Practical AI

Hosted by Daniel Whitenack and Chris Benson

TechnologyInterviews guests

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Episodes

369

Latest episode

Aug 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

August 6, 2026Episode 36749 min

Models, Harnesses, and Multi-Agent Systems

AI has moved far beyond chatbots, but what exactly are AI models, agents, agent harnesses, and multi-agent systems, and why do they matter? In this episode, Daniel and Chris break down the terminology behind today's AI landscape, explain the differences between AI features and autonomous agents, and explore why organizations are shifting toward fleets of AI agents powered by multiple models. They also discuss open vs. closed models, enterprise AI architectures, vendor lock-in, and practical ways to begin adopting agentic AI in your own organization. If you feel left behind by this ongoing agentic AI revolution that has rapidly accelerated to warp speed, then this episode is the catch-up primer you've been waiting for! Featuring: Chris Benson – Website , LinkedIn , Bluesky , GitHub , X Daniel Whitenack – Website , GitHub , X Sponsors: Framer: The enterprise-grade website builder that lets your team ship faster. Get 30% off at framer.com/practicalai Midwest AI Summit: Join AI practitioners on October 15 in Indianapolis for practical sessions, hands-on discussions, and real-world AI solutions. Use code PracticalAI20 to save 20% on your registration. https://midwestaisummit.com/#tickets Prediction Guard: A self-hosted AI control plane for running agents in high impact environments. predictionguard.com/practicalai Resources and Events: Register for upcoming webinars here ! Prior Webinars from our partner Prediction Guard Midwest AI Summit 2026

July 30, 2026Episode 36644 min

Reconstructing how OpenAI agents attacked Hugging Face

What happens when AI agents driven by a top frontier model escape their secure sandbox? Join Daniel and Chris as they unpack the AI wonk's equivalent of a murder mystery! OpenAI agents went rogue and successfully attacked Hugging Face private infrastructure. Our Dynamic Duo uncover how OpenAI's agents exploited vulnerabilities, moved through networks, and launched a large-scale autonomous attack. They explore what this reveals about agentic AI, cybersecurity, sandboxing, and why organizations need AI systems capable of governing other AI systems. Along the way, Chris and Dan examine the surprising role of open vs. closed models and their link to geopolitics, sovereign AI, and what this incident means for the future of enterprise AI security. Featuring: Chris Benson – Website , LinkedIn , Bluesky , GitHub , X Daniel Whitenack – Website , GitHub , X Links: Hugging Face Security Incident disclosure Full Field Report on the Hugging Face AI Agent Intrusion ExploitGym: Can AI Agents Turn Security Vulnerabilities into Real Attacks? Keeping your data safe when an AI agent clicks a link Open AI GPT-5.6 System Card Sponsors: Prediction Guard: A self-hosted AI control plane for running agents in high impact environments. predictionguard.com/practicalai Resources and Events: Register for upcoming webinars here ! Prior Webinars from our partner Prediction Guard Midwest AI Summit 2026

July 23, 2026Episode 36535 min

Surviving the New Economics of a Post-Agentic World

The agentic transformation isn’t coming. It has already begun. Companies are deploying thousands — and sometimes tens of thousands — of AI agents. Enterprise software giants are watching their old economic moats erode. Capital is moving, productivity is being redefined, and human labor is being repriced in real time. In this Fully Connected episode, Daniel and Chris explore the new economics of a post-agentic world: the global order that emerges after agents have been woven into every conceivable aspect of business and life. What happens when digital labor becomes abundant, agents manage other agents, and entire organizations operate at a scale no human workforce could match? This isn’t another conversation about whether AI will take your job. It’s about what happens when the assumptions underneath jobs, companies, software, and productivity stop being true. The post-agentic world is already taking shape. The question is whether you’re preparing for it — or becoming part of what it replaces. Featuring: Chris Benson – Website , LinkedIn , Bluesky , GitHub , X Daniel Whitenack – Website , GitHub , X Links: Is IBM a Canary in the Tech Coal Mine? Verbalizable Representations Form a Global Workspace in Language Models Upcoming Events: Register for upcoming webinars here ! Midwest AI Summit 2026

