AI First with Adam and Andy

AI agents are rapidly transforming how consumers interact with the internet, collapsing traditional steps like search, comparison, and decision-making into a single, agent-driven workflow. With a growing majority of consumers already using AI tools, this shift is not incremental, it represents a structural change in digital behavior, where agents increasingly act as the primary interface between users and brands.Emerging use cases, from personalized, AI-generated shopping environments to automated task execution like meal planning and travel booking, highlight how agents are redefining the customer journey. While payment authorization remains a temporary constraint, the trajectory toward fully autonomous transactions is clear and expected to accelerate within months.For executives, this signals a fundamental shift in how brands compete and engage. Success will depend on visibility within AI-driven discovery, ensuring platforms are accessible to agents, and adapting business models to an agent-mediated ecosystem. As agents take over browsing and decisioning, the traditional web experience is being re-architected in real time.

In this AI First mini episode, Adam Brotman and Andy Sack explore the real-world implications of AI agents through Adam’s hands-on experience building one with OpenClaw. They break down what makes an agent different from traditional AI tools, including proactive behavior, memory, computer use, and the ability to operate independently. Adam shares both the excitement and the friction, from complex setup and security concerns to inconsistent performance and early-stage limitations. Despite these challenges, the broader implication is clear. AI agents are evolving into digital coworkers that can monitor information, take action, and continuously improve based on feedback. For executives, this represents a shift away from task execution toward managing outcomes and guiding intelligent systems. The conversation highlights how these tools can increase productivity, reduce manual work, and personalize how work gets done, while reinforcing the importance of control, governance, and trust as adoption scales.

Zach Goldstein, founder and CEO of Thanx, a restaurant loyalty and CRM expert, explains why owning guest relationships is crucial as delivery marketplaces grow. He talks about first-party ordering, loyalty beyond discounts, and how generative AI automates segmentation, campaigns, and guest recovery. The conversation looks at data ownership, marketing automation, and AI-driven personalization for restaurants.

In this focused mini episode, Adam Brotman and Andy Sack explore how Claude Co-Work is reshaping executive productivity and redefining the future of work. Moving beyond traditional prompt-and-response AI tools, they describe what changes when AI operates directly on your desktop with browser access, document parsing, and step-by-step task execution.Through real examples, from synthesizing board materials and investor updates to rebuilding strategic diagrams and navigating shared drives, they explain how agentic AI reduces friction, increases parallelization, and shifts leaders into a managerial role over virtual agents. Instead of conversing with chatbots, executives begin delegating, orchestrating, and supervising digital coworkers.The discussion highlights a critical inflection point for 2026: the transition from conversational AI to computer-use agents with growing autonomy. For C-suite leaders, this shift is not incremental. It changes how strategy documents are created, how research is conducted, and how time is allocated across priorities.If you are evaluating AI adoption inside your organization, this episode offers a practical, executive-level perspective on what agentic workflows mean today and where autonomous agents are heading next.

Leaders debate how to pick secure, enterprise-grade AI tools without breaking governance. They argue for empowering small teams with access to multiple leading models and disciplined experimentation. Portability, clear AI policies, and CEO-driven decision-making are highlighted as keys to rapid learning and competitive advantage.

This episode of AI First with Adam and Andy is an intentional experiment. The script, ideas, and analysis are entirely Adam Brotman and Andy Sack’s own. The on-screen hosts and voice delivery were generated using AI tools as part of a hands-on exploration of what these technologies can and cannot yet do. It is not perfect, and that is precisely the point.In this conversation, Adam and Andy tackle the increasingly popular claim that “software is dead.” Against the backdrop of roughly $830 billion in software market value repricing, they unpack the rise of AI agents, the pressure on seat-based SaaS models, and the market’s tendency toward one-sentence apocalypse narratives.They explain why software is not disappearing but evolving, as the interface shifts from dashboards and logins to ask, decide, execute workflows layered over systems of record. For restaurant and retail operators, this shift has real implications for permissions, audit trails, orchestration layers, and enterprise control.The core message is clear: software is not dying, but the way leaders interact with it is changing.

Paul Roetzer, founder of the AI Institute and advisor on AI transformation, helps companies drive growth with AI-first strategies. He argues that leadership and change management, not just tech, are critical. Discussion covers CEOs raising AI literacy, empowering teams to find high-value use cases, using tools like NotebookLM and custom GPTs for strategic work, and preparing orgs for rapidly evolving agent capabilities.

A fast, practical look at building agent-like workflows today using prompts, context, and existing tools. They explain how coding advances inform nontechnical leaders and show a holiday-built app that benchmarks restaurants without centralized data. Discussion covers the spectrum from hard-coded apps to executive-driven smart workflows and why AI proficiency is becoming a core leadership skill.

In this inside look from an AI First community call, Keith Fairclough, CIO of Cabi, explains how a direct sales women’s apparel brand built AI literacy across the company before chasing shiny use cases. He details the executive bootcamp that aligned leadership, the in person training that drove adoption, and the practices that sustained momentum, including weekly office hours and monthly AI competitions. Keith then shows what the foundation enabled: an AI styling tool that generates on brand outfits from the product catalog, creates shoppable flat lays, and can incorporate a customer’s closet history, plus an early virtual try on capability. He also shares how he used Lovable to create a clickable, gamified POS training prototype using screenshots, helping prepare 2,000 stylists for a Shopify rollout before go live. Practical lessons on culture, governance, and shipping value fast.

Greg Gottesman, a seasoned venture capitalist and co-founder of Pioneer Square Labs, dives into the complexities of startup success in today's AI landscape. He reveals that distribution is the true bottleneck for startups, even as AI reduces product development costs. Gottesman contrasts AI-native companies—where every function integrates AI—with those that only have isolated teams. He discusses the evolving role of humans in oversight as AI takes on more tasks and emphasizes the need for leadership in AI adoption across businesses.