What if artificial intelligence is less like a new app—and more like the railroads of the 19th century?

In this episode of Beginner’s Guide to AI, I sit down with Matt Hicks, CEO of Red Hat, to explore one of the most powerful metaphors for understanding AI’s role in business today. Just as railroads didn’t merely improve transportation but fundamentally reshaped economies, AI is not just another productivity tool. It is infrastructure. And infrastructure needs builders.

Matt argues that AI will require its own “railroad barons”—leaders, technologists, and organizations willing to invest, experiment, and lay the tracks that others will run on. We discuss what that means for enterprise AI adoption, open source innovation, and long-term business strategy.

This conversation goes far beyond hype. It’s about patterns, fear, leadership, and the tension between process and innovation.

📧💌📧

Tune in to get my thoughts and all episodes, don't forget to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠subscribe to our Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠beginnersguide.nl⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

📧💌📧

🔑 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• Why AI business strategy is today’s equivalent of building railroads
• How Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) will reshape brand visibility
• The balance between experimentation and responsibility in AI adoption
• Why processes vs. innovation remains a critical tension
• How leaders can prepare for AI-driven business transformation

💬 Quotes from the Episode:

• “AI is like the railroads — it will need its barons to build the infrastructure that carries everyone forward.”
• “The fear isn’t that AI replaces us; it’s that we don’t adapt fast enough to what it enables.”

⏱ Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Red Hat’s Role in AI

03:01 Why Awareness of AI Technology Matters

06:00 Creating Progression: From Awareness to Action

09:01 Personal Experiences with AI Change

12:00 Recognizing Business Patterns in AI Transformation

15:01 Patterns, Fears, and Early Adoption Signals

18:01 Fear vs Opportunity: Why People Hesitate on AI

21:00 Balancing Experimentation with Responsibility

27:00 The Maturity Curve of AI Adoption

30:00 When Processes Prevail Over Innovation

42:00 AI and the Software Industry’s Perspective

45:00 Looking Ahead: Strategy and the Future of AI

🌐 Where to find Matt Hicks

• LinkedIn: Matt Hicks
• Red Hat: redhat.com

🎵 Music credit: "Modern Situations" by Unicorn Heads

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎙️ In this episode of Beginner’s Guide to AI, Dietmar Fischer talks with Samantha Mehta, solutions engineering leader at AIRIA, about how companies can adopt AI without losing control. If your teams are already experimenting with ChatGPT and AI tools, the real question is not “Should we use AI?” but “How do we use it safely, visibly, and profitably?”

Samantha explains what enterprise AI security looks like in real life, including AI guardrails that can audit, block, redact, and replace sensitive data. She also unpacks AI governance and AI observability, because you cannot manage what you cannot see. A key theme is shadow AI and AI sprawl: people will use AI anyway, so organizations need sanctioned paths that reduce risk while accelerating adoption.

On the practical side, this conversation goes deep on agentic workflows. Samantha describes how agents become more than prompts through routing, actions, approvals, looping over documents like CSVs, and scheduled runs that create repeatable outcomes. From internal GPT alternatives to workflows that touch expenses, supply chain planning, and customer support, the episode is packed with grounded examples and a clear starting path.

📧💌📧

Tune in to get my thoughts and all episodes, don't forget to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠subscribe to our Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: ⁠⁠⁠⁠beginnersguide.nl⁠⁠⁠⁠

📧💌📧

About Dietmar Fischer:

Dietmar is a podcaster and AI marketer from Berlin. If you want to know how to get your AI or your digital marketing going, just contact him at argoberlin.com

Chapters

00:00 Welcome and why Samantha got into AI

01:26 What ARIA does: build, test, secure, deliver enterprise AI

02:19 Real use cases from simple internal GPT to complex workflows

08:27 How to start: guardrails first, then build your first agent

11:32 Agentic workflows explained: routing, actions, human in the loop

17:12 Why security and governance matter and why blocking fails

31:14 AI sprawl and shadow AI: monitoring and risk management

40:00 Wow use cases and the future: Blade Runner, change, and jobs

48:42 Where to find Samantha and ARIA

Quotes from the Episode

🪧 “I personally can’t think of a case where an LLM needs to know my social security number.”

