In this episode of ChatADS, we sit down with MS in Applied Data Science alum Nathan Rickert, now a data scientist at Thrivent, to explore how AI is being applied in the financial space.

Nathan shares how his team is building across predictive, generative, and agentic AI, and why understanding the difference between them matters in practice. The conversation dives into how organizations are using AI to drive efficiency while keeping humans at the center of decision-making, especially in regulated industries.

We also discuss one of the biggest challenges in today’s AI landscape: not just learning new tools, but knowing which ones actually matter. From stakeholder collaboration to ethical considerations, this episode offers a grounded look at what it means to work in AI today.