Practical AI

Hosted by Practical AI LLC

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Episodes

362

Latest episode

Jun 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Making artificial intelligence practical, productive & accessible to everyone. Practical AI is a show in which technology professionals, business people, students, enthusiasts, and expert guests engage in lively discussions about Artificial Intelligence and related topics (Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Neural Networks, GANs, MLOps, AIOps, LLMs & more). The focus is on productive implementations and real-world scenarios that are accessible to everyone. If you want to keep up with the latest advances in AI, while keeping one foot in the real world, then this is the show for you!

Listen to episodes

60 recent

June 11, 2026Episode 36047 min

Zero Trust for AI Agents

As AI agents become more capable and autonomous, they also introduce new security challenges. In this 'Fully Connected' episode, Dan and Chris unpack Anthropic’s Zero Trust for AI Agents security framework and what it means for organizations deploying agentic systems. They examine the key security risks facing agentic systems and discuss how organizations can apply Zero Trust principles to deploy AI agents safely. Along the way, they break down practical security controls and discuss how traditional cybersecurity principles must evolve for the age of AI agents.Featuring:Chris Benson – Website, LinkedIn, Bluesky, GitHub, XDaniel Whitenack – Website, GitHub, XLinks: Zero Trust for AI AgentsOWASP GenAI Project Sponsors:Prediction Guard: A self-hosted AI control plane for running agents in high impact environments. predictionguard.com/practicalaiUpcoming Events: Register for upcoming webinars here!Midwest AI Summit 2026

June 4, 2026Episode 35947 min

Breaking down the 2026 Stanford AI Index Report

AI models can win math olympiads… but still struggle to read an analog clock. In this fully connected episode, Dan and Chris break down the latest Stanford AI Index Report and explore what it reveals about the current state of AI. They discuss AI adoption and safety, disappearing junior tech jobs, robotics, AI’s “jagged frontier” of intelligence, and the growing race between the U.S. and China. Along the way, they debate whether AI should optimize everything, or if some things are better left human. Featuring:Chris Benson – Website, LinkedIn, Bluesky, GitHub, XDaniel Whitenack – Website, GitHub, XLinks:The 2026 AI Index ReportSponsors:Prediction Guard: A self-hosted AI control plane for running agents in high impact environments. predictionguard.com/practicalaiUpcoming Events: Register for upcoming webinars here!Midwest AI Summit 2026

May 28, 2026Episode 35848 min

Rebooting Enterprise AI with MCP and Kubernetes

What happens when AI agents start acting less like chatbots and more like coworkers? In this episode, Dan and Chris sit down with Craig McLuckie, CEO of Stacklok to explore MCP, Kubernetes, ToolHive, enterprise AI, and the emerging infrastructure powering AI-native applications. From identity management to agent orchestration and system architecture, this conversation dives into how organizations may soon manage entire fleets of AI agents working behind the scenes.Featuring:Craig McLuckie – LinkedInChris Benson – Website, LinkedIn, Bluesky, GitHub, XDaniel Whitenack – Website, GitHub, XLinks:StacklokToolhiveSponsors:Prediction Guard: A self-hosted AI control plane for running agents in high impact environments. predictionguard.com/practicalaiUpcoming Events: Register for upcoming webinars here!Midwest AI Summit 2026

May 21, 2026Episode 35751 min

Hermes Agent: Agents that grow with you

Open Source AI is entering a new era, one shaped by self-improving AI Agents, recursive learning systems, and rapidly evolving AI Tools that blur the line between software and autonomous collaborators. In this episode, Daniel and Chris sit down with Nous Research co-founder and CTO Jeffrey Quesnelle to explore Hermes Agent. Along the way, they discuss models vs. harnesses, the changing role of developers, and one of the biggest questions facing the AI Future: what remains uniquely human as AI capabilities continue to accelerate?Featuring:Jeffrey Quesnelle – Website, LinkedInChris Benson – Website, LinkedIn, Bluesky, GitHub, XDaniel Whitenack – Website, GitHub, XLinks:Nous ResearchHermes AgentSponsors:Framer: The enterprise-grade website builder that lets your team ship faster. Get 30% off at framer.com/practicalaiPrediction Guard: A self-hosted AI control plane for running agents in high impact environments. predictionguard.com/practicalaiUpcoming Events: Register for upcoming webinars here!Midwest AI Summit 2026