🪧 “People are going to use it no matter what. If you don’t enable safe usage, they’ll still use it.”

🪧 “Agentic workflows are so much more than just ping an LLM and get a response.”

🪧 “I always say: build, test, secure, and deliver your usage of AI.”

Where to find Samantha:

➡️ LinkedIn: Samantha Mehta on LinkedIn

➡️ Company: look at what AIRIA does

Music credit: "Modern Situations" by Unicorn Heads

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AI is transforming the real estate industry — but what does that really mean for agents on the ground? In this episode of Beginner’s Guide to AI, host Dietmar Fischer sits down with Andrew Reville, founder of PeakAgent, to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping the way agents work, market, and connect with clients.

📧💌📧

Tune in to get my thoughts and all episodes, don't forget to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠subscribe to our Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: ⁠beginnersguide.nl⁠

📧💌📧

From the challenges agents face with lead generation to the opportunities of AI-powered tools, Andrew shares his journey from realtor to tech founder and reveals why the future of real estate belongs to those who embrace AI, not fear it.

🔑 Key Highlights

• Andrew Reville’s journey from agent to AI entrepreneur

• The real pain points of real estate agents — and how AI can fix them

• AI tools for real estate agents 2025 and why they matter

• How generative AI will transform real estate valuation and marketing

• The future of property listings, client relationships, and agent workflows

💬 Quotes from the Episode

• “We didn’t want to just build another AI tool — we wanted to solve real pain points for real estate agents.”

• “The dream of being an agent often fades when the reality of chasing leads and endless follow-ups hits.”

• “AI in real estate isn’t about replacing agents — it’s about giving them back the time and energy to love their job again.”

• “I’ve spoken with dozens of agents, and the question I always ask is: what would make you fall back in love with being an agent?”

• “Generative AI has the potential to completely change how we value, market, and sell properties.”

• “The future of real estate belongs to agents who embrace AI, not fear it.”

⏱️ Chapters (experimental feature)

00:00 Welcome & Introduction of Andrew Reville
05:30 Andrew’s Journey: From Real Estate Agent to AI Entrepreneur
12:15 Discovering the Potential of AI in Real Estate
19:40 Building PeakAgent: Solving Pain Points for Agents
27:50 The Harsh Realities of Being a Real Estate Agent
36:20 How AI Can Help Agents Fall Back in Love with Their Work
44:45 Generative AI and the Future of Property Valuation
52:10 AI Marketing Strategies for Real Estate in 2025
59:00 Final Thoughts and Andrew’s Advice for Agents

🌐 Where to find Andrew Reville

🔗 Website: PeakAgentAI.com

🔗 LinkedIn: Andrew Reville

📸 IG: @peakagentai

🧑‍🦰 Personal IG: @andrew_reville

🚀 Paper&Purpose - help Andrew doing good deeds: www.paperandpurpose.me

✨ Tune in to get my thoughts, and don’t forget to subscribe to our Newsletter!
🎶 Music credit: "Modern Situations" by Unicorn Heads

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🚀 In this episode of Beginner’s Guide to AI, Dietmar Fischer speaks with Naga Santhosh Reddy Vootukuri (aka Sunny), a Principal Software Engineering Manager at Microsoft working on Azure SQL deployment infrastructure. Sunny shares his personal journey into AI, from early ChatGPT experiments in late 2022 to using AI tools in production workflows, and what actually changed his day to day work.

💡 You’ll hear how he thinks about GitHub Copilot inside Visual Studio, where it saves time, and where engineers still need to slow down and verify outputs. The episode also goes beyond coding into leadership and adoption: how managers can help teams use AI responsibly, and why showing outcomes and numbers matters more than hype. Sunny also connects the dots to the broader industry shift toward AI agents and structured tooling like GitHub Models and Docker’s evolving AI ecosystem.

