AI, Actually

The token bills are arriving, and a lot of teams do not like what they see. Halfway through 2026, the promise of cheap, abundant intelligence is colliding with enterprise reality. Behind the headlines about new models and rising prices is a simpler story about whether your AI spend is actually buying business value. In this episode of AI, Actually, Jim Johnson, Nicole Kosky, Shanti Greene, and And...

Everyone is waiting for the next model to make their AI problems disappear. The teams getting real value already figured out the model was never the hard part. In this episode, the crew reacts to Nate B. Jones and his argument that the trillion dollar opportunity sits in completed workflows, not smarter chat. This is AI, Actually, the show that cuts through the hype and gets practical about puttin...

Most enterprise AI projects don't fail because of the model. They fail because of data, specifically, the gap between having data and having data an AI can actually understand and act on. This is the last mile problem, and it's quietly killing AI ROI across the enterprise. That's the real story behind the stat: 87% of AI projects never reach production. This is Episode 20 of AI, Actually , the pod...

Popularized by Palantir, the term "Forward Deployed Engineer" is everywhere right now. But what does it actually mean, and is it even the right label? In Episode 19, the AI, Actually crew digs into one of the hottest buzzwords in enterprise tech, separating the signal from the noise and getting real about the skills, structures, and organizational shifts that matter. This is a candid conversation...

Most companies are announcing