The Applied AI Podcast

About The Applied AI Podcast

A hype-free zone to discuss the practical applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to real-world use cases in business, government, nonprofits, and other types of organizations. Calibrated to business executives who want to know, "What does AI mean for my industry and my company," it keeps the emphasis on value creation and actionable strategies. The Applied AI Podcast is produced by Talbot West, a leading digital transformation consultancy and AI enablement partner for mid-market and enterprise companies. Jacob Andra, CEO of Talbot West, brings in-the-trenches insights from real companies implementing AI and machine learning technologies. Additionally, Talbot West clients, partners, and other executives feature prominently in our guest line-up. With real-world experience and a wealth of applied AI perspectives, The Applied AI Podcast avoids both the hype and the nay-saying surrounding AI technologies. We cover the actual value creation that AI is driving in enterprise, as well as the risks, pitfalls, and limitations. We bring you a balanced view. Just like Talbot West clients trust us to be their digital transformation advisor, our listeners trust The Applied AI Podcast to be a bias-free, no-nonsense zone. Learn more at https://appliedaipod.com Learn about Talbot West at https://talbotwest.com Learn about BizForesight (an AI-powered M&A platform from Talbot West): https://bizforesight.com Learn about the Talbot West AI 2030 Thesis and our vision of total organizational intelligence: https://talbotwest.com/ai-insights/the-talbot-west-5-year-ai-thesis Learn about Cognitive Hive AI (CHAI), Talbot West's modular, composable ensemble architecture: https://talbotwest.com/ai-insights/what-is-cognitive-hive-ai-chai Learn about AI Prioritization and EXecution (APEX), Talbot West's methodology for prioritizing AI initiatives: https://talbotwest.com/ai-insights/apex-framework-for-ai-prioritization Read Talbot West's response to the August 2025 Wall Street Journal article on how McKinsey is adapting to AI: https://talbotwest.com/ai-insights/wsj-mckinsey-talbot-west Read how Talbot West approaches the "buy vs build" question with our clients: https://talbotwest.com/ai-insights/ai-buy-vs-build Read Talbot West's description of composable AI and why it's the future: https://talbotwest.com/services/cognitive-hive-ai/composable-ai How AI is driving value creation in M&A: https://talbotwest.com/industries/mergers-and-acquisitions-manda/how-ai-makes-mergers-and-acquisitions-more-efficient Why a system-of-systems approach is the future of AI deployment: https://talbotwest.com/ai-insights/system-of-systems-in-ai An examination of the DoD's Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) and its implications for AI deployment: https://talbotwest.com/industries/defense/what-is-mosa-in-defense-systems Ways AI can make government more efficient: https://talbotwest.com/industries/government/how-can-ai-make-government-more-efficient Examining the importance of explainability in AI and why it doesn't exist with commercial large language models but does with Cognitive Hive AI: https://talbotwest.com/services/ai-governance/what-is-explainability-in-ai Let's not forget about small language models: https://talbotwest.com/ai-insights/what-is-a-small-language-model-slm Where AI change management often fails: https://talbotwest.com/services/change-management-for-ai-implementation/understanding-change-management-in-ai

Publisher

Jacob Andra

Category

news · technology

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

21 Aug 2025

Latest episode

27 Jul 2026

Latest episodes

19 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   27 Jul 2026

   A Better Way to Dive AI Value in Revops

   Jacob Andra and Steve Larsen argue that the SaaS point-solution model has failed revops, and not for the reason most people assume. The problem is not that the tools are bad. It is that they are disconnected from one another and generic to every company that buys them, so no amount of additional tooling produces differentiation. The conversation makes the case for a harness, the configured logic, rails, and systems wrapped around a model, and walks through the tiered path for building one. Discussed: Why revops teams have more tooling than at any point in history while performance stays flat or declines. Islands of intelligence: what actually happens when AI is embedded in twelve separate point tools and nowhere else. The harness as a third option between off-the-shelf software and full custom development. How a harness built for pre-call planning extends to rep onboarding, call post-mortems, comp planning, and competitor analysis for a fraction of the original build cost. Why that same structure preserves institutional knowledge through attrition. The implementation ladder, from a configured Claude Team environment through multi-environment tool calls to direct Salesforce and ERP integration. Two orthogonal axes of AI cost management, platform subscription and tokenization, and why right-sizing the model to the task is the lever most teams miss. Steve Larsen is Managing Director at Talbot West, with 30 years across pharmaceuticals, healthcare, big data, and SaaS. Hosted by Jacob Andra, CEO of Talbot West (https://talbotwest.com). Read the recent Talbot West report on AI and revops (https://talbotwest.com/insights/revops-ai-report), a companion article to this episode.

