In this episode of The Databricks Diaries, Dan Thornton sits down with Kevin Cassar, Chief Data & AI Officer at TalkTalk to unpack what “AI readiness” really means in practice.

Kevin shares his unconventional journey from equity analyst to enterprise AI leader, and the hard-earned lessons that shaped his focus on business value, risk management, and customer outcomes. Together they explore Kevin’s five pillars of AI readiness — aligning on value, building strong data and tech foundations, putting governance and ethics in place, evolving the operating model from POC to production, and creating the culture shift needed to scale AI responsibly.

The conversation dives into real-world examples, including using AI to spot risk across thousands of regulated firms, improving healthcare outcomes through smarter triage, and practical ways to make AI empowering for frontline teams. If you’re a data or business leader trying to move from experimentation to measurable impact, this episode is packed with frameworks, war stories, and actionable advice.