✅ Key takeaways you can use immediately

• Practical AI adoption for engineers and managers
• GitHub Copilot productivity in real workflows, not demos
• Why AI code can look correct and still be wrong, and how to respond
• The rise of AI agents and what it means for everyday teams
• How GitHub Models lowers friction for evaluating models and prompts
• Why Docker is leaning into agent workflows and developer productivity

📧💌📧

Tune in to get my thoughts and all episodes, don't forget to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠subscribe to our Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: ⁠⁠⁠⁠beginnersguide.nl⁠⁠⁠⁠

📧💌📧

About Dietmar Fischer:

Dietmar is a podcaster and AI marketer from Berlin. If you want to know how to get your AI or your digital marketing going, just contact him at argoberlin.com

🎬 Chapters

00:00 Welcome and Sunny’s background at Microsoft and Azure SQL deployment

00:53 What pulled him into AI from ChatGPT experiments to real workflows

07:50 AI tools and jobs, building websites faster and empowering non devs

10:56 GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio, how it changes daily coding

19:40 The AI adoption gap, why many still do not use AI and the rise of agents

38:45 Docker Captain, GitHub Models, and building agent workflows without heavy setup

42:22 Trust, privacy, and the future facing questions to close the episode

💬 Quotes from the Episode

1. “I recently wrote an article also on Business Insider… how I can save, like, 60% to 70% of my time doing… repetitive tasks.”
2. “Lead by example and lead with numbers… show the actual data… this is how it really improved my productivity.”
3. “Earlier, AI also doing a lot of hallucination… it was generating all crappy code… you have to go and iterate multiple times.”

🔎 Where to find the Guest

• Docker profile: docker.com/contributors/naga-santhosh-reddy-vootukuri/
• GitHub: github.com/sunnynagavo
• Speaker profile: sessionize.com/naga-santhosh-reddy-vootukuri/
• Redgate community ambassador profile: red-gate.com/hub/community/ambassadors/ambassador/Naga-Vootukuri/
• And of course LinkedIn 😉: linkedin.com/in/naga-santhosh-reddy-vootukuri-5a67a133/

Music credit: "Modern Situations" by Unicorn Heads

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AI Leadership for the Agent Era: Building Hybrid Organizations with Dominic von Proeck

AI is entering its operational phase. In this episode, Dominic von Proeck, Co-Founder of Leaders of AI, breaks down what AI transformation looks like when you stop collecting prompts and start building agent-powered teams.

We talk about why owner-led companies and the German Mittelstand can move faster than many expect, and why the most important capability is not technical wizardry but leadership: clear delegation, strong feedback loops, and critical thinking about every AI output.

Dominic shares how their organization runs AI assistants with real operational discipline, including onboarding, documentation, and even personality profiles, plus the emerging pattern of AI managers that lead other agents.

If you want practical guidance on AI agents in business, hybrid organizations, and adoption that sticks, this conversation delivers an unusually concrete operating model.

📧💌📧

Tune in to get my thoughts and all episodes, don't forget to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠subscribe to our Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: ⁠⁠⁠⁠beginnersguide.nl⁠⁠⁠⁠

📧💌📧

About Dietmar Fischer:

Dietmar is a podcaster and AI marketer from Berlin. If you want to know how to get your AI or your digital marketing going, just contact him at argoberlin.com

00:00 Dominic’s AI origin story and why AI transformation matters now

03:10 Mittelstand impact, demographics, and why owner-led firms can move fast

06:10 Adoption reality: AI at home vs at work and the companion effect

08:10 Leadership as the key skill for managing AI assistants and hybrid teams

14:10 The stack and the operating model: agent files, Airtable layer, self-hosting and n8n

17:05 Fear, pain points, and the real path to organization-wide AI adoption

24:00 2026 and the shift from prompts to agents, plus AI managers leading other agents

35:25 Matrix education, flow learning, and what ethical progress looks like

40:45 Where to find Dominic and Leaders of AI

1. “Prompting is 2025… in 2026, we should let the AI prompt.”
2. “One of the best antidotes to being afraid of anything is education.”
3. “To be honest, leadership skills.”

