The AI in Business Podcast

Hosted by Daniel Faggella

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Episodes

1192

Latest episode

Aug 2026

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About the show

The AI in Business Podcast is for non-technical business leaders who need to find AI opportunities, align AI capabilities with strategy, and deliver ROI. Each week, Emerj research staff and journalists interview top AI executives from Fortune 2000 firms and unicorn startups - uncovering trends, use-cases, and best practices for practical AI adoption. Visit our advertising page to learn more about reaching our executive audience of Fortune 2000 AI adopters: https://emerj.com/advertise

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60 recent

August 20, 202625 min

How Leaders Build for the Next Era of Compute - with Sam Grove of MIPS

Consolidating hardware into fewer, more capable chips looks like an unambiguous win — until the complexity those separate components used to handle resurfaces in the software binding everything back together. In this episode, Sam Grove, Head of Software and Tools Business at MIPS, examines why hardware and software teams can't keep building in sequence, and why MIPS bet its roadmap on the open RISC-V standard instead of defending a proprietary instruction set, with host Yolandi de Weerdt. The conversation also covers how tools like MIPS Atlas Explorer help engineering teams see where hardware acceleration pays off before silicon gets committed, and why the real risk in overhauling a build process is rarely the technology — it's bringing already-productive teams along with the change. This episode is sponsored by MIPS . Learn how these conversations drive pipeline for other AI brands — download our media kit at emerj.com/AD1

August 18, 202618 min

How Regulated Enterprises Turn Governance Into AI Scale - with Julian Tang of BlackRock

Enterprise leaders face a growing gap between AI ambition and the fragmented data, legacy systems, and cultural friction that prevent pilots from becoming scalable value. In this episode, Julian Tang, Chief Operations Officer for the Innovation Office at BlackRock, examines how unified data foundations, modernized infrastructure, and transparent governance enable organizations to move from reactive experimentation to intentional, enterprise‑wide AI deployment, in conversation with host Matthew DeMello. He highlights the practical shifts required to reduce friction, build trust in AI systems, and create repeatable playbooks that let teams scale responsibly and with confidence. Learn how to identify real AI trends by tracking where venture funding is flowing, and by listening to how leading CEOs describe risk and competitive strategy. Download our free PDF report, "3 Ways to Discover AI Trends in Any Sector" at emerj.com/ait1

August 17, 202641 min

Determining Virtual Cell Impact for Drug Discovery - with Kristóf Szalay and Gerold Csendes of Turbine

Virtual cell models promise faster, cheaper early-stage drug discovery. However, the industry still lacks a shared way to judge which of these models can actually be trusted on a given problem. In this episode, Kristóf Szalay, CTO and Co-Founder of Turbine, and Gerold Csendes, Scientist at Turbine, set out what virtual cell models can and can't do today, in conversation with host Marilie Fouché. They cover why benchmarking remains fragmented across the field, how pharma teams build confidence in a model before trusting it with real R&D decisions, and how compressing the feedback loop between experiments can cut months out of the discovery process. This episode is sponsored by Turbine . Emerj works with a select group of AI vendors to reach Fortune 500 decision makers through research, media, and direct access. If you want to be considered, download our media kit at emerj.com/AD1

August 15, 202640 min

[AI Futures] Paolo Ardoino of Tether on Merger or Obsolescence - The Future for Humanity (Stewarding the Flame, Episode 3)

The rise of non‑invasive BCIs and the privacy, security, and human‑relevance questions they introduce is becoming a central concern as this technology moves toward practical use. In this episode, Paolo Ardoino, CEO at Tether, examines how lightweight on‑device models, silent‑speech inputs, and anonymized brain‑wave data can turn low‑bandwidth neural signals into real‑world actions, in conversation with host Daniel Faggella, Emerj CEO and Head of Research. The discussion focuses on emerging consumer use cases, long‑term cognitive augmentation, and the safeguards needed to keep these systems private and safe. Emerj works with a select group of AI vendors to reach Fortune 500 decision makers through research, media, and direct access. If you want to be considered, download our media kit at emerj.com/AD1

August 13, 202637 min

The Predictive Model Reshaping Retail Operations at Scale - with Chris Slovak of Unframe

Most retail AI pilots stall waiting on a years-long project to centralize and clean data before any agent can go live. In this episode, Chris Slovak, Global Field CTO at Unframe, makes the case for a different path: letting agents pull context directly from ERPs, CRMs, and point-of-sale systems as needed, in conversation with host Marilie Fouché. He walks through concrete results from that approach, including an inventory intelligence deployment that saved tens of thousands of dollars in time and data costs, and a deployment cycle that shrank from nine months to two weeks. This episode is sponsored by Unframe . Emerj works with a select group of AI vendors to reach Fortune 500 decision makers through research, media, and direct access. If you want to be considered, download our media kit at emerj.com/AD1

