Alex LaPlante is VP of Cash Management Technology at RBC, former Interim Head of Borealis AI, co-author in Harvard Business Review, and a member of Canada's federal AI Strategy Task Force. In this conversation, she unpacks what separates organizations that actually ship AI from those stuck in demo mode — and why the answer is less about technology than culture, cross-functional collaboration, and asking the right questions before you build.

What we cover:

• The "can we / should we" framework for every AI project
• Why responsible AI has to be designed in from day one, not bolted on at the end
• How RBC built an enterprise-grade MLOps platform to scale AI safely
• Why "developer productivity" is the wrong frame — and what to measure instead
• Agentic AI in regulated industries: the realistic deployment path
• Canada's AI talent and commercialization gap — and what the Task Force is recommending

manavgup.github.io/shipai