From Turing to Tooling: How Businesses Really Win with AI with John K Thompson (University of Michigan)

What if the fastest route to real AI value isn’t training a new model—but learning how to use the ones we already have, better? We sit down with author and professor John K. Thompson to chart a clear path from AI’s roots to practical wins you can ship this quarter, while keeping an honest eye on what stands between today’s LLMs and true AGI.

We start with the origin story—from Turing’s early ideas to the Dartmouth workshop—and show why those founding questions still matter. Then we move into the present: how context windows let you infuse models with your voice, policies, and playbooks without fine‑tuning; why unique information assets are your real moat; and how cross‑functional teams (operators plus technologists) turn prompts into production results. John explains the power of causal AI to answer “what should we do?” and shares concrete examples, from proposal generation that compresses months of work into minutes to manufacturing setups that slash daily waste by two‑thirds.

Along the way, we cut through common myths. AGI isn’t arriving next week; we’re missing durable memory, robust causal reasoning, and integrated “composite AI” that blends generative, foundational, and causal methods. GenAI coding is a productivity edge for scaffolding and tests, but complex logic still needs expert hands, strong reviews, and measurable KPIs. For leaders, the blueprint is simple: build around the model first with retrieval, guardrails, and evaluation; organize AI and data science as one team; choose tools that fit practitioners; and measure outcomes relentlessly.

If you’re serious about unlocking AI’s upside without getting lost in hype, this conversation offers frameworks you can use today and a realistic map for tomorrow. Enjoy the episode, and if it resonates, follow the show, share it with a colleague, and leave a quick review to help others find it.

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What's New In Data is a data thought leadership series hosted by John Kutay who leads data and products at Striim. What's New In Data hosts industry practitioners to discuss latest trends, common patterns for real world data patterns, and analytics success stories.