionality, family, and her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. 00:00 AI Is the New Excel 00:46 Meet Deb Liu 01:58 What Ember AI Builds 03:15 Back Office Quick Wins 04:27 AI Leverage in Practice 08:05 Jobs Fear and Up skilling 10:59 Stop Saying I Don't Do AI 13:28 Why Women in Product…

People in this episode

Host: Kyle Matthews

Guest: Deb Liu

Topics covered

  • AI adoption
  • entrepreneurship
  • women in tech
  • back office automation
  • leadership
  • career development

Keywords

  • AI
  • automation
  • entrepreneurship
  • leadership
  • women in tech
  • career development
  • Facebook
  • Ember AI

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Facebook, Ancestry, Ember AI, Women in Product

Products: Facebook Marketplace, Facebook Pay

Places: South Carolina

More episodes of The Matthews Mentality Podcast

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Matthews Mentality Podcast podcast page.