How AI is rewriting the business automation playbook with Joe Kim, CEO of DRUID AI
In this episode, Joe Kim, the new CEO of DRUID AI, unpacks what might be the biggest shift in technology since the internet.We discuss the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence and its growing impact on businesses. Joe, who has been in his role for 70 days, brings fresh perspectives on how DRUID AI positioned itself as a workflow automation platform years before the market caught up, a bet that's now paying off as companies move beyond AI experimentation into real implementation.The discussion covers the current state of the AI market, including the challenges of customer adoption, why some customers actively prefer interacting with AI over humans, and the importance of maintaining a balance between generative and agentic AI.Joe also shares his vision of AI as the next major distribution platform. Just as Amazon has tried to make Alexa the operating system of our lives, OpenAI’s ChatGPT and similar platforms could become the primary gateway to accessing services in the future.Chapters00:00 - Meet Joe Kim00:33 - Celebrating 70 days at DRUID AI01:35 - What attracted Joe to DRUID03:06 - The real value of AI06:43 - What Joe learnt about the market11:19 - The AI God Box for enterprises14:08 - The state of the AI market20:29 - Why you should learn about AI as much as you can23:47 - Generative AI adoption among enterprises27:36 - The concept of agent washing36:05 - Is AI bigger than the internet?39:11 - ChatGPT as the new distribution platform48:52 - Will chatbots replace websites and apps?50:31 - The next 6–12 months for DRUID AI56:59 - The biggest AI ultimatum facing businesses today1:01:29 - AI replacing people is not growth1:05:33 - The systems of record at enterprises and LLMs1:08:46 - The future of AI automation1:14:13 - LLMs could replace appsShow notesFind out more about DRUID AIFollow Joe Kim on LinkedInSign up for our webinar: How to run AI like your business depends on itFollow Kane Simms on LinkedInTake our updated AI Maturity AssessmentSubscribe to VUX WorldSubscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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What is agentic AI? Inside Teneo’s real-world automation approach with Anne Jenkins
Everyone's slapping 'agentic' on their AI products, but what does that even mean? Anne Jenkins, Vice President of Solution Architecture at Teneo, helps us separate substance from buzzwords.In this episode, Anne shares her expertise on agentic AI and the evolution of conversational AI technologies. We explore what truly makes an AI ‘agentic’ versus the marketing hype all over your LinkedIn feed and beyond. Anne explains why Teneo's hybrid approach, combining traditional NLU capabilities with large language models, creates more reliable, cost-effective, and latency-friendly solutions than pure LLM implementations.We also discuss the challenges organisations face when adopting AI solutions, including the misconception that LLMs alone can solve all problems without proper conversation design or business rule integration. Anne shares valuable insights on how companies can prepare for AI adoption through education, competitive pilots, and architectural considerations.We touch on many best practices when it comes to implementation, with Anne emphasising the importance of proper context engineering, state management, and dynamic prompting.Chapters00:00 - Meet Anne Jenkins05:01 - AI is now a boardroom conversation06:48 – OpenAI’s agentic AI platform08:48 – What is an AI agent?21:38 – The hybrid AI model or end-to-end LLMs26:49 – AI in debt collection34:55 – How Teneo helps implement agentic AI42:39 – Context engineering47:19 – State management and LLMs55:40 – How Teneo designs AI experiences01:00:32 – Demo – teaching Teneo something new01:10:26 – How businesses should adopt AI01:16:44 – What sets Teneo apartShow notesCheck out TeneoFollow Anne Jenkins on LinkedInRead Kane’s article - What agentic AI actually is: a deeply researched and definitive explanationFollow Kane Simms on LinkedInTake our updated AI Maturity AssessmentSubscribe to VUX WorldSubscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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15 million chats per year: Lessons in AI-driven customer conversations from Lloyds Banking Group with Cainan Wright and John Young
Once switched off during busy periods, Lloyds Banking Group’s chatbot now handles more than 15 million conversations a year. Learn what it really takes to build AI solutions that customers trust with their money. We sit down with Cainan Wright, Senior Product Owner, and John Young, AI Lead - Chatbots and Generative AI, from Lloyds Banking Group, to explore their remarkable nine-year journey in building one of the UK's most successful banking chatbots. From handling 3 million conversations in 2021 to over 15 million in 2025, they share the hard-earned lessons of transforming a rather "unloved" virtual assistant into a mission-critical service for almost 27 million customers.We cover how the team stabilised their service by focusing on the basics, investing in design expertise, and securing organisational buy-in through demonstrating clear value.Cainan and John also share valuable insights into their pragmatic approach to generative AI, explaining how they combine