August 13, 202621 min

Managing Change Across Modern Financial Operations - with Ajay Swamy of JPMorganChase and Founder of FundLens.ai

Banks can process millions of transactions an hour, yet even routine steps in financial operations still require constant human judgment to hold together. In this episode, Ajay Swamy, Senior Executive Product Director for GenAI Products and Governance at JPMorganChase, and Founder of FundLens.ai, explores why data fragmentation and manual judgment make BFSI workflows hard to run consistently, and what it takes to make AI‑driven decisions explainable enough to trust at scale. The conversation covers evaluating AI for regulated environments, building oversight into agentic systems, and treating trust as something institutions have to engineer deliberately rather than assume. This episode is sponsored by Reindeer . To go deeper on this topic and learn how financial institutions are digitizing paper-based records to unlock usable data for AI, and using alternative data like public web and social signals to enhance risk assessment, download our free PDF report, "AI in Financial Services Executive Cheat Sheet" at emerj.com/fcs1

August 12, 202624 min

The Future of Customer Success and Turnkey AI Agents for SMBs - Matt Kravitz of Salesforce

Service leaders are increasingly asked to deploy AI agents without a clear sense of what these systems can safely handle today, or where to start. In this episode, Matt Kravitz, Head of Customer Transformation for Service Cloud at Salesforce, breaks down a three-level maturity model for AI service agents — answering questions, accessing account data, and taking action — and how to sequence adoption. The conversation also covers a channel-strategy framework for deciding which support requests to deflect, route to digital-assisted support, or escalate to a live conversation, and how a business's overall service model should guide which use case to prioritize first. This episode is sponsored by Salesforce . In this episode, we cover how enterprise service leaders can sequence AI agent adoption — starting with agents that answer common questions, then adding account-data access, and finally the ability to take action on a customer's behalf. To go deeper on this topic, download our free PDF report, 'Beginning with AI,' at emerj.com/aik1

August 11, 202628 min

What Mature Security Programs Need Before Deploying AI - with Mark Alvarado of Academy Sports + Outdoors

The security landscape is shifting as AI accelerates existing vulnerabilities faster than most retail enterprises can adapt. In this episode, Mark Alvarado, CISO at Academy Sports + Outdoors, examines how AI amplifies gaps in identity management, data governance, and human behavior, joining Emerj's Yolandi de Weerdt to clarify where leaders must focus before deploying AI‑enabled tools. He highlights the operational foundations that determine whether AI strengthens detection and response or simply magnifies unresolved weaknesses. Learn how leading brands and AI startups connect with enterprise AI buyer audiences at scale, download our media kit at emerj.com/AD1

August 7, 202631 min

Closing the Medical Device Knowledge Gap with AI Driven Field Service - with Ryan Makely of Bruker

A growing gap between device complexity and organizational knowledge is turning service reliability into an enterprise‑level risk for regulated industries. In this episode, Ryan Makely, Senior Director of CALID Service at Bruker Scientific, breaks down how fragmented documentation, rapid loss of expert judgment, and inconsistent field diagnoses undermine both operational performance and any future AI‑enabled support capability — in conversation with Emerj's Marilie Fouché. Leaders will hear practical themes around building structured knowledge foundations, reducing repeat‑visit failure cycles, and preparing service teams for scalable AI adoption. This episode is sponsored by Aquant . Learn more about how Emerj drives pipeline for other AI brands - download our media kit at emerj.com/AD1

August 7, 202632 min

How Industrial Leaders Are Redefining AI for the Factory Floor - with Antoine Bisson of Poka

Industrial AI is forcing leaders to confront a fundamental gap between digital systems built for offices and the high‑risk, real‑time demands of the factory floor. In this episode, Antoine Bisson, CEO & Co‑founder at Poka, joins host Marilie Fouché and dissects why industrial environments require contextual data, strict governance, and human‑validated autonomy to safely scale AI‑driven operations. The conversation surfaces practical considerations for executives, from structuring governance and standardizing workflows to determining where autonomous agents can responsibly support frontline teams. This episode is sponsored by Poka . Learn the exact strategies we use to help leading AI brands and startups connect with their ideal enterprise AI buyers, visit: emerj.com/AD1