The Artificial Intelligence Podcast

Join Stelios Diamantidis, Chief Product Officer at Cognichip, as he explores how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing semiconductor development by enabling more holistic design processes that can reduce development time by half and costs by 75%. He discusses how AI tackles complex challenges across the entire chip design workflow—from early product definition through manufacturing—including verification, debugging, and hardware-software co-design optimization. Diamantidis envisions a near future where AI agents serve as true co-designers, helping engineers navigate the complex trade-offs between performance, power efficiency, and chip area while enabling rapid creation of bespoke accelerators tailored to specific AI workloads.

Join Paul Canetti, CEO of Skej, as he discusses the unique challenges of building AI products that operate without traditional user interfaces, instead functioning as virtual humans with email addresses, phone numbers, and Slack handles that interact through natural language. Drawing from his experience in UX design at Apple during the iPhone era, Canetti explains how building non-deterministic AI systems fundamentally differs from traditional software, requiring multiple quality assurance layers to prevent hallucinations and ensure AI assistants know when to remain silent in group conversations. He explores the shift toward anthropomorphized AI assistants with distinct personalities, arguing that as forms become obsolete and natural language interfaces become mainstream, the future lies in liberating people to do uniquely human work while AI handles generic tasks that anyone could accomplish but everyone suffers through.

Zachary Hanif, VP of Data and AI at Twilio, brings a wealth of experience leading AI initiatives in both regulated financial services and communication platforms. He dives into the delicate balance between explainable AI and high-performing black box models, stressing the importance of tailored governance frameworks. Hanif discusses the challenges of moving AI from proof-of-concept to production, with 80% of pilots failing. He emphasizes the role of privacy-by-design principles and collaboration between tech teams and domain experts for successful implementations.

Join Santosh Kaveti, CEO of ProArch, as he addresses the critical gap between AI ambition and execution in enterprise environments, where despite widespread C-suite commitment, only a quarter of organizations achieve meaningful AI implementation. Kaveti outlines his four-pillar framework for AI operationalization, emphasizing that AI adoption is fundamentally a people and culture problem rather than a technology issue, with 63% of companies lacking basic AI governance policies. He discusses the growing challenges of shadow AI usage, the convergence of IT and operational technology creating new security vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure, and how organizations can build compliance frameworks that won't become obsolete as AI regulations continue to evolve rapidly.

Suman Kanuganti, Co-founder and CEO of Personal AI, specializes in personal language models and decision-making engines for edge devices. He discusses a shift from large, generic AI models to tailored personal language models that capture unique decision-making patterns. Kanuganti highlights the efficiency of smaller models, emphasizing privacy-by-design and their ability to perform better in specific applications. He also explores the future of distributed AI systems and the challenges faced by the current AI landscape, dominated by resource-heavy solutions.

Join Jay Dawani, CEO of Lemurian Labs, as he discusses the critical infrastructure challenges facing AI development and his company's efforts to rebuild the AI software stack from the ground up. Drawing from his experience as a former NASA AI advisor working on Mars Rover navigation and exoplanet research, Dawani explains how current AI systems are plagued by massive inefficiencies, with some data centers operating at only 10-15% utilization despite consuming enormous amounts of energy. The conversation explores how the industry must shift from kernel-based programming models designed for single GPUs to dynamic runtime systems that can efficiently manage communication and memory across hundreds of thousands of processors, ultimately making advanced AI more accessible and sustainable.

Join Richard White, CEO of Fathom, as he discusses how AI is transforming workplace productivity through intelligent meeting transcription and note-taking solutions. White explains how modern AI can now write better notes than most humans within 30 seconds of a meeting ending, while also enabling companies to capture and disseminate organizational knowledge more effectively by analyzing patterns across thousands of hours of meetings. The conversation explores the evolution from basic transcription services to sophisticated AI workflows that can generate action items, update CRMs, and provide executives with real-time alerts about important developments across their teams, ultimately reshaping how organizations communicate and collaborate in an AI-first workplace.

Join Nadia Harhen, General Manager of AI Simulation at SandboxAQ, and Jordan Crivelli-Decker from the Biosim team as they discuss how Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) are revolutionizing drug discovery and materials science by generating synthetic data through physics-based computational chemistry rather than just predicting outcomes like traditional language models. They explain how this approach accelerates drug development timelines, reduces animal testing needs, and enables breakthrough solutions for complex molecular problems that conventional software cannot handle, including work with Nobel laureate Dr. Stanley Prusiner that moved from research to clinical trials in just 18 months. The conversation explores how combining quantum mechanics principles with machine learning creates novel molecular IP across industries from pharmaceuticals to defense applications, bridging the gap between AI capabilities and practical scientific breakthroughs.

Debo Dutta, Chief AI Officer at Nutanix, discusses the critical challenges enterprises face when scaling generative AI beyond proof-of-concepts, identifying skills gaps, unclear implementation pathways, and data governance concerns as primary barriers. He emphasizes that successful AI transformation requires a holistic approach addressing people, processes, and technology, with particular focus on data cleaning and creating "gold standard" datasets as foundational competitive advantages. Looking ahead, Dutta predicts the emergence of AI agents operating with human oversight rather than fully autonomous systems, while highlighting that clean, private enterprise data will become the primary moat as AI models become increasingly commoditized.

Dr. Michael Wu, Chief AI Scientist at PROS, discusses his transition from computational neuroscience research to applied AI in industry, emphasizing how his perspective without domain-specific baggage has enabled innovative problem-solving approaches. He explores the evolving landscape of AI agents and tools, highlighting the importance of Model Control Protocol (MCP) as a bridge between passive language models and actionable AI systems that can interact with existing enterprise tools. Wu emphasizes the need for organizations to create fail-safe environments that encourage AI experimentation while maintaining security, and advocates for balancing innovation speed with responsible development practices that prioritize safety, privacy, and legal compliance from the outset.