AI Radicals

Alation

Some people can see things that nobody else can. They seem to be able to peer around corners and into the future. These seemingly super powers come from being able to synthesize the data all around us. They approach problems with a curious and rational mind. They think differently and encourage others to embrace data culture.

We call them “data radicals” because they transform themselves and the world around them

In this podcast, we talk to these Data Radicals to understand what makes their approach so unique and how it can be replicated.

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32 episodes
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Avg 44 min
English

Episodes 32

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#85
Wednesday · 51 min
The Software Factory: Don’t Review the Code, Verify It with Justin McCarthy & James Cham
Why the future of software development means stopping reading code and spending 100x more effort verifying it than generating it. In this episode of AI Radicals, host Satyen Sangani talks with Justin McCarthy, Diffusion, and James Cham, Bloomberg Beta, about the concept of the "software factory": using LLMs in fully autonomous loops to produce reliable software at a scale and speed that makes human code review obsolete. Justin and James unpack the core mechanics of a software factory—why the fac
#84
November 4 · 34 min
Everything Under the Model: What 7 Leaders Learned the Hard Way About Making AI Work
The hard part of AI isn't the model — it's everything underneath it and around it. In this season 4 roundup episode of AI Radicals, host Satyen Sangani revisits seven conversations from the season to distill what it actually takes to make AI work inside a real company. The guests span the field: Charlene Li, co-author of Winning with AI; Brian Solis and Dave Wright, ServiceNow's innovation leaders; Erin McIntosh, who runs global data operations at CNA Insurance; Nathalie Berdat, data leader at t
#83
October 21 · 48 min
Open Source, Open Question: Why Model Supremacy Won't Last with Ashu Garg, General Partner at Foundation Capital
Why the most valuable asset in AI won't be the model — it'll be the layer that captures how your business actually makes decisions. In this episode of AI Radicals, host Satyen Sangani sits down with Ashu Garg, General Partner at Foundation Capital and an early investor in one decacorn and six unicorns, to unpack where enduring value in AI will actually accrue. Four years ago, Ashu was non-consensus bullish on open source AI models. Today that view is consensus — and he's moved on to the next th
#82
October 14 · 48 min
The Control Plane Race: Who Governs the Agents with Victor Dey, AI Industry Analyst
Why the loudest narratives in AI rarely hold up once you talk to the people actually building the technology. In this episode of AI Radicals, host Satyen Sangani talks with Victor Dey, AI and technology analyst contributing to Fast Company, Forbes, and the AI Journal, about what it takes to cut through the noise of enterprise AI — as a journalist who has interviewed the executives running nearly every major data and agent platform in real time. Victor and Satyen dig into how Victor's practitione
#81
October 7 · 44 min
Metadata to Knowledge Graphs: Mapping the Full AI Data Stack, with Sanjeev Mohan, Principal of SanjMo
Data foundations are the real bottleneck for agentic AI, and most teams are governing the wrong layer. In this episode of AI Radicals, host Satyen Sangani talks with Sanjeev Mohan, industry analyst and author of Designing the AI-Driven Data Foundations, about why AI's biggest promises still rest on unglamorous data fundamentals, and why agents are breaking the old rules of governance. Sanjeev walks through his layered model of metadata, semantics, context, ontology, and knowledge graphs, and t
#80
September 30 · 46 min
Data Products, Not Platforms: A CDO's Playbook for the Agentic Era with Cara Tice, CDO of Early Warning
Why "America's data steward" is more than a job title, and what it takes to keep fraud intelligence trustworthy in the age of AI agents. In this episode of AI Radicals, guest host Susan Wilson, Sales Leader at Alation, talks with Cara Tice, Chief Data Officer at Early Warning (the company behind Zelle), about what data stewardship really means when trillions of dollars in real-time payments, and the fraud intelligence protecting them, run on your data. Cara and Susan dig into why data products h
#79
September 23 · 55 min
Semantic Coupling & the Interconnected AI Stack with Eugene Wu, Professor at Columbia University
Why AI agents fail at scale, and the systems-thinking fix nobody's building yet. In this episode of AI Radicals, host Satyen Sangani talks with Eugene Wu, Columbia professor and co-founder of the Data Agents and Processes (DAPLab), about why building reliable AI agents is fundamentally a systems problem, not a model problem. Eugene explains "semantic coupling," the idea that every layer of an agent's stack, from data retrieval to tool calls to reasoning, is interdependent, so a small failure a
#78
September 16 · 42 min
The 90-Day AI Roadmap with Charlene Li, Author
Why AI transformations fail and the 90-day plan that actually works. In this episode of AI Radicals, host Satyen Sangani sits down with Charlene Li, bestselling author and strategist, to unpack her new book on how organizations can create real value with AI, not just deploy it. Charlene explains why the biggest mistake leaders make is treating AI as a separate strategy instead of a tool that serves their existing business strategy, and lays out the 90-day framework she and co-author Katia Welc
#77
September 9 · 52 min
The Case for Federation in the Age of Agents with Anant Jhingran, CTO of IBM Software
Why the same old data infrastructure playbook won't survive contact with agentic AI, and what actually has to change underneath. In this episode of AI Radicals, host Satyen Sangani talks with IBM Software CTO Anant Jhingran about why enterprise AI's biggest bottleneck isn't the models, it's the decades-old data and integration infrastructure sitting underneath them. Anant and Satyen dig into why data fundamentals (provenance, metadata, systems of record) haven't changed, even as humans and fixed
#76
September 2 · 51 min
Infinite: Why AI Business Reinvention Beats Automation with ServiceNow’s Brian Solis & Dave Wright
