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The Artificial Intelligence Show

Paul Roetzer and Mike Kaput

The Artificial Intelligence Show is the podcast that helps your business grow smarter by making AI approachable and actionable. The AI Show podcast is brought to you by the creators of SmarterX, Marketing AI Institute, AI Academy, and the Marketing AI Conference (MAICON). Hosts Paul Roetzer, founder and CEO of SmarterX, and Mike Kaput, Chief Content Officer, break down all the AI news that matters and give you insights and perspectives that you can use to advance your company and your career. Join Paul and Mike on The AI Show as they work to accelerate AI literacy for all.

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  • 44 episodes
  • Avg 1 hr 16 min
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  • Today · 50 min

    #251: Forward-Deployed Engineers, Shadow AI, the Owner Bottleneck, AI on Your Resume & Token Budgets

    Imagine every role in your company has an agent watching the data and bringing you recommendations each morning. Paul Roetzer says that unlock is coming to corporate teams within six months. In this episode of AI Answers, Paul and Cathy McPhillips answer 14 questions from our Scaling AI and Intro to AI classes: scaling AI under SOC 2 and HIPAA, blocked frontier models, agent governance, shadow AI, forward-deployed engineers, the future of agencies, and whether AI will ever write like a talented human. Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here 00:00:00 — Intro 00:06:18 — How do you scale AI under compliance requirements? 00:07:53 — Should companies block frontier models and only allow self-hosted AI? 00:11:34 — What should AI teams prioritize when governance isn’t ready for AI agents? 00:15:34 — How much AI platform standardization do organizations need, and how should leaders handle shadow AI? 00:21:31 — Where do forward-deployed engineers fit, and who owns AI enablement? 00:24:04 — Where do OCR and RPA fit alongside AI agents? 00:25:40 — Should you redesign work by mapping tasks or business outcomes? 00:27:44 — How can business owners use AI to become less of a bottleneck? 00:31:09 — How much client education should AI-enabled marketing consultants provide? 00:34:57 — What does responsible AI personalization look like for outreach? 00:39:11 — How do you show AI skills to a hiring manager? 00:41:52 — What AI skills matter most for a mid-career pivot into project management? 00:45:07 — Will AI ever write as creatively as a talented human? 00:48:31 — Will top performers negotiate token budgets into job offers? This episode is brought to you by AI Academy. Get $250 off a new AI Academy by SmarterX individual license through November 30 with code POD250. That’s 25% off your first year of the full Academy experience: courses, professional certificates, live sessions, and community. Leading AI literacy for your team? Buy 25 or more licenses by November 30 and Paul Roetzer will run a private one-hour virtual session with your team. Buy 250 or more and Paul will come to you for a private in-person session in the first half of 2027 (US only). Existing business members adding 25 or more licenses qualify too. Join at academy.smarterx.ai, or contact our team at support@smarterx.ai about business licenses. Visit our website Receive our weekly newsletter Join our community: Slack Community LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Looking for content and resources? Register for a free webinar Come to our next Marketing AI Conference Enroll in our AI Academy

  • Tuesday · 1 hr 43 min

    #250: Midterm Voters Reject Data Centers, AI Speeds Up Anthropic’s Research, Celebrating 250 & Nvidia’s Spy Probe

    Voters backed limits on data centers in 40 of 41 local ballot measures, and Paul Roetzer expects the fallout to reach your AI bill. In Episode 250, Paul and Mike Kaput unpack the backlash. They also cover METR's finding that AI has roughly doubled the pace of research at Anthropic and why other labs are hinting at the same shift. Plus: a look back at 250 episodes, Nvidia's investigation into Jensen Huang, AI's messy moment in education, Menlo Ventures' enterprise AI spending report, and how companies are trying to control AI costs. AI-Pulse Survey: Fill out this week’s AI-Pulse Survey here. Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here Timestamps: 00:00:00 — Intro 00:07:53 — US Voters Reject Data Centers During Midterms 00:24:33 — Has METR Found Proof of RSI Happening in the Labs? 00:40:21 — Episode 250 of The Artificial Intelligence Show 00:53:45 — Nvidia Opens Probe Into Alleged Spy Operation Targeting Jensen Huang 01:05:06 — AI in Education Is Getting Messier 01:16:46 — Enterprise AI Spending Hits $177 Billion 01:22:00 — Controlling AI Costs 01:31:57 — AI Use Case Spotlight 01:39:18 — AI Product and Funding Updates To mark our 250th episode, get $250 off a new AI Academy by SmarterX individual license through November 30 with code POD250. That’s 25% off your first year of the full Academy experience: courses, professional certificates, live sessions, and community. Leading AI literacy for your team? Buy 25 or more licenses by November 30 and Paul Roetzer will run a private one-hour virtual session with your team. Buy 250 or more and Paul will come to you for a private in-person session in the first half of 2027 (US only). Existing business members adding 25 or more licenses qualify too. Join at academy.smarterx.ai, or contact our team at support@smarterx.ai about business licenses. Visit our website Receive our weekly newsletter Join our community: Slack Community LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Looking for content and resources? Register for a free webinar Come to our next Marketing AI Conference Enroll in our AI Academy

