Serial deeptech entrepreneur, award-winning innovator, and author Henry Nash discusses AI's hype versus reality, explains why we must now focus on AI's ROI, and explores the future of quantum computing.

Henry, who began his entrepreneurial journey in 1986, has worked on a range of tech startups, including Insignia Solutions and Transitive. He is currently involved in leading IBM’s startup programs that support companies scaling through the IBM ecosystem.

Henry believes in bringing the business and technology groups of a company together to achieve the near-impossible. Immersive 3D VR chat rooms 25 years before Facebook Meta, horizontally scalable distributed infrastructure 10 years before cloud, the Queen’s Award for Technology and the Queen’s Award for Export, are just some of the things the companies he’s founded have achieved.

This conversation was recorded in 2024, before I decided to launch the podcast. Yet the talking points are so relevant to today’s hype-driven AI world that I felt the episode needed to be revived and included in the CEOR debates. It also demonstrates the reality that AI has not really changed much. It’s my counterparts behind the technology who keep on moving the goalposts.

Timstamps:

(00:00:00) – Preview

(00:05:43) – IBM's current approach to AI and why they're not in the conversation.

(00:10:52) – Why businesses and enterprises perceive generative AI as high-risk.

(00:14:15) – AI models work well in controlled environments, but struggle in the real world.

(00:17:38) – Did the tech and AI sectors fail in educating and informing the public about AI?

(00:20:34) – Henry's remarkable journey as a deeptech and innovation entrepreneur since 1986!

(00:30:58) – How politics and Brexit severely damaged the UK's global standing in AI and deeptech.

(00:35:16) – Where are we in the current AI hype cycle, and is it "real" innovation?

(00:46:51) – The killer AI solution is the one that offers the real return on investment (ROI)!

(00:54:09) – Can AI really replace humans, and who is actually driving this narrative?

(01:06:11) – The role of AI in transforming education, prioritising soft skills and critical thinking.

(01:25:10) – The upcoming excitement of quantum computing. Is it the new hype?

(01:33:57) – The Impact of quantum computing on AI's future and data encryption.

(01:38:39) – The other side of the AI hype: The nihilists, AI doomers and the ethics bros!

(01:42:09) – How AI is perceived by some as a divine being and above humanity!

(01:48:58) – The tech sector seems to prioritise AI's "rights" over human rights!

(01:52:56) – Can regulation be used as a tool to prioritise safer and useful AI?

(01:56:20) – The future of the current AI models and the end of the current bubble.

Episode Notes & Citations:

https://ceoretort.com/podcast/guest/2025/09/29/henry-nash-forget-hyped-up-ai-we-must-now-focus-on-real-value-and-roi/

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