a16z Podcast

Embedding AI: The Questions Every CEO is Asking

May 15, 2023

Zayd Enam, Co-founder and CEO of Cresta, focuses on enhancing customer service through AI in contact centers. Barry McCardel, Co-founder and CEO of Hex, discusses how AI can revolutionize data analytics, while Beyang Liu, Co-founder and CTO of Sourcegraph, shares insights on utilizing AI for improved coding assistance. The trio tackles challenges in privacy, differentiation, and the future landscape of contact centers, emphasizing the need for thoughtful integration of AI to boost operational efficiency and customer relations.

36:31

Creator website

Episode guests

Beyang Liu

Barry McCardel

Zayd Enam

AI Summary

Highlights

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

AI tools must be cleverly embedded to solve customers' core problems and differentiate companies.

Open-sourcing AI platforms allows for a more customizable and extendable ecosystem.

Deep dives

The Growing Importance of AI in Differentiating Companies

The podcast episode discusses how AI tools have gained mass adoption in 2022, making AI the forefront of many companies' strategies. However, AI alone is not enough to win over users. Companies need to cleverly embed AI to solve their customers' core problems and differentiate themselves. CEOs are exploring ways to integrate AI quickly, addressing concerns around data privacy, competition, cost, and accuracy. The podcast features three companies that tackle these challenges, sharing insights on implementing AI into their existing products and the lessons learned from this platform shift.

The Commodity Nature of AI Models and Potential Moats

01:29

Combining Language Models with Context and Structured Understanding of Code

01:33

AI's Ability to Summarize and Provide Insights in Unstructured Conversations

01:23

Intro

2min

Transforming Contact Centers with AI Insights

1min

Transforming Customer Service with AI

10min

Transforming Coding with Contextual AI Assistance

3min

Navigating AI Differentiation and User Experience

17min

Envisioning the Future of Contact Centers

2min

Transforming Customer Experience with AI Integration

2min

2022 was a breakout year for AI. While machine learning had already been integrated into applications for millions of users, for many, these tools still felt like their first real-world encounter with AI.

As AI continues to revolutionize industries, CEOs are discussing how to integrate this new superpower. They are also considering important questions around data privacy, competition, cost, accuracy, and speed.

In today's episode, we talk with Cresta, Hex, and Sourcegraph, three companies at the forefront of integrating AI into their existing products. From navigating data privacy concerns to optimizing accuracy and managing costs, these leaders are navigating the complexities of this new superpower.

Topics Covered:

00:00 - Introduction
02:51 - How AI can enhance customer service
08:26 - Using AI to shape data and analytics
09:33 - Solving the challenges on contextual understanding
12:01 - Giving AI the right information and context
13:31 - Tools that help build language Models (LLMs)
15:39 - Building open source tools
18:40 - Constructing prompts
22:26 - How do you differentiate?
23:48 - Customization as a moat
25:26 - Privacy challenges
29:14 - Language models and search engines
30:41 - Cost and pricing of models
32:48 - What does the contact center look like in 2028?

Resources:

Find Barry McCardel on Twitter https://twitter.com/barrald

Find Beyang Liu on Twitter: https://twitter.com/beyang

Find Zayd Enam on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zaydenam

Recent AI episodes:

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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see

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a16z Podcast

Embedding AI: The Questions Every CEO is Asking

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

The Growing Importance of AI in Differentiating Companies

Transforming the Contact Center with AI

The Power of Data Transformation and AI in Data Science

Challenges and Considerations in Working with Language Models

The Commodity Nature of AI Models and Potential Moats

Combining Language Models with Context and Structured Understanding of Code

AI's Ability to Summarize and Provide Insights in Unstructured Conversations

Get the Snipd
podcast app

AI-powered
podcast player

Discover
highlights

Save any
moment

Share
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a16z Podcast

Embedding AI: The Questions Every CEO is Asking

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

The Growing Importance of AI in Differentiating Companies

Transforming the Contact Center with AI

The Power of Data Transformation and AI in Data Science

Challenges and Considerations in Working with Language Models

The Commodity Nature of AI Models and Potential Moats

Combining Language Models with Context and Structured Understanding of Code

AI's Ability to Summarize and Provide Insights in Unstructured Conversations

Get the Snipdpodcast app

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Save anymoment

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