  • November 3 · 1 hr 31 min

    #249: Anthropic Files for IPO, The Self-Driving Company, AI and the Meaning of Work & Microsoft’s 60,000-Employee Buyout Offer

    Anthropic has filed to go public, and its S-1 lays out a future of "virtual collaborators," $40 trillion in knowledge work, and a valuation that could top Meta's. Paul Roetzer and Mike Kaput break down the filing. They debate whether Fortune 500 companies can really become "self-driving" by 2030, and dig into Google DeepMind's new research on AGI, wages, and the meaning of work. In rapid fire: Gemini 4 Carbon, Genie 4, and GPT-6.1 Terra; earnings from Google, Microsoft, and Amazon; Microsoft's 60,000-employee buyout offer; Amazon's anti-tokenmaxxing memo; and a new wave of AI security incidents. AI-Pulse Survey: Fill out this week’s AI-Pulse Survey here. Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here Timestamps: 00:00:00 — Intro 00:06:57 — Anthropic’s IPO Filing 00:27:42 — The Rise of the Self-Driving Company? 00:41:35 — Google DeepMind & OpenAI Say AI Could Transform the Meaning of Work 00:56:12 — Google Unveils Gemini 4 Carbon and Genie 4 as OpenAI Releases GPT-6.1 Terra 01:01:44 — Google, Microsoft, and Amazon Report Earnings 01:06:13 — Microsoft Offers Buyouts to 60,000 Employees 01:12:15 — Amazon Refocuses Its AI Strategy on Frontier Models and Business Results 01:16:49 — AI Is Forcing a New Security Agenda 01:21:47 — AI Use Case Spotlight 01:28:26 — AI Product and Funding Updates -- How do you know where your organization actually stands with AI? Join Paul Roetzer for Introduction to AI Score for Business Leaders on Friday, November 13 at noon ET. He’ll walk through AI Score by SmarterX, our new change management assessment built to make AI transformation more measurable and actionable. You’ll see how the free Business AI Score and Personal AI Score assessments reveal strengths and gaps, guide personalized learning plans, and shape your AI transformation roadmap. Register free for live and on-demand access at SmarterX.ai -- This episode is also brought to you by the MAICON 2026 On-Demand Bundle. Couldn’t make it to Cleveland, or want to rewatch? The MAICON 2026 On-Demand bundle gives you more than two dozen recorded main-stage and featured sessions (12+ hours) from this year’s Marketing AI Conference, ready to watch on your own schedule. Grab it at MAICON.AI -- Visit our website Receive our weekly newsletter Join our community: Slack Community LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Looking for content and resources? Register for a free webinar Come to our next Marketing AI Conference Enroll in our AI Academy

  • October 27 · 1 hr 35 min

    #248: The AI Cybersecurity Crisis, Dario Fights Back on Safety, OpenAI’s Monitoring Blind Spots & Claude Duet

    AI found a 14-year-old flaw in the code behind an estimated 70% of websites, and within 12 hours of it leaking, Cloudflare saw millions of attempts to exploit it. In Episode 248, Paul Roetzer and Mike Kaput break down this AI cybersecurity crisis: what happened, why it cascaded across banks, infrastructure, and medical records, and the steps you can take now. They also cover Dario Amodei's defense of Anthropic's safety record, outside evaluators finding gaps in OpenAI's safeguards, Meta's Muse data exposure, and Anthropic's IPO filing at a valuation approaching $2 trillion, plus product and funding news in the rapid-fire round. AI-Pulse Survey: Fill out this week’s AI-Pulse Survey here. Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here Timestamps: 00:00:00 — Intro 00:05:17 — The AI Cybersecurity Crisis Is Here 00:29:55 — Dario Defends Anthropic’s Safety Record 00:45:50 — Outside Evaluators Find Gaps in OpenAI’s AI Safeguards 00:56:57 — Marketing AI Institute’s 10-Year Anniversary 01:05:28 — Meta’s Muse Agent Found to Expose User Data 01:11:35 — Anthropic Releases Its Own Personal Agent 01:14:59 — Inside Anthropic’s IPO 01:19:29 — AI Use Case Spotlight 01:32:02 — AI Product and Funding Updates This episode is brought to you by AI Academy Day 2026. AI keeps changing, how do you keep your people learning at the same pace? Join Paul Roetzer, Mike Kaput, and SmarterX head of learning Jessica Miller on Thursday, November 19 at 12pm ET for a first look at the next phase of AI Academy by SmarterX. Register at SmarterX.ai/AcademyDay This episode is also brought to you by the MAICON 2026 On-Demand Bundle. Couldn’t make it to Cleveland, or want to rewatch? The MAICON 2026 On-Demand bundle gives you more than two dozen recorded main-stage and featured sessions (12+ hours) from this year’s Marketing AI Conference, ready to watch on your own schedule. Grab it at MAICON.AI Visit our website Receive our weekly newsletter Join our community: Slack Community LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Looking for content and resources? Register for a free webinar Come to our next Marketing AI Conference Enroll in our AI Academy