2. 

   8 Jun 2026

   Bharathi Rajan of Swire on AI Integrated Into Complex CPT Manufacturing & Operations

   Using AI on your own is easy. Deploying it across an organization of tens of thousands of people is a different problem entirely. In this episode, host Jacob Andra sits down with Bharathi Rajan, who leads enterprise digital, data, and AI at Swire Coca-Cola USA, one of the top five Coca-Cola bottlers in the country, with six manufacturing plants across 13 states and brand partners including Coca-Cola, BodyArmor, Monster Energy, and Dr Pepper. Bharathi spent more than four years building Swire's data capability from the ground up before taking on its digital and AI agenda. Drawing on earlier work at UnitedHealth Group and Goldman Sachs, she lays out what it actually takes to move AI from personal novelty to enterprise infrastructure: understanding a process before automating it, keeping business impact ahead of the technology, and treating change management as the core of the work rather than an afterthought. The conversation turns on the orchestration problem at the heart of enterprise AI. When every major vendor (SAP, Salesforce, and the rest) ships its own agents, the advantage goes to the organization that can make those siloed systems talk to each other behind a single, seamless experience for the user. Jacob and Bharathi also get into prioritizing operational efficiency against top-line growth, why augmentation beats wholesale automation, and why even a one percent error rate is enough to lose a user's trust. What the episode covers: Why enterprise AI is a fundamentally different game than personal AI Change management as the make-or-break factor in adoption Production prioritization, supply-chain planning, and predictive maintenance in manufacturing Orchestrating across SAP, Salesforce, and other siloed systems Augmentation over automation, with a human kept in the loop Sequencing long-term bets alongside short-term wins so capabilities compound on each other

3. 

   30 Apr 2026

   Reshma Pillai: Invisible AI and Failing Fast in Corporate Finance

   What does it actually take to make AI work in corporate finance, not in theory, but in practice? In this episode, Talbot West (https://talbotwest.com) CEO Jacob Andra sits down with Reshma Pillai, a finance and AI transformation leader who made an unlikely journey from accountant to AI professional. Reshma brings a uniquely grounded perspective: she's not a computer scientist, and that's exactly why her insights cut through the hype. Together, Jacob and Reshma break down the four core pillars of finance (transactions, reconciliation and controls, forecasting, and narrative reporting) and explore how different types of AI (generative, agentic, predictive ML) map to each one. The conversation gets real fast: why most AI initiatives fail isn't because the use case is wrong, it's because the infrastructure isn't ready and teams are thinking in monolithic tools instead of outcome-driven workflows. They also dig into the concept of "invisible AI," the idea that AI should become the invisible thread connecting finance processes rather than a shiny tool bolted onto existing workflows, and why that framing changes everything about how you design, govern, and scale AI in a compliance-heavy environment like finance. Topics covered: - Why outcomes-first thinking beats technology-first thinking every time - How to string together heterogeneous AI tools into a value pipeline - The accessibility gap: giving non-technical finance professionals the power to build - Failing fast without wasting eight months and a massive budget - SOX controls, audit compliance, and the "human in the loop" debate - Why some of the best AI solutions come from people with zero CS background If you're a finance leader, digital transformation practitioner, or anyone navigating AI adoption in regulated industries, this episode is packed with frameworks you can actually use.

4. 

   10 Mar 2026

   AI In Restaurants: How Savory Promotes Human Interaction

   Josh Boshard, COO of Savory, discusses the integration of AI in the restaurant industry with Talbot West CEO Jacob Andra. The to talk about the challenges and opportunities that Savory faces with its complex portfolio. Josh emphasizes the importance of human interaction and the role of AI in supporting and enhancing the customer experience. The conversation also delves into the complexities of AI deployment, data integration, and the future of AI in the restaurant industry. Takeaways AI as a Support for Human Interaction Challenges of AI Integration in the Restaurant Industry Chapters 00:00 Diverse Range of AI Technologies and Use Cases

5. 

