Beyond The Prompt - How to use AI in your company

Greg Shove, CEO and enterprise AI practitioner who helps companies capture productivity gains, discusses why AI value often flows to individuals, not organizations. He covers uneven adoption, people crossing role boundaries, fragile workflows from agent tools, and how leaders must decide where to reinvest time AI creates. Short, sharp takes on organizational friction and what top adopters do differently.

Leidy Klotz, a professor and author known for Subtract and research on additive bias, explains why we default to adding rather than removing. He recounts the Lego spark and shows how AI makes additive clutter worse. Short strategies include stop-doing lists, default kill dates, and designing environments that make subtraction visible and acceptable.

Richard White, founder and CEO of Fathom AI and product-focused engineer, explains building around transcription and generative models. He discusses how rapidly improving models turn roadmaps into R&D. He describes splitting exploratory AI teams from core engineering, the Jenga model for matching models to use cases, accepting frequent failures, and short, nimble planning to ride AI waves.

Bryan McCann, CTO and co-founder of You.com and former AI researcher, rethinks productivity by designing machines to run experiments and keep GPUs busy. He discusses search evolving into conversational, agent-driven systems. He argues for trying AI first to surface research gaps, scaling others by teaching AI workflows, and organizing companies more like neural networks with freer information flow.

Humza Teherany, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, discusses his unique journey from hands-on AI immersion to strategic leadership. He emphasizes the necessity for leaders to actively engage with AI, as it fosters credibility and smarter decision-making. Humza highlights MLSE's innovative 'build in a day' approach, which accelerates prototype development and democratizes idea generation through the IdeaGen system. Additionally, he shares insights on harnessing AI for real-world problems and his personal project, Story World, a bedtime story app for kids.

Mikkel B. Rasmussen, an applied anthropologist and founder of Human Activity Laboratory, dives into the intricate dance between anthropology and AI. He discusses how true insight often starts from being wrong and why moments of surprise signal valuable discoveries. Exploring themes of pain in the creative process, he shares how AI can enhance research but cautions against relying on it for final insights. Mikkel highlights his pivotal LEGO study, revealing the depth of children's play and the critical role of embodying surprise in fostering innovation.

Diarra Bousso, founder of the innovative fashion house DIARRABLU, revolutionizes fashion with AI and generative design. She shares her journey from recovery after a life-changing accident to becoming a pioneer in sustainable production. Diarra explores selling AI-generated designs before production, reducing waste, and rethinking traditional fashion timelines. She emphasizes the importance of experimentation in fostering creativity and encourages a culture of rigorous testing. Finally, she reflects on building a joyful company that prioritizes both sustainability and mental well-being.

Illia Polosukhin, co-author of the groundbreaking 'Attention Is All You Need' paper and co-founder of NEAR Protocol, dives into the evolution of AI. He reveals how the shift from recurrent models to transformers was born from practical constraints at Google. Illia discusses the hidden qualities of AI systems, the importance of data provenance, and the future of blockchain in fostering trust. With insights on the empowering nature of personal AI models and the impending agent-to-agent economy, he paints a fascinating picture of AI's trajectory.

Christian Keller, Product Lead at Meta's Superintelligence Lab and seasoned AI expert, dives into world models and their pivotal role in generative AI. He explains how AI benefits from video input, enhancing understanding of cause and effect that text misses. Christian shares insights on evolving workflows, encouraging listeners to ask, 'Could AI help with this?' He illustrates this with personal anecdotes, including how his wife creatively used generative tools for French exercises. The discussion also touches on tackling bias in models and reimagining organizational roles with AI.

Tim Creasey, Chief Innovation Officer at Prosci, and Paul Gonzalez, VP of Product at Prosci, share insights from decades of research on the human side of organizational change. They reveal why traditional tactics often fail in the face of rapid AI adoption and highlight the importance of hands-on leadership and peer-driven learning. Tim introduces 'exposure hours' as a metric for executive readiness, while both discuss the significance of culture over mandates. Their conversation is filled with practical strategies for successful AI integration in organizations.