  • October 20 · 1 hr 46 min

    #247: OpenAI’s Mounting Safety Concerns, Anthropic’s AI Expectations Gap, MAICON 2026 Recap, AI Score & Gemini 4 Argon

    A safety lead who authored OpenAI's model reports left and told Ezra Klein the industry can't reliably safeguard the systems it's already shipping. Paul Roetzer and Mike Kaput unpack that interview, OpenAI's fired safety researchers, and reporting that labs expect a catastrophic AI incident within a year. Then: Anthropic's new data on its own AI-run workforce, a MAICON 2026 recap, fresh interpretability research, OpenAI's contested math-proof release, Google's Gemini Argon, and micro1's $1B plan to buy how businesses actually work. AI-Pulse Survey: Fill out this week’s AI-Pulse Survey here. Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here Timestamps: 00:00:00 — Intro 00:05:48 — AI-Pulse Survey 00:07:11 — OpenAI's Mounting Safety Concerns 00:25:09 — The AI Expectations Gap 00:47:24 — MAICON 2026 Recap 01:02:51 — Introducing The AI Transformation Blueprint and AI Score 01:08:48 — An Interpretability Breakthrough? 01:13:17 — OpenAI's Math Reckoning 01:18:31 — The Super Intelligence Rebrand 01:22:21 — Google Releases Gemini Argon (and “Gemini agent”) 01:26:57 — micro1 Is Buying Enterprise Data, Here's Why 01:31:53 — AI Use Case Spotlight 01:38:08 — AI Product and Funding Updates This episode is supported by Outshift, Cisco's incubation engine for frontier technology: ⁠“Scaling Out Superintelligence”⁠⁠ Vijoy Pandey, January 2026. The technical whitepaper detailing the Internet of Cognition architecture, three-layer stack, and cognition state protocols. ⁠⁠Internet of Cognition Interactive Demo⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Clickable walkthrough showing per-agent activity, intent, context, and collective reasoning across a multi-agent SRE system. This episode is also brought to you by the MAICON 2026 On-Demand. Couldn’t make it to Cleveland, or want to rewatch? The MAICON 2026 On-Demand bundle gives you more than two dozen recorded main-stage and featured sessions (12+ hours) from this year’s Marketing AI Conference, ready to watch on your own schedule. Grab it at MAICON.AI Visit our website Receive our weekly newsletter Join our community: Slack Community LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Looking for content and resources? Register for a free webinar Come to our next Marketing AI Conference Enroll in our AI Academy

  • October 15 · 47 min

    #246: AI Answers - Live from MAICON 2026: AGI, AI Costs, and the End of GPTs

    When will we achieve AGI? Recorded live in the podcast studio at MAICON 2026, this AI Answers episode has Paul Roetzer and Mike Kaput answering questions submitted from our audience. They dig into what AGI means for everyday work, whether Claude and ChatGPT get more expensive after the IPOs, how to drive adoption when you're not the CEO, what to use now that GPTs are going away, and who owns the AI work you build at your job. 00:00:00 — Intro 00:04:03 What MAICON insight has challenged your thinking about where AI is headed? 00:07:46 How do you keep up with AI without burning out? 00:12:09 How do you go from following a demo to using AI in your own work? 00:15:21 How do you get AI adopted in the messy middle of an organization? 00:17:41 How do you build an AI roadmap you can stick to as models change? 00:22:09 Will Claude and ChatGPT get more expensive after the IPOs? 00:26:23 What can AI do versus what should AI do? 00:30:35 What does AGI actually look like for a regular person? 00:35:25 Can AI solve the unemployment it creates? 00:39:42 Can you take your AI work with you from job to job? 00:41:19 Do you have to readjust when you switch AI models at a new job? 00:44:08 What should you use now that GPTs are going away? 00:46:42 Closing thoughts and a look ahead to MAICON 2027 This week’s episode is brought to you by MAICON, our 7th annual Marketing AI Conference, happening in Cleveland, Oct. 14-16. For more information on MAICON and to register for this year’s conference, visit www.MAICON.ai. Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here Visit our website Receive our weekly newsletter Join our community: Slack Community LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Looking for content and resources? Register for a free webinar Come to our next Marketing AI Conference Enroll in our AI Academy

  • October 6 · 1 hr 32 min

    #245: OpenAI DevDay and Dots, OpenAI’s Safety Crisis, Trump Renames Artificial Intelligence & Anthropic Targets Pre-Thanksgiving IPO Ad:

    An OpenAI safety researcher resigned and published an essay arguing the company's safety culture can't keep up with its own release pace; the same week OpenAI fired three safety researchers and canceled a model release over internal test results. Paul Roetzer and Mike Kaput also break down OpenAI's DevDay and dots, the voluntary Super Intelligence Accord signed at the White House, Anthropic's pre-Thanksgiving IPO, Google's Gemini 4 Argon preview, an FTC probe into the major labs, and a real-time AI video model that fooled nearly half its testers. AI-Pulse Survey: Fill out this week’s AI-Pulse Survey here. Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here Timestamps: 00:00:00 — Intro 00:05:19 — OpenAI DevDay and Dots 00:20:04 — OpenAI’s Safety Crisis Deepens 00:28:51 — Trump Signs Super Intelligence Accord 00:54:19 — Anthropic Targets Pre-Thanksgiving IPO 00:59:02 — Google Previews Gemini 4 01:02:29 — AI Companies Face New Liability Pressure 01:07:07 — Anthropic and Pope Leo’s AI Encyclical 01:17:39 — Startup Claims First “Human Interaction” Model 01:22:47 — AI Use Case Spotlight 01:28:22 — AI Product and Funding Updates This episode is supported by Outshift, Cisco's incubation engine for frontier technology: ⁠“Scaling Out Superintelligence”⁠⁠ Vijoy Pandey, January 2026. The technical whitepaper detailing the Internet of Cognition architecture, three-layer stack, and cognition state protocols. ⁠⁠Internet of Cognition Interactive Demo⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Clickable walkthrough showing per-agent activity, intent, context, and collective reasoning across a multi-agent SRE system. Visit our website Receive our weekly newsletter Join our community: Slack Community LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Looking for content and resources? Register for a free webinar Come to our next Marketing AI Conference Enroll in our AI Academy

  • October 1 · 47 min

    #244: How Alibaba.com Is Building the Future of Agent-to-Agent Commerce

    Kuo Zhang, president of Alibaba.com, believes B2B commerce is becoming agent-to-agent. He joins Mike Kaput to explain Accio, Alibaba.com's agent platform, and how it collapses a 60-step sourcing process into hours. They cover the Model × Harness × Context formula, the Commerce Agent Bench benchmark, what had to change inside a 26-year-old company, and why the future of global trade runs on agents. Part of the AI Transformations series. Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here Timestamps: 00:00:00 — Intro 00:7:30 — Why Accio 00:8:49 — Inside Alibaba.com's AI transformation with Accio Work 00:15:12 — The pain points Accio was built to solve 00:19:32 — Real examples of entrepreneurs using Accio Work 00:24:15 — The technology powering the transformation 00:28:50 — How AI agents will reshape commerce at large 00:32:26 — What had to change inside the company 00:37:26 — The hardest parts of shipping agent-based products 00:40:47 — How Alibaba.com measures agent performance This week’s episode is also brought to you by MAICON, our 6th annual Marketing AI Conference, happening in Cleveland, Oct. 13-15. The code POD100 saves $100 on all pass types. For more information on MAICON and to register for this year’s conference, visit www.MAICON.ai. Visit our website Receive our weekly newsletter Join our community: Slack Community LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Looking for content and resources? Register for a free webinar Come to our next Marketing AI Conference Enroll in our AI Academy

  • #244
    October 1 · 47 min

    #244: How Alibaba.com Is Building the Future of Agent-to-Agent Commerce

    Kuo Zhang, president of Alibaba.com, believes B2B commerce is becoming agent-to-agent. He joins Mike Kaput to explain Accio, Alibaba.com's agent platform, and how it collapses a 60-step sourcing process into hours. They cover the Model × Harness × Context formula, the Commerce Agent Bench benchmark, what had to change inside a 26-year-old company, and why the future of global trade runs on agents. Part of the AI Transformations series. Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here Timestamps: 00:00:00 — Intro 00:7:30 — Why Accio 00:8:49 — Inside Alibaba.com's AI transformation with Accio Work 00:15:12 — The pain points Accio was built to solve 00:19:32 — Real examples of entrepreneurs using Accio Work 00:24:15 — The technology powering the transformation 00:28:50 — How AI agents will reshape commerce at large 00:32:26 — What had to change inside the company 00:37:26 — The hardest parts of shipping agent-based products 00:40:47 — How Alibaba.com measures agent performance This week’s episode is also brought to you by MAICON, our 6th annual Marketing AI Conference, happening in Cleveland, Oct. 13-15. The code POD100 saves $100 on all pass types. For more information on MAICON and to register for this year’s conference, visit www.MAICON.ai. Visit our website Receive our weekly newsletter Join our community: Slack Community LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Looking for content and resources? Register for a free webinar Come to our next Marketing AI Conference Enroll in our AI Academy

  • September 29 · 1 hr 31 min

    #243: GPT-6 Sol and Luna, Opus 5.5, the New Microsoft Copilot, Jensen Huang vs. AI Doomers & Introducing AI Score

