Artificial intelligence has gone from curiosity to daily tool almost overnight. 

In this episode, Gunnar and James sit down with AI consultant Alex Rankin who spent over 25 years in senior roles across the Australian Public Service before turning her focus to helping environmental consultancies figure out where AI actually fits into their workflows. Together they cut through the hype and talk about what AI can actually do for environmental professionals right now.

In this episode:

• What LLMs, generative AI, agentic AI, and AGI actually mean, and which ones matter for your practice right now
• Why AI is better thought of as a fast intern than a consultant (for now)
• What environmental consultants are actually using AI for (and what they're still struggling with)
• The hallucination problem (Gunnar calls it lying) and the cross-checking trick that helps
• How to train an AI tool and what "training" actually means in practice
• A practical framework for dipping a toe in without blowing your budget or your deadline
• Why Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini are not interchangeable and when to use which

This episode was recorded on 6 March 2026.

Book a meeting with Alex: https://meetings-ap1.hubspot.com/a/driftwood-discovery

ALGA launches Special Interest Group for AI

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The necessary disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this Podcast are the speakers’ own. They do not necessarily represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of 4Pillars Environmental Consulting Pty Ltd or any Client, Supplier or other party related to 4Pillars or the speakers. 

(c) Gunnar Haid and James Hammond