Why mode one thinking keeps most companies stuck—and what it takes to build a company that can keep reinventing itself with AI. In this episode of AI Radicals, host Satyen Sangani talks with ServiceNow’s Brian Solis and Dave Wright and authors of Infinite, about why so many enterprises get stuck chasing ROI on isolated AI use cases instead of using AI to become something genuinely new. Brian and Dave unpack their "mode one, mode two" framework: deciding what existing work deserves to scale with
#75
August 26 · 46 min
AI Governance in Public Media with Nathalie Berdat, Data Director of Product at the BBC
How data trust breaks—and how to rebuild it before AI makes it worse. In this episode of AI Radicals, host Satyen Sangani sits down with Nathalie Berdat, Data Director of Product at the BBC, to explore how one of the world's most trusted media institutions is rebuilding its data foundations for the AI era. Nathalie shares how she diagnosed a quiet trust crisis inside the BBC—teams producing conflicting numbers for the same metrics—and led a multi-year effort to fix it: identifying the handful of
#74
August 19 · 49 min
Is Business Intelligence Truly Dead? Insights from Francois Ajenstat, Founder & CEO of Golden Analytics
Analytics tools are getting a total rewrite for the AI era. What does it actually take to build a "Cursor for data"? In this episode of AI Radicals, host Satyen Sangani is joined by Francois Ajenstat, founder and CEO of Golden Analytics, to discuss how AI is reshaping data analysis workflows. A three-decade veteran of the analytics space — from Cognos to Microsoft to a decade as Chief Product Officer at Tableau — Francois explores why context and metadata still matter more than ever, and why the
#73
August 12 · 38 min
Rewriting the Governance Playbook for the Agentic Era with Erin McIntosh, VP of Global Data Operations at CNA Insurance
Data quality problems don't just create bad reports; they create mistrust. And once trust is gone, people stop using your systems and start building their own workarounds. In this episode of AI Radicals, host Satyen Sangani sits down with Erin McIntosh, Vice President of Global Data Operations at CNA Insurance, to talk about what it actually takes to modernize data governance at a global commercial insurer in the age of agentic AI. Erin shares how CNA is rethinking decades-old governance playboo
#72
July 29 · 55 min
Why Enterprise AI Is Entering Its ROI Era with Mark Nelson, Venture Partner at Madrona
AI can write code faster than ever. But what if code is no longer the hard part? In the premiere episode of AI Radicals, host Satyen Sangani is joined by Mark Nelson, Venture Partner at Madrona and former CEO of Tableau, to explore what AI is actually changing—and what remains fundamentally the same about building great software and great businesses. Having led companies through the rise of databases, cloud computing, SaaS, and self-service analytics, Mark offers a rare perspective on today's AI
July 22 · 1 min
AI Radicals: Season 4 Trailer
AI Radicals is back for Season 4 — and trust in AI has never been more contested. This season, host Satyen Sangani, CEO and co-founder of Alation, sits down with leaders, builders, and operators working at the edge of AI transformation to ask the question everyone's dancing around: can we actually trust the systems we're building? New conversations dig into data quality, governance, and the feedback loops that separate AI that works from AI that just demos well. If you care about making AI matte
#71
Jun 18, 2025 · 47 min
Why AI Builders Need a Metadata Goldmine with Chris Aberger, VP at Alation
The future of business intelligence is being rewritten. Have you ever wondered how AI will unlock the power of unstructured data? In this episode of Data Radicals, host Satyen Sangani is joined by Chris Aberger, newly-minted VP at Alation to discuss building AI-powered data workflows. A startup pioneer, Chris explores the importance of metadata in enhancing AI applications within organizations, the significance of quick iterations, and the evolving role of AI engineers. “ That two-step realiz
#70
May 28, 2025 · 34 min
Perfume, Power, Prediction: Inside a Luxury Giant's Data and AI Strategy with Julie De Moyer, Chief Data Officer of LVMH Beauty
In the luxury world where artistry is key, how is AI enabling personalization, optimization, and speed? In this episode of Data Radicals, host Satyen Sangani is joined by Julie De Moyer, Chief Data Officer of LVMH Beauty to break down the role of data and AI in business transformation. A seasoned strategist and leader of innovation across 15 beauty brands, Julie shares practical examples of AI application in various aspects of LVMH's operations, from product development to supply chain managem
May 14, 2025 · 38 min
The Rise of AI: Voices from the Frontlines
In this special compilation episode, we're bringing together the most insightful conversations from our latest season exploring the rise of AI. You'll hear from thought leaders like Fortune's AI editor Jeremy Kahn on rebuilding the middle class, marketing executive Michael Olaye on creative acceleration, and Tom Davenport on what real AI transformation looks like. Plus insights from numerous other AI experts including CDOs, academics, and tech entrepreneurs who are shaping our AI future today.
#69
Apr 30, 2025 · 49 min
Delegate to Innovate: How Letting Go Makes You a Better Leader with Todd James, Founder & CEO of Aurora Insights
What does it take to turn AI hype into operational value at enterprise scale? In this episode of Data Radicals, host Satyen Sangani sits down with Todd James, former Chief Data and Technology Officer at 84.51° and Kroger executive, to unpack the realities of leading AI transformation inside one of America’s largest grocery retailers. Drawing on a career that spans the Coast Guard, consulting, and Fortune 100 leadership, Todd shares how scaling AI isn’t just about building advanced algorithms—it
#68
Apr 16, 2025 · 49 min
Data Products for Dummies with Sanjeev Mohan, Principal at SanjMo
What if the future of data management isn’t just about governance—but about growth, speed, and strategic advantage? From reshaping data operations to unlocking new levels of productivity, data products and AI agents are redefining what’s possible in the world of data. In this episode of Data Radicals, Satyen Sangani sits down with Sanjeev Mohan, Principal at SanjMo, to discuss the definition, impact, and lifecycle of data products. They also examine how AI agents are revolutionizing job functio

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