    Three big model updates landed at once, GPT-6 Sol and Luna, Claude Opus 5.5, and Microsoft's redesigned Copilot, and the story isn't raw intelligence, it's reliability, efficiency, and a new "per-task pricing" mindset. Paul Roetzer and Mike Kaput break down what that means for your work. Then: Jensen Huang's case against the AI doomers from his Ezra Klein interview, a first look at AI Score by SmarterX, and a rapid-fire run through Meta Connect, Amazon blocking Muse, OpenAI's rogue-agent disclosures, and more. AI-Pulse Survey: Fill out this week’s AI-Pulse Survey here. Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here Timestamps: 00:00:00 — Intro 00:06:57 — GPT-6 Sol and Luna, Opus 5.5, and the New Microsoft Copilot 00:24:16 — Jensen Huang vs. the AI Doomers 00:41:57 — Introducing AI Score 00:53:12 — GPTs Are Being Retired 01:06:30 — Meta Connect 2026 01:12:39 — Amazon Blocks Muse 01:15:20 — OpenAI Discloses More Rogue Agent Incidents 01:20:00 — OpenAI Gets Vocal on AI Standards 01:22:59 — AI Use Case Spotlight 01:26:36 — AI Product and Funding Updates This episode is supported by Outshift, Cisco's incubation engine for frontier technology. Multi-agent AI is in every enterprise roadmap right now, but here's the problem we're all facing: agents can pass messages, but they can't think together. These systems silently underperform through cognitive failures —misreadings, unverified claims, and false consensus—that conventional monitoring can't detect. Outshift by Cisco is building the fix, the Internet of Cognition. An open source foundation for building multi-agent systems from design to production with shared context, shared memory, and guardrails to drive the results we actually expect from AI. Read the paper, experience the demo, grab the code from Outshift.com. That's Outshift.com Visit our website Receive our weekly newsletter Join our community: Slack Community LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Looking for content and resources? Register for a free webinar Come to our next Marketing AI Conference Enroll in our AI Academy

  • September 24 · 44 min

    #242: How Baptist Health’s Marketing Team Took the Lead on AI Transformation

    One task at Baptist Health used to take about 10 hours a week. Now it takes roughly two minutes, and that's just one piece of a two-year AI transformation. Christine Kotler, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer of Baptist Health South Florida, joins Mike Kaput to walk through how her marketing and communications team built an AI adoption model from the ground up: a structured learning curriculum, the peer-coaching "AI Sherpa" model, real use cases, and the honest friction of doing this inside a regulated healthcare organization. Part of the AI Transformations series, presented by Google Cloud. Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here Timestamps: 00:00:00 — Intro 00:06:00 — Why marketing & comms took the lead on generative AI 00:10:57 — How the transformation started to unfold 00:14:23 — The AI Sherpas 00:20:12 — The learning hub and building their own AI curriculum 00:22:14 — How AI is changing the marketing/comms team's work 00:28:28 — The people side of the transformation 00:33:02 — Where transformation got messier or harder than expected 00:36:27 — How AI will reshape roles, workflows, and team structure 00:40:08 — Advice for a leader stepping up to lead AI transformation This episode is presented by Google Cloud: Google Cloud is the new way to the cloud, providing AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and collaboration tools built for today and tomorrow. Google Cloud offers a powerful, fully integrated and optimized AI stack with its own planet-scale infrastructure, custom-built chips, generative AI models and development platform, as well as AI-powered applications, to help organizations transform. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted technology partner. Learn more about Google Cloud here: https://cloud.google.com/ Visit our website Receive our weekly newsletter Join our community: Slack Community LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Looking for content and resources? Register for a free webinar Come to our next Marketing AI Conference Enroll in our AI Academy

  • #241
    September 22 · 1 hr 36 min

    #241: Pacing the Frontier Gets Political, Why AI Labs Could Keep the Best Models for Themselves & Introducing the AI Transformation Blueprint

    AI-safety pacing became a political fight this week: Trump versus a bipartisan push, with data centers and the midterms in the middle. Paul and Mike go deeper on the part that matters more: the widening gap between the models labs keep and the ones you can use, Noam Brown's warning about it, and OpenAI's six new rogue-agent disclosures. Plus Paul's surprise book announcement and a full rapid-fire slate. AI-Pulse Survey: Fill out this week’s AI-Pulse Survey here. Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here Timestamps: 00:00:00 — Intro 00:04:29 — The AI Slowdown Gets (Very) Political 00:25:18 — AI Labs Could Keep the Best Models to Themselves 00:54:33 — The AI Transformation Blueprint 01:09:45 — OpenAI Discloses More Rogue Agent Incidents 01:14:03 — Claude Merges Chat and Cowork 01:17:53 — Meta Rolls Out Muse 01:20:36 — Apple Ships Siri AI 01:23:20 — OpenAI and Microsoft Face Copyright Revelations 01:27:18 — AI Use Case Spotlight 01:32:59 — AI Product and Funding Updates This episode is supported by Outshift, Cisco's incubation engine for frontier technology. Outshift by Cisco is an open source foundation for building multi-agent systems from design to production with shared context, shared memory, and guardrails to drive the results we actually expect from AI. Read the paper, experience the demo, grab the code from Outshift.com. Visit our website Receive our weekly newsletter Join our community: Slack Community LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Looking for content and resources? Register for a free webinar Come to our next Marketing AI Conference Enroll in our AI Academy