• Website: leadersofai.com
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dominicvonproeck/
• Programs: The MBAI program

Music credit: "Modern Situations" by Unicorn Heads

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

✨ Unlock a Future Where AI Inspires Leadership—not Replaces It

In this episode, Dietmar Fischer speaks with Ja-Naé Duane and Steven Fisher, co-authors of the book SuperShifts, about what leadership really looks like in the age of artificial intelligence. Instead of framing AI as just another technology trend, the conversation explores AI leadership as a systemic and human challenge. Drawing on their work with global organizations and executives during and after the pandemic, Ja-Naé and Steven explain why the biggest shifts are not driven by tools, but by how leaders rethink decision-making, responsibility, and organizational design.

The episode traces the origins of SuperShifts back to Covid, when existing systems suddenly stopped working. Ja-Naé Duane shares insights from working with CEOs across Europe who were already using machine learning, but struggled to use AI to meaningfully support leadership decisions. Together, the guests unpack why AI-first leadership requires more than efficiency gains. It demands clear governance, ethical accountability, and a shared understanding of who owns outcomes when humans and machines collaborate.

A central theme of the conversation is human-AI collaboration and why leaders must move beyond optimizing outdated structures. Steven Fisher introduces a systems-thinking lens, arguing that organizations need new frameworks rather than incremental improvements. The discussion highlights how AI changes leadership roles, why trust and transparency matter more than ever, and how possibility itself becomes a strategic asset in the age of intelligence.

Key takeaways include practical insights into AI leadership, the importance of systems thinking, and why SuperShifts offers a roadmap for leading through uncertainty. This episode is for anyone who wants to understand how leadership must evolve as AI becomes embedded in decision-making, work, and organizational culture.

📧💌📧

Tune in to get my thoughts and all episodes, don't forget to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠subscribe to our Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

📧💌📧

➡️ Key Highlights

• Understanding AI-First Leadership through the lens of SuperShifts
• The pandemic's role in inspiring new leadership frameworks and agile mindsets
• Blending human values with AI-powered decision-making
• Why systems thinking, foresight, and possibility are essential tools for modern leaders

🧾 Quotes from the Episode

- “The most successful leader won’t be the one who predicts the future—but the one who shapes it.”

- “In the Age of Intelligence, possibility itself becomes the most valuable capital.”

- “Our role as leaders is to bring humanity into the algorithm, not replace it.”

👓 Chapters (experimental)

00:00 Introduction – What is SuperShifts?

05:12 From Pandemic to Paradigm Shift: How SuperShifts Was Born

12:45 AI-First Leadership: Reimagining How We Lead

20:30 Human-AI Collaboration: Balancing Ethics and Innovation

28:10 Systems Thinking and SuperShifts Framework

35:00 Applied Strategies: Leading in the Age of Intelligence

🔗 Where to Find Ja-Naé Duane and Steven Fisher

• Dr. Ja-Naé Duane: Ja-Nae.IO
• Steven Fisher — StevenFisher.IO

And here you'll find:

SuperShifts: Transforming How We Live, Learn, and Work in the Age of Intelligence

Music credit: "Modern Situations" by Unicorn Heads

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AI adoption is not only a technology shift, it is a leadership and culture shift. In this episode, Dietmar Fischer talks with Bala Muthiah about AI leadership, the psychology behind AI resistance in the workplace, and the practical steps leaders can take to turn curiosity into day to day usage.

Bala shares why the human aspect still decides outcomes, even when the tools feel magical. You will learn how leaders can reduce fear, build confidence, and guide teams through real AI upskilling strategy instead of one off trainings that never translate into workflows. The conversation also touches on industry differences, including why sensitive domains like healthcare raise the bar for responsible AI adoption, and what the rise of agentic workflows means for the future.

