Targeted RAG Solutions Beat Generic LLMs

Alistair Lowe-Norris, Chief Responsible AI Officer at Iridius and co-host of The Agentic Insider podcast, joins to discuss AI compliance standards, the importance of narrowly scoping systems, and how procurement requirements could encourage responsible AI adoption across industries. We explore the gap between the empty promises companies provide and actual safety practices, as well as the importance of vigilance and continuous oversight.

Listen to Alistair on his podcast, The Agentic Insider!

As part of my effort to make this whole podcasting thing more sustainable, I have created a Kairos.fm Patreon which includes an extended version of this episode. Supporting gets you access to these extended cuts, as well as other perks in development.

Chapters

• (00:00) - Intro
• (02:46) - Trustworthy AI and the Human Side of Change
• (13:57) - This is Essentially Avatar, Right?
• (23:00) - AI Call Centers
• (49:38) - Standards, Audits, and Accountability
• (01:04:11) - What Happens when Standards aren’t Met?

• Iridius website

GPT-5 Commentary

• Where's Your Ed At blogpost - How Does GPT-5 Work?
• Zvi LessWrong blogpost - GPT-5: The Reverse DeepSeek moment
• Blood in the Machine article - GPT-5 Is a Joke. Will It Matter?
• Futurism article - Evidence Grows That GPT-5 Is a Bit of a Dud
• Gary Marcus substack - GPT-5: Overdue, overhyped and underwhelming. And that’s not the worst of it.

Customer Service and AI Adoption

• Gartner press release - Gartner Survey Finds 64% of Customers Would Prefer That Companies Didn't Use AI for Customer Service
• Preprint - Deploying Chatbots in Customer Service: Adoption Hurdles and Simple Remedies
• KDD '25 paper - Retrieval And Structuring Augmented Generation with Large Language Models
• Global Nerdy blogpost - Retrieval-augmented generation explained “Star Wars” style
• The Security Cafe article - A Quick And Dirty Guide To Starting SOC2

Standards

• ISO overview - AI management systems
• ISO standard - ISO/IEC 42001
  • CyberZoni guide - ISO 42001 The Complete Guide
  • A-LIGN article - Understanding ISO 42001
• ISO standard - ISO/IEC 27001
• ISO standard - ISO/IEC 42005

Governance and Regulation

• NIST framework - AI Risk Management Framework
• EU AI Act article - Article 99: Penalties
• Colorado Senate Bill 24-205 (Colorado AI Act) webpage
• Utah Senate Bill 149 webpage

Microsoft AI Compliance

• Schellman blogpost - Microsoft DPR AI Requirements and ISO 42001
• Microsoft documentation - ISO/IEC 42001 AI Management System offering
• Microsoft webpage - Responsible AI Principles and Approach
• Microsoft Service Trust Portal documentation - Responsible AI Standard v2
• Microsoft documentation - Supplier Security & Privacy Assurance Program Guide v11 April 2025