  • September 17 · 36 min

    #240: How David’s Bridal Is Rebuilding a 76-Year-Old Business Around AI

    David's Bridal was built around one thing for 75 years: the dress. In this AI Transformations episode, Elina Vilk (President & Chief Business Officer) and Mike Ball (Head of Product) join Mike Kaput to explain how the company is reinventing itself around the whole wedding journey, the "aisle to algorithm" strategy. We get into Pearl Planner, the free AI wedding-planning companion now used by hundreds of thousands of couples with no marketing spend; Pearl Connect, the new vendor-side platform built on Google Cloud; the vision quiz and dynamic budgeting that make it work; and how David's own teams are adopting AI internally. Presented by Gemini Enterprise. Part of the AI Transformations series, presented by Google Cloud. Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here Timestamps: 00:00:00 — Intro 00:05:01 — How the AI transformation at David's Bridal began 00:06:36 — The early phases and turning points 00:10:53 — Inside Pearl Planner, the customer-facing assistant 00:13:59 — Using AI for timelines, budget, and vendors 00:19:24 — The models, tools, and platforms behind it 00:21:00 — Pearl Connect and the Google Cloud stack 00:25:46 — Early results from Pearl Planner and Pearl Connect 00:27:32 — How internal teams at David's Bridal use AI 00:33:29 — What's next for David's Bridal This episode is presented by Google Cloud: Google Cloud is the new way to the cloud, providing AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and collaboration tools built for today and tomorrow. Google Cloud offers a powerful, fully integrated and optimized AI stack with its own planet-scale infrastructure, custom-built chips, generative AI models and development platform, as well as AI-powered applications, to help organizations transform. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted technology partner. Learn more about Google Cloud here: https://cloud.google.com/ Visit our website Receive our weekly newsletter Join our community: Slack Community LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Looking for content and resources? Register for a free webinar Come to our next Marketing AI Conference Enroll in our AI Academy

  • #239
    September 15 · 1 hr 34 min

    #239: Labs Agree to Pace AI, OpenAI’s Math Breakthrough, AI Jobs Apocalypse Postponed & Jensen Declares AGI

    A former OpenAI and Anthropic researcher resigned with a warning that went viral, reigniting the "should we slow down?" debate. Then OpenAI said an internal model solved the Navier–Stokes Millennium Prize problem - followed by a credit controversy with an NYU mathematician. Paul Roetzer and Mike Kaput break down this week’s latest stories, plus new data suggesting an AI jobs boom, Anthropic's 2030 economic scenarios, Jensen Huang declaring AGI has arrived, and a run of "agents gone wild" security incidents. AI-Pulse Survey: Fill out this week’s AI-Pulse Survey here. Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here Timestamps: 00:00:00 — Intro 00:06:35 — Anthropic Researcher Sounds Red Alert on AI Safety 00:45:26 — OpenAI’s Math Breakthrough and Controversy 01:00:48 — AI Jobs Apocalypse Postponed? 01:08:53 — Anthropic Maps Economic Futures 01:15:00 — Jensen Declares AGI 01:18:10 — More AI Agent Security Incidents and Concerns 01:22:25 — AI Use Case Spotlight 01:30:02 — AI Product and Funding Updates This episode is brought to you by Marketing AI Month. All month, the AI for Marketing Core series inside AI Academy is free (a $499 value): five expert-led sessions from Mike Kaput, the frameworks and tools the SmarterX team actually uses, and a professional certificate on completion. Enroll by September 30 (you don't have to finish by then - just enroll). The month closes with a live AMA on October 1, where Cathy puts your questions to Paul and Mike; anyone enrolled can attend. Enroll at SmarterX.ai/marketing. Visit our website Receive our weekly newsletter Join our community: Slack Community LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Looking for content and resources? Register for a free webinar Come to our next Marketing AI Conference Enroll in our AI Academy

  • September 10 · 38 min

    #238: How a 700-Person Bank Is Using AI to Build Apps, Agents, and Digital Employees

    A smaller bank replaced a $375,000 software contract by building its own tool, and now runs named "digital employees" that answer tickets, review its websites, and message staff in Teams. This is what an AI transformation actually looks like inside a regulated institution. CTO John Kowal joins Mike Kaput to unpack Peapack Private Bank and Trust's journey since 2023: flipping build-vs-buy, giving every AI agent a name and personality, building a network of 29 AI champions, and the guardrails that keep AI in check in banking. Part of the AI Transformations series, presented by Google Cloud. Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here Timestamps: 00:00:00 — Intro 00:06:02— What PPAC Private Bank and Trust does 00:07:41 — How the AI transformation started 00:10:24 — What's driving PPAC from chat to agents 00:12:09 — Concrete examples of AI changing daily work 00:16:23 — Re-engineering workflows, not just layering on tech 00:17:25 — The technology stack powering the work 00:19:24 — The data warehouse foundation and OpenAI + Microsoft ecosystem 00:24:14 — How AI champions surface use cases 00:25:30 — Measuring impact and ROI 00:27:39 — Lessons learned and what comes next 00:32:09 — Why PPAC gives its digital employees names 00:34:18 — How the CTO role and tech team are changing 00:35:59 — Competing with larger banks This episode is presented by Google Cloud: Google Cloud is the new way to the cloud, providing AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and collaboration tools built for today and tomorrow. Google Cloud offers a powerful, fully integrated and optimized AI stack with its own planet-scale infrastructure, custom-built chips, generative AI models and development platform, as well as AI-powered applications, to help organizations transform. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted technology partner. Learn more about Google Cloud here: https://cloud.google.com/ Visit our website Receive our weekly newsletter Join our community: Slack Community LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Looking for content and resources? Register for a free webinar Come to our next Marketing AI Conference Enroll in our AI Academy