📧💌📧

Tune in to get my thoughts and all episodes, don't forget to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠subscribe to our Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: ⁠⁠⁠⁠beginnersguide.nl⁠⁠⁠⁠

📧💌📧

About Dietmar Fischer:

Dietmar is a podcaster and AI marketer from Berlin. If you want to know how to get your AI or your digital marketing going, just contact him at argoberlin.com

🎧 Chapters

00:00 Welcome and why AI is a leadership moment

02:12 AI leadership in 2026: pressure, performance, and opportunity

04:41 The real barrier: fear, skepticism, and AI resistance at work

07:45 Industry realities: healthcare, sensitivity, and responsible adoption

17:50 A practical framework: upskilling people and building confidence

34:49 The next wave: agentic workflows and what leaders should prepare for

41:43 Where to find Bala and closing thoughts

💬 Quotes from the Episode

- “And to me, it’s still human, meaning us, we are still humans, leaders are still humans. The human aspect still stays.”

- “Again, I’m coming back to the people, like, because that’s gonna be the unlock for you. Upskill your people with AI tools.”

- “AI being, like, the car, or being the internet, being the electricity.”

🌍 Where to find Bala Muthiah:

- On his website: balamuthiah.com

- His Speaker profile: sessionize.com/bala-muthiah/

- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/balaarjunan/

Music credit: "Modern Situations" by Unicorn Heads

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🤖🧠 Thinking with Machines with Vasant Dhar

What happens when AI stops being a tool and starts becoming a collaborator and an agent? In this episode, NYU Stern professor and AI pioneer Vasant Dhar takes us through the real story behind modern AI, and the practical frameworks we need for AI trust, AI governance, and the coming era of agentic AI.

🚀 What you will learn

- Why “thinking with machines” is a bigger idea than “thinking machines”

- How the automation frontier separates low-risk automation from high-stakes human control

- Why healthcare has lots of data but still struggles to make good decisions

- Why mental health is a dangerous place to outsource empathy to machines

- What edge cases in AI mean and why they matter for self-driving cars

- How AI agents change the governance conversation, from obligations to restrictions to rights

📌 Key highlights

- A practical definition of trust in AI based on error rates and consequences

- AI in healthcare data: turning medical trails into usable decision intelligence

- The future of work: AI as an amplifier, not a substitute, unless you let it become a crutch

- Governance questions that no one gets to avoid once agents can act in the world

📧💌📧

Tune in to get my thoughts and all episodes, don't forget to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠subscribe to our Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: ⁠⁠⁠⁠beginnersguide.nl⁠⁠⁠⁠

📧💌📧

About Dietmar Fischer:

Dietmar is a podcaster and AI marketer from Berlin. If you want to know how to get your AI or your digital marketing going, just contact him at argoberlin.com

Quotes from the Episode 💬

“Trust depends on how often a machine makes mistakes and the consequences of those mistakes.”

“In physical health, I’m very optimistic. In mental health, not so.”

“It’ll likely lead to a bifurcation of humanity… skills get amplified… or people rely on the machine as a crutch.”

Chapters ⏱️

00:00 Vasant Dhar’s origin story in AI and early expert systems

05:08 A Brave New World warning and why optimism still needs guardrails

07:26 AI in healthcare vs mental health and why feelings change the rules

12:37 The trust heat map and the automation frontier in real life

18:21 Edge cases, bounded rationality, and what machines pay attention to

26:03 The future of work and why AI amplifies both skill and decline

36:23 Governance, AI agents, and how much agency we should allow

44:05 AI wow moments and the next frontier: integrated machine senses

47:15 Where to find the book, podcast, and newsletter

Where to find Vasant Dhar 🔎

- Visit Vasant's Website, also to find all the links to shops with "Thinking with Machines", his book: vasantdhar.com

- Listen to his Podcast: bravenewpodcast.com

- and get his Newsletter: vasantdhar.substack.com

Music credit: "Modern Situations" by Unicorn Heads`

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most people think better AI results come from better prompts. This episode proves why that’s wrong.