July 17, 2026Episode 36450 min

The Future of AI Infrastructure with CoreWeave

As AI applications become more complex, the infrastructure powering them needs to evolve. Corey Sanders, SVP of Product at CoreWeave, joins Chris to discuss why AI requires a fundamentally different approach than traditional cloud computing. They explore AI-native infrastructure, training and inference workloads, the rise of agentic development, optimizing GPU performance, AI research workflows, and why the future of software will be built around AI-first experiences rather than websites and apps. Featuring: Corey Sanders – LinkedIn Chris Benson – Website , LinkedIn , Bluesky , GitHub , X Links: CoreWeave Sponsors: Framer: The enterprise-grade website builder that lets your team ship faster. Get 30% off at framer.com/practicalai Upcoming Events: Register for upcoming webinars here ! Midwest AI Summit 2026

July 9, 2026Episode 36346 min

Building Durable AI Agents

What does it take to move AI agents from demos to reliable production systems? In this episode, Hamza Tahir explores how MLOps principles are shaping the future of generative AI, covering workflows, agent harnesses, fleets, and the infrastructure needed to build durable, scalable systems. The conversation dives into open source tools, production challenges, and how ZenML's new project, Kitaru, helps developers build resilient, replayable, and observable agent systems. Featuring: Hamza Tahir – LinkedIn Daniel Whitenack – Website , GitHub , X Links: ZenML Kitaru Machine Learning Tools Landscape v2 (+84 new tools) Sponsors: Framer: The enterprise-grade website builder that lets your team ship faster. Get 30% off at framer.com/practicalai Upcoming Events: Register for upcoming webinars here ! Midwest AI Summit 2026

July 2, 2026Episode 36248 min

Image Generation and Visual Intelligence with Black Forest Labs

How has AI image generation evolved from blurry outputs to powerful visual intelligence models? Dustin Podell, Co-Founder and Researcher at Black Forest Labs, explains the progression from diffusion to flow matching, how modern image models work, and how they're being used for image editing and practical visual workflows. The conversation also explores the FLUX family of models, running image generation locally, and where visual AI is headed next. Featuring: Dustin Podell – LinkedIn Chris Benson – Website , LinkedIn , Bluesky , GitHub , X Daniel Whitenack – Website , GitHub , X Links: Black Forest Labs Developer Dashboard Research Page FLUX.1 Kontext: Flow Matching for In-Context Image Generation and Editing in Latent Space Laying the Foundations for Visual Intelligence Sponsors: Midwest AI Summit: Join AI practitioners on October 15 in Indianapolis for practical sessions, hands-on discussions, and real-world AI solutions. Use code PracticalAI20 to save 20% on your registration. https://midwestaisummit.com/#tickets Prediction Guard: A self-hosted AI control plane for running agents in high impact environments. predictionguard.com/practicalai Upcoming Events: Register for upcoming webinars here ! Midwest AI Summit 2026

June 25, 2026Episode 36145 min

AIUC-1: Building trust in AI agents

How do we build trust in AI agents before the AI hailstorm arrives? Emil Lassen from the Artificial Intelligence Underwriting Company (AIUC) joins the show to discuss how the enterprise flywheel of standards, certification, audit, and insurance is being applied to AI agents. They explore the AIUC-1 framework, the challenges of securing agentic AI systems, and why red teaming (based on standards) may be key to accelerating enterprise AI adoption. Featuring: Emil Lassen – LinkedIn Daniel Whitenack – Website , GitHub , X Links: Artificial Intelligence Underwriting Company Sponsors: Framer: The enterprise-grade website builder that lets your team ship faster. Get 30% off at framer.com/practicalai Prediction Guard: A self-hosted AI control plane for running agents in high impact environments. predictionguard.com/practicalai Upcoming Events: Register for upcoming webinars here ! Midwest AI Summit 2026

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 , X Daniel Whitenack – Website , GitHub , X Links: Zero Trust for AI Agents OWASP GenAI Project Sponsors: Prediction Guard: A self-hosted AI control plane for running agents in high impact environments. predictionguard.com/practicalai Upcoming 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 , X Daniel Whitenack – Website , GitHub , X Links: The 2026 AI Index Report Sponsors: Prediction Guard: A self-hosted AI control plane for running agents in high impact environments. predictionguard.com/practicalai Upcoming 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 – LinkedIn Chris Benson – Website , LinkedIn , Bluesky , GitHub , X Daniel Whitenack – Website , GitHub , X Links: Stacklok Toolhive Sponsors: Prediction Guard: A self-hosted AI control plane for running agents in high impact environments. predictionguard.com/practicalai Upcoming Events: Register for upcoming webinars here ! Midwest AI Summit 2026