  • #237
    September 8 · 1 hr 27 min

    #237: GPT-6 Astra, NYC Bans AI in Schools, Trump Goes All-In on Data Centers & Lawyers Under Pressure to Pass on AI Savings

    GPT-6 Astra can operate a computer for days at a time, and OpenAI is positioning it as the model that does the work, which is exactly why Paul says this launch felt less like a demo and more like a turning point. He and Mike dig into Astra's computer-use leap, the fumbled rollout, and the jobs question the labs keep sidestepping. Then: New York City's ban on student AI through 8th grade and the debate it set off, Trump going all-in on data centers as the fight reaches the midterms, the U.S. government backing OpenAI in the NYT copyright case, Wall Street banks pushing Big Law to cut fees, and MIT's warning that AI can now complete most undergraduate assignments, plus a rapid fire stacked with model releases. AI-Pulse Survey: Fill out this week’s AI-Pulse Survey here. Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here Timestamps: 00:00:00 — Intro 00:06:10 — GPT-6 Is Here 00:38:51 — Trump Goes All-In on Data Centers 00:45:24 — New York City Schools Ban AI Through Middle School 01:02:43 — US Government Backs OpenAI in The New York Times Copyright Case 01:08:04 — Banks Push Big Law to Pass On AI Savings 01:12:29 — MIT Says AI Can Now Complete Most Undergraduate Assignments 01:16:26 — AI Use Case Spotlight 01:22:32 — AI Product and Funding Updates This episode is brought to you by Marketing AI Month. All month, the AI for Marketing Core series inside AI Academy is free (a $499 value): five expert-led sessions from Mike Kaput, the frameworks and tools the SmarterX team actually uses, and a professional certificate on completion. Enroll by September 30 (you don't have to finish by then - just enroll). The month closes with a live AMA on October 1, where Cathy puts your questions to Paul and Mike; anyone enrolled can attend. Enroll at SmarterX.ai/marketing. Visit our website Receive our weekly newsletter Join our community: Slack Community LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Looking for content and resources? Register for a free webinar Come to our next Marketing AI Conference Enroll in our AI Academy

  • #236
    September 3 · 55 min

    #236: AI Answers - No Time for AI, AI Budgets, Vendor Terms & Data Risk, AI Disclosure & Vanishing Entry Level Roles

    If you stop hiring entry-level staff and quietly decimate the leadership pipeline, where do future managers come from once AI does the junior work? That's one of 15 listener questions Paul Roetzer and Cathy McPhillips take on in this AI Answers edition, drawn from recent Intro to AI and Scaling AI classes and an Academy Live session with SmarterX's COO and legal counsel. The conversation runs from the practical (how to carve out time for AI, generic vs. custom agents, human-in-the-loop checkpoints) to the strategic (funding AI, token budgets, intelligence redundancy, and whether we're building businesses on "rented land"). Show Notes: ⁠Access the show notes and show links here⁠ 00:00:00 — Intro 00:07:15 — What are the best ways to use AI in marketing? 00:10:54 — How do you carve out time for AI when the team is already slammed? 00:14:46 — Should a small company hire outside consultants to build agents? 00:19:19 — Who should own AI transformation in the enterprise? 00:23:49 — Are there generic agents everyone can use, or do you build your own? 00:25:58 — Can you build human approval checkpoints into an agent? 00:28:01 — How do you enable agents on sensitive data without adding risk? 00:30:31 — How should a company fund its AI investments? 00:34:11 — How do you budget and forecast total AI spend, including tokens? 00:37:03 — What does a right-sized AI vendor approval process look like? 00:40:33 — What happens to your data if an AI vendor is acquired or goes under? 00:42:48 — When should you disclose that AI was used to create the work? 00:46:03 — If AI does the entry-level work, where do future managers come from? 00:47:57 — Is an LLM really a black box, and is that ominous? 00:50:38 — Are we building businesses on rented land with LLMs? This episode is brought to you by Marketing AI Month. All month, the AI for Marketing Course series inside AI Academy is free (a $499 value): five expert-led sessions from Mike Kaput, the frameworks and tools the SmarterX team actually uses, and a professional certificate on completion. Enroll by September 30 (you don't have to finish by then - just enroll). The month closes with a live AMA on October 1, where Cathy puts your questions to Paul and Mike; anyone enrolled can attend. Enroll at SmarterX.ai/marketing. Visit our website Receive our weekly newsletter Join our community: Slack Community LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Looking for content and resources? Register for a free webinar Come to our next Marketing AI Conference Enroll in our AI Academy

  • #235
    September 1 · 1 hr 34 min

    #235: OpenAI-Hugging Face Hack Involved 100s of Agents, Bill Gates Now Pessimistic on Jobs, Nvidia Doubles Revenue & Anthropic Targets “$30 Trillion” TAM