deterministic processes with generative language capabilities to deliver the best customer experience while maintaining brand consistency and ensuring regulatory compliance.The team's journey offers important lessons about perseverance and the importance of striking a balance between innovation and responsibility when deploying AI in a highly regulated industry.Timestamps00:00 – Intro01:34 – Meet Lloyds Banking Group03:18 – The unloved virtual assistant era05:30 – AI before ChatGPT06:50 – Stabilising the service and earning trust14:23 – From underloved to mission critical16:55 – Buy-in from stakeholders to scale AI capabilities18:41 – Defining new AI roles in banking20:51 – Scaling from 3 to 15 million conversations25:15 – How to handle a 5x increase in three years27:43 – Experiments with generative AI in banking30:24 – Using an LLM classifier31:07 – Improving tools within teams32:45 – Using generative AI for value and impact34:56 – Valuable design research sessions38:56 – Meeting customer expectations with generative AI46:04 – Maintaining consistency in probabilistic landscape49:30 – The right tool for the right job in conversational AI55:26 – How do you measure the impact of generative AI?56:13 – Responsible AI and proving business value1:01:10 – The next 12 months1:07:02 – Magic wand moments1:11:34 – If the team could start over again1:14:03 – Closing remarks from KaneShow notesFollow Kane Simms on LinkedInDiscover VUX ConsultingTake our updated AI Maturity AssessmentSubscribe to VUX WorldSubscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Mastering context engineering in conversational AI with Martin Cross, Connect
In this episode, we dive into the art and science of context engineering with Martin Cross, President of Connect, a company that empowers enterprises to transform through the use of AI and automation.Martin shares how most businesses still approach AI with a technology-first mindset, deploying solutions before clearly defining the customer problem they’re solving. He explains why successful AI experiences begin with understanding the user journey, designing the right interaction, and then selecting the appropriate tools, not the other way around.We explore different layers of context - from session-level to journey-wide to CRM-integrated, and how they work together to transform generic interactions into deeply personalised, proactive experiences.We also unpack Connect’s acquisition of Elerian AI and why contact centre voice recordings represent an untapped goldmine of training data. Martin explains how fine-tuning models with real-world conversations, including dialects, accents, and customer intents, can dramatically improve AI accuracy and empathy.Additionally, we reflect on why the industry continues to repeat old mistakes and how businesses can design AI that truly understands and anticipates customer needs.Show notesFollow Martin Cross on LinkedInFind out more about ConnectFollow Kane Simms on LinkedInDiscover VUX ConsultingTake our updated AI Maturity AssessmentSubscribe to VUX WorldSubscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Making human-like voice AI accessible and affordable with NLX and Inworld
Voice AI is having a breakthrough moment. With large language models delivering unprecedented understanding and next-gen text-to-speech achieving near-human fidelity, the possibilities for immersive, scalable, and personalised customer experiences are greater than ever.We’re joined by Andrei Papancea (CEO & Co-Founder, NLX) and Kylan Gibbs (CEO & Co-Founder, Inworld), who break down how their companies are working together, making studio-quality voice experiences accessible to developers and enterprises at scale.The conversation traces how voice technology has progressed from basic assistants to today’s lifelike AI voices. We also discuss the shift from brand voices to brand personalities, and how voice experiences can be tailored to different demographic segments and eventually to individual users.This episode is brought to you by NLX.NLX is a conversational AI platform enabling brands to build and manage chat, voice and multimodal applications. NLX’s patented Voice+ technology synchronizes voice with digital channels, making it possible to automate complex use cases typically handled by a human agent. When a customer calls, the voice AI guides them to resolve their inquiry through self-service using the brand’s digital asset, resulting in automation and CSAT scores well above industry average. Just ask United Airlines.Show notesLearn more about InworldKane Simms on LinkedInDiscover VUX ConsultingTake the updated AI Maturity AssessmentSubscribe to VUX WorldSubscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Interviews with the best brains in AI, sharing how to improve customer experience and business operations using emerging AI technologies such as voice AI, conversational AI, NLP, Large Language Models (LLMs), generative AI and more.We educate business leaders and teams on why and how AI technologies are revolutionising the way consumers engage with businesses and the internet, why that matters and how to implement it properly.“One of the most consistently insightful and deeply respected podcasts in the industry”Bradley Metrock, Score Publishing Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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