May 14, 2026Episode 35645 min

U.S. Congressman Beyer on AI challenges facing America and the World

U.S. Congressman Don Beyer returns to Practical AI for another far-reaching conversation with Chris about many of the most important AI challenges facing America and the world. Blending political savvy and statesmanship with his unique technical understanding as an active Ph.D student in AI at George Mason University (making him the coolest member of Congress!), the congressman shares his perspective about the really hard AI concerns that you would have asked him yourself. Together, Congressman Beyer and Chris explore AI regulation, cybersecurity concerns sparked by advanced models like Mythos, bipartisan AI governance efforts, and the growing AI race between the U.S. and China. They fearlessly dived headfirst into AI-driven job displacement, mass surveillance, autonomous weapons, existential risk, and the philosophical questions surrounding consciousness and superintelligence as AI continues to accelerate. This is an unusual and insightful conversation you don't want to miss!Congressman Beyer was previously on Practical AI episode 271 on May 29, 2024:AI in the U.S. CongressFeaturing:Congressman Don Beyer – Congress, LinkedIn, Bluesky, XChris Benson – Website, LinkedIn, Bluesky, GitHub, XUpcoming Events: Register for upcoming webinars here!Midwest AI Summit 2026

May 7, 2026Episode 35542 min

The Myth of Model Wars: Open vs Closed AI in 2026

In this fully connected episode, Dan and Chris break down one of the biggest questions in AI today: do open vs. closed models still matter? From the rise of physical AI and edge devices to the shifting landscape of open-source models like LLaMA, they explore whether the “model wars” are becoming irrelevant. The conversation then dives into a bigger transformation, the rise of agentic systems, workflows, and AI-driven infrastructure.Featuring:Chris Benson – Website, LinkedIn, Bluesky, GitHub, XDaniel Whitenack – Website, GitHub, XUpcoming Events: Register for upcoming webinars here!Midwest AI Summit 2026

April 23, 2026Episode 35445 min

The mythos of Mythos and Allbirds takes flight to the neocloud

In this Fully-Connected episode, Dan and Chris start with Anthropic's Mythos frontier model, parsing what is publicly known about its cybersecurity capabilities and projecting its possible implications from "We've been here before. 🙄" to "See ya, cybersecurity! 😱" It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine. 🙃Then they have fun with the craziest AI announcement of the year (except for the Mythos one of course). Allbirds pivots from shoe manufacturing 👟 to neocloud provider ☁️. No, we didn't see that one coming either! 🙈They finish with rise of “tokenmaxxing” - the gamification 🎮 of writing code with maximum LLM usage. Incredibly profitable 💰 for commercial frontier model providers and insanely expensive 🤑 for the gamers. Better have 10X productivity just to avoid bankruptcy! Featuring:Chris Benson – Website, LinkedIn, Bluesky, GitHub, XDaniel Whitenack – Website, GitHub, XLinks:Shares in Allbirds surge after maker of wool sneakers announces pivot to AIAI-boosted hacks with Anthropic’s Mythos could have dire consequences for banksUpcoming Events: Register for upcoming webinars here!

April 16, 2026Episode 35346 min

Open Source Self-Driving with Comma AI

Autonomous driving is not just a big tech or closed-source game, it's becoming accessible through open innovation and real-world deployment. Dan and Chris sit down with Harald Schäfer, CTO at Comma AI, to explore how OpenPilot is bringing self-driving to everyday vehicles using open source AI. We dive into the intersection of machine learning, robotics, and simulation, including how world models are enabling training at scale and shaping the future of autonomy.Featuring:Harald Schäfer – LinkedInChris Benson – Website, LinkedIn, Bluesky, GitHub, XDaniel Whitenack – Website, GitHub, XLinks:CommaUpcoming Events: Register for upcoming webinars here!

April 9, 2026Episode 35244 min

Post-Mortem of Anthropic's Claude Code Leak

In this fully connected episode, Dan and Chris break down the Anthropic Claude Code leak, what went wrong and what it reveals about agentic systems, AI architecture, and AI safety. They also explore how the open source community is responding and why this moment could reshape how AI systems are built and secured.Featuring:Chris Benson – Website, LinkedIn, Bluesky, GitHub, XDaniel Whitenack – Website, GitHub, XUpcoming Events: Register for upcoming webinars here!

April 2, 2026Episode 35148 min

Agentic Coding and the Economics of Open Source

AI is rapidly transforming how software is built, shifting economic incentives from open source code and collaboration toward on-demand, personalized development through agentic coding a.k.a. vibe coding. In this episode, Chris speaks with Miklós Koren of Central European University about how AI is reshaping open source and the software industry. They explore the economics of incentives, evolving collaboration patterns, and what this shift means for software development, the future of AI, and its broader impact on the technology sector.Featuring:Miklós Koren – LinkedInChris Benson – Website, LinkedIn, Bluesky, GitHub, XLinks:Vibe Coding Kills Open SourceThe Directions of Technical ChangeThe Tailwind storyUpcoming Events: Register for upcoming webinars here!