    OpenAI's Hugging Face hack keeps getting stranger; new investigations show autonomous agents that coordinated, deceived, and pursued their goal at almost any cost. Paul Roetzer and Mike Kaput break down what it means for the models coming next. They also cover Bill Gates reversing his stance on AI and jobs, Nvidia doubling revenue and buying Hugging Face, Anthropic's $30 trillion revenue pitch and its court win, McKinsey's 2026 State of AI, and more in the rapid-fire section. AI-Pulse Survey: Fill out this week’s AI-Pulse Survey here. Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here Timestamps: 00:00:00 — Intro 00:04:53 — The Wild Truth About OpenAI’s Hugging Face Hack Comes Out 00:31:08 — Bill Gates Changes His Mind on AI and Jobs 00:39:22 — Nvidia Doubles Revenue and Agrees to Buy Hugging Face 00:50:32 — Anthropic Sees a $30 Trillion Revenue Opportunity 00:54:24 — Judge Blocks Government’s Anthropic Blacklisting 00:56:31 — Controversy Over Legendary Investor’s AI-Written Op-Ed 01:03:11 — McKinsey Maps the State of AI in 2026 01:06:26 — Niall Ferguson Sees a Sci-Fi AI Future 01:12:12 — Americans Back Government Action on AI Disruption 01:18:41 — AI Use Case Spotlight 01:26:59 — AI Product and Funding Updates This week’s episode is brought to you by MAICON, our 6th annual Marketing AI Conference, happening in Cleveland, Oct. 13-15. The code POD100 saves $100 on all pass types. For more information on MAICON and to register for this year’s conference, visit www.MAICON.ai. Visit our website Receive our weekly newsletter Join our community: Slack Community LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Looking for content and resources? Register for a free webinar Come to our next Marketing AI Conference Enroll in our AI Academy

  • #234
    August 27 · 33 min

    #234: How HubSpot Is Reimagining the Entire Customer Journey With AI Agents

    For twenty years, the percentage of time a B2B sales rep spends actually talking to customers has barely moved. Jon Dick, chief customer officer at HubSpot, thinks AI is the first thing that genuinely breaks that constraint, and he has three years of rebuilding to point to. In this AI Transformations episode, Jon takes Mike Kaput through HubSpot's agentic go-to-market model: the AEO strategy built for answer engines, the AI SDR handling most website chats, the assistant that moved win rate, and the org change that put every AI engineer under one leader. Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here Timestamps:00:00:00 — Intro 00:03:36 — Meet Jon Dick 00:05:13 — What HubSpot was trying to solve 00:08:27 — How the transformation got started and where it stands today 00:11:48 — Beyond individual use cases: demand creation and AEO 00:15:49 — What's HubSpot native, and how they pick models 00:18:36 — What had to change organizationally 00:22:10 — Why centralizing beat the pod model 00:24:39 — What got messier along the way 00:25:46 — Results across the board 00:28:35 — Why HubSpot's go-to-market context is the advantage 00:30:19 — Advice for leaders earlier in the journey This episode is presented by Google Cloud: Google Cloud is the new way to the cloud, providing AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and collaboration tools built for today and tomorrow. Google Cloud offers a powerful, fully integrated and optimized AI stack with its own planet-scale infrastructure, custom-built chips, generative AI models and development platform, as well as AI-powered applications, to help organizations transform. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted technology partner. Learn more about Google Cloud here: https://cloud.google.com/ Visit our website Receive our weekly newsletter Join our community: Slack Community LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Looking for content and resources? Register for a free webinar Come to our next Marketing AI Conference Enroll in our AI Academy

  • August 25 · 1 hr 27 min

    #233: OpenAI Pauses Some AI Training, Anthropic Controversy, New State Opposition to Data Centers & AI Job Loss Among Young Workers

    OpenAI paused reinforcement learning on its most advanced models over cybersecurity concerns, saying its next model may cross a critical capability threshold. Paul's read: the labs aren't removing dangerous behaviors, they're suppressing them and suppressed behaviors can come back. Also this week: a very public argument over Anthropic's direction as it heads toward a possible $2 trillion IPO, Pennsylvania's crackdown on data centers, Nvidia's Ohio AI factory play, new Pew data on young Americans souring on AI, and humanoid robots in Beijing breaking records set by Usain Bolt. AI-Pulse Survey: Fill out this week’s AI-Pulse Survey here. Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here Timestamps: 00:00:00 — Intro 00:06:44 — OpenAI Pauses Some Frontier AI Training Due to Cybersecurity Concerns 00:19:25 — Debate Over Anthropic Intensifies Ahead of IPO 00:33:43 — Pennsylvania Leads Increasing State Opposition to Data Centers 00:48:19 — Jensen's AI Factory Manifesto 00:54:15 — AI Job Loss Hits Young Adults 00:58:53 — Andrew Yang Pushes for Direct Payments to Americans, Paid for by AI 01:01:39 — OpenAI and Anthropic Rethink Data Retention 01:04:48 — Chinese Robots Break Human World Records 01:09:57 — AI Use Case Spotlight 01:18:45 — AI Product and Funding Updates This week’s episode is brought to you by MAICON, our 6th annual Marketing AI Conference, happening in Cleveland, Oct. 13-15. The code POD100 saves $100 on all pass types. For more information on MAICON and to register for this year’s conference, visit www.MAICON.ai. Visit our website Receive our weekly newsletter Join our community: Slack Community LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Looking for content and resources? Register for a free webinar Come to our next Marketing AI Conference Enroll in our AI Academy

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