Smarter AI Models Won't Fix Your Deployment | Maryam Ashoori, VP PM/Eng (IBM, Watsonx)

In this episode, we’re joined by Maryam Ashoori, VP of Product and Engineering at IBM’s Watsonx platform. With a background that includes 2 master's degrees in AI, a PhD in Systems Design Engineering, and named on over 30 patents at IBM, she’s been on the bleeding edge for over a decade. Currently leading the charge on Agentic AI and AI Governance at IBM, Maryam is a bridge between the theoretical frontier of AI and the messy reality of enterprise deployment.

In this episode, Maryam:

• Tells why AI has been stuck in pilot purgatory for longer than expected, and what you need to do today for a successful enterprise deployment
• Calls shenanigans on the “biggest, best model” crowd, and why often a smaller, more focused tool is the right choice
• Explains how to build an agnostic architecture that can handle the realities of an AI world where models advance faster than anybody can keep up

Links

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mashoori/
IBM: https://www.ibm.com/us-en

Resources

Reinventing SaaS: Zuora's AI Transformation | Karthik Chakkarapani and Shakir Karim (Zuora): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHVxnLikMpQ
Linear’s Secret to Building Powerful AI Products | Nan Yu, Head of Product (Linear): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27rGB-6XQJg

Chapters

00:00 Intro
02:18 From ChatGPT hype to enterprise reality: use cases, ROI, and the rise of agents
06:11 Security, accountability & governance: who’s responsible when agents go wrong?
10:37 Risk-based rollout: use-case scoping, Risk Atlas, and guardrails like PII detection
17:10 Observability for agentic workflows
18:21 Why compute optimization matters
22:58 Designing for model agility: abstraction layers, routing, and picking the right model
27:23 Conclusion

Follow LaunchPod on YouTube

We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe!

What does LogRocket do?

LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.

Special Guest: Maryam Ashoori.