   3 Feb 2026

   Why Do AI Initiatives Fail? Cydni Tetro Joins Jacob Andra to Discuss Common Breakdowns for Digital Transformation Projects

   Send us a text Enterprise AI projects fail at alarming rates. MIT research shows most organizations struggle to achieve meaningful ROI from their AI investments. In this episode of The Applied AI Podcast, host Jacob Andra sits down with Cydni Tetro to explore why enterprise AI transformation is fundamentally different from individual productivity gains, and what separates successful deployments from expensive failures. Cydni brings rare depth to this conversation. Her career spans six years ...

6. 

   20 Dec 2025

   Legaltech Civil War: Talbot West CEO Jacob Andra & Advisor Adam Wardel Discuss AI Adoption in Law

   Send us a text YouTube Video Description Law firms face a civil war over AI adoption. On one side, a model that's worked for decades, generating revenue and establishing power structures. On the other, an intelligence revolution that won't disappear in ten years. In this episode, host Jacob Andra sits down with Adam Wardel, an attorney with 12+ years of experience spanning in-house and law firm roles. Adam sits on Talbot West's advisory board, where he brings legal and compliance expertise to...

7. 

   18 Dec 2025

   The Best Machine Learning Model, Lumawarp, Rocks the TabArena Test: Jacob Andra & Dr. Alexandra Pasi

   Send us a text Lumawarp delivers 7% higher accuracy than leading ML models while running 300+ times faster. On the TabArena HELOC default prediction benchmark, it topped the accuracy leaderboard while training on a gaming laptop in about an hour. Competing methods required hundreds of hours on large compute clusters to achieve worse results. This is the breakthrough that breaks the accuracy/speed tradeoff that has constrained machine learning for decades. In this episode, Talbot West CEO Ja...

8. 

   11 Nov 2025

   Constitutional AI With Bennett Borden and Jacob Andra

   Send us a text Talbot West CEO Jacob Andra interviews Clarion AI CEO Bennett Borden on ensemble AI approaches. Bennett Borden served eight years as a CIA data scientist identifying patterns in digital trails, he went to Georgetown Law and specialized in automated decision systems. Now as CEO of Clarion AI, he runs the only law firm that operates as both legal counsel and development shop, building AI systems that drive business value while maintaining legal compliance. This episode expl...

9. 

   31 Oct 2025

   Will AI Take All the Jobs? Jacob Andra and Stephen Karafiath Say No

   Send us a text While people fear wholesale workforce replacement, the actual transformation is far more complex and ultimately more optimistic for organizations willing to adapt strategically. This episode cuts through the hype to examine three distinct zones of AI capability. First, tasks where AI excels at things humans never could do well, like fraud detection algorithms or protein folding analysis. Second, uniquely human domains like relationship building and creative problem solving acro...

10. 

    27 Oct 2025

    Agentic AI and Neurosymbolic AI: Jacob Andra Interviews Dr. Alexandra Pasi of Lucidity Sciences

    Send us a text Two major ideas are shaping the next era of artificial intelligence: agentic AI and neurosymbolic AI. Talbot West CEO Jacob Andra and Lucidity Sciences CEO Dr. Alexandra Pasi bring together their complementary perspectives. They unpack the confusion surrounding the term “agentic.” The most common misuses fall into three categories. 1.Digital employee. This use assumes an AI can fully replace a human role. In practice, jobs consist of overlapping tasks that depend on judgment, c...

11. 

    17 Oct 2025

    Neurosymbolic AI and the Shortcomings of LLMs: Jacob Andra and Stephen Karafiath

    Send us a text Large language models have captured headlines, but they represent only a fraction of what AI can accomplish. Talbot West co-founders Jacob Andra and Stephen Karafiath explore the fundamental limitations of LLMs and why neurosymbolic AI offers a more robust path forward for enterprise applications. LLMs sometimes display remarkable contextual awareness, like when ChatGPT proactively noticed specific tile flooring in a photo's background and offered unsolicited cleaning advice. ...

12. 