Professor GePhardT introduces Context Engineering, the missing skill that transforms AI from a confused parrot into a capable collaborator. Through relatable metaphors, real business examples, and a deliciously British cake analogy, you’ll learn how shaping an AI’s environment matters more than clever wording.

You’ll discover:

• Why prompt engineering alone fails
• How context helps AI understand intent
• The difference between guessing and knowing
• A real telecom case where context fixed customer support
• How to apply context engineering in everyday AI use

📧💌📧

Tune in to get my thoughts and all episodes, don’t forget to ⁠⁠⁠⁠subscribe to our Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠: ⁠⁠⁠⁠beginnersguide.nl⁠⁠⁠⁠

📧💌📧

Quotes from the Episode

• “Prompt engineering is asking nicely. Context engineering is setting the stage.”
• “Without context, AI is guessing. With context, it understands intent.”
• “Context turns AI from a parrot into a collaborator.”

Chapters

00:00 Why Prompts Alone Are Not Enough

04:12 What Context Engineering Really Means

10:25 Understanding Intent Through Context

18:40 Context Engineering vs Prompt Engineering

25:10 Telco Case Study

35:20 The Cake Example

44:00 Final Takeaways

About Dietmar Fischer

Dietmar is a podcaster and AI marketer from Berlin. If you want to know how to get your AI or your digital marketing going, just contact him at argoberlin.com

Music credit: “Modern Situations” by Unicorn Heads 🎵

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🤖🧠 AI is making strategy cheap. Adoption is still expensive.

In this episode, Dietmar Fischer sits down with Bud Caddell (NOBL) to unpack what leaders miss when they roll out generative AI and expect instant results. Bud shares how his team thinks about AI change management, why “turning on Copilot” is not an adoption plan, and what happens to consulting when LLMs can produce “firm-grade” recommendations in seconds.

You will also hear the story behind ConsultingSlop.com, a strategy generator that models the reasoning styles of major consulting firms and outputs polished advice instantly. What started as a parody quickly became a serious signal about commoditization, incentives, and the real differentiator: execution, trust, and organizational design.

Key takeaways you can apply immediately:

✅ How to approach Microsoft Copilot adoption strategy like a redesign effort, not a software toggle

✅ Why AI literacy and training reduce fear, resistance, and “adoption theater”

✅ What the agents wave means in practice, including platforms like Agentforce

✅ How “vibe coding” changes prototyping speed and risk for teams

📧💌📧

Tune in to get my thoughts and all episodes, don't forget to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠subscribe to our Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: ⁠⁠⁠⁠beginnersguide.nl⁠⁠⁠⁠

📧💌📧

About Dietmar Fischer: Dietmar is a podcaster and AI marketer from Berlin. If you want to know how to get your AI or your digital marketing going, just contact him at argoberlin.com

1. “AI is this incredible wave that I think is gonna fundamentally change individual organizations, but the entire economy, society at large.”
2. “We turned on Copilot, so why aren’t we more productive? … it’s a design process.”
3. “My big prediction is that over the next 18 months, we’re gonna see a lot of backpedaling… and sunk cost fallacy.”

00:00 Bud’s path from software to organizational change and why AI feels different

04:20 ConsultingSlop.com, vibe coding, and when AI strategy gets uncomfortably believable

06:30 Copilot mandates vs real adoption, why productivity math fails without redesign

16:40 AI as a catalyst for deeper issues: brand story, conflict, and culture

19:25 The next 18 months: investment traps, backpedaling, and what leaders should do

38:00 Agents, Agentforce, and Bud’s personal AI toolkit plus wow moments and wrap

• Bud Caddell: https://budcaddell.com/
• NOBL: https://nobl.io/
• Consulting Slop: https://consultingslop.com/
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/budcaddell/

Music credit: "Modern Situations" by Unicorn Heads

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.