    7 Oct 2025

    Data Security in AI: Talbot West CEO Jacob Andra Interviews Scott Peiffer of i4Ops

    Send us a text Most enterprise AI projects fail because companies hold back their data. They spend hundreds of thousands of dollars training models on sanitized datasets, afraid to expose sensitive information. They get generic answers that create no competitive advantage. In this episode, Scott Peiffer from i4Ops cuts through the AI hype to address the real challenge facing enterprises: how to deploy AI systems that actually create value while keeping proprietary data secure. What you'll lea...

13. 

    29 Sept 2025

    AI is Much More Than LLMs: Jacob Andra Interviews Dr. Alexandra Pasi on Cutting-Edge Machine Learning

    Send us a text Dr. Alexandra Pasi (Lucidity Sciences) joins Talbot West CEO Jacob Andra to explore why conflating AI with large language models creates blind spots in enterprise technology strategy. With 15 years in machine learning, Dr. Pasi brings mathematical rigor to practical AI deployment. Key discussion topics Jacob identifies the linguistic synecdoche in AI discourse: taking LLM characteristics like hallucination and incorrectly applying them to all AI. Dr. Pasi expands on this, expla...

14. 

    16 Sept 2025

    Jason duPont On AI in the Mortgage Industry: An Interview with Talbot West CEO Jacob Andra

    Send us a text Jason duPont, COO of NEXA Mortgage, reveals how AI transforms mortgage operations from 54-minute loan processing to autonomous underwriting systems. NEXA processes $10 billion annually through 3,300 loan officers and targets $15 billion using agentic AI partnerships. This episode demonstrates practical AI implementation beyond chatbots. DuPont shares NEXA's partnership with Tidalwave, which handles the mortgage application process starting at the 1003 form submission. The platf...

15. 

    8 Sept 2025

    Rick Meekins is 6X More Productive With AI + Automation: An Interview With Talbot West CEO Jacob Andra

    Send us a text Rick Meekins achieves 4-6x productivity gains using ChatGPT and automation tools in precisely the ways Talbot West recommends to enterprise clients: low-risk, high-reward applications that deliver immediate ROI without exposing sensitive data. Rick uploads podcast transcripts to ChatGPT, not proprietary business data. He generates social media content, not confidential reports. This demonstrates exactly what Talbot West helps executives understand: which use cases are safe for ...

16. 

    3 Sept 2025

    Bill McCalpin on AI in Mergers and Acquisitions

    Send us a text Jacob Andra, podcast host and CEO of Talbot West, interviews Bill McCalpin, investment banker and chair of The Alliance of Merger and Acquisition Advisors. Bill McCalpin reveals why companies with identical revenue and profits sell for vastly different prices: one for $2 million, another for $12 million. The difference comes down to digital transformation readiness. In this Applied AI Podcast episode, McCalpin shares data from thousands of M&A transactions showing a 6x vari...

17. 

    29 Aug 2025

    Kevin Williams On De-Risking AI Implementations

    Send us a text Kevin Williams, founder and CEO of Ascend Labs AI, joins Jacob Andra, CEO of Talbot West, to discuss the reality of enterprise AI adoption. Despite the hype, most companies still aren't implementing AI effectively. Kevin breaks down the four pillars that drive real ROI: dev tools, product augmentation, workflow optimization, and strategic positioning against disruption. Insights from this episode: Why 30-40% productivity gains in development are achievable with proper AI tool a...

18. 

    21 Aug 2025

    Jacob Andra & Stephen Karafiath Discuss Applied AI

    Send us a text Jacob Andra sits down with Stephen Karafiath, technical co-founder of Talbot West, for a wide-ranging discussion on practical AI implementation in enterprise. They cut through the hype to address what actually matters: how businesses can achieve concrete efficiency gains through thoughtful AI deployment while avoiding common pitfalls. Topics Covered The State of Enterprise AI Innovation - Why large corporations like Oracle struggle to innovate with AI despite massive resource...

19. 

    21 Aug 2025

    Intro to The Applied AI Podcast

    Send us a text Welcome to The Applied AI Podcast. We're all about practical results. Hosted by Jacob Andra, the CEO of Talbot West, The Applied AI Podcast focuses on value creation from AI. We also cover the pitfalls and concerns companies need to address when implementing AI. Talbot West is a digital transformation consultancy and AI enablement partner for companies and other organizations. We help our clients adopt AI and machine learning technologies safely and effectively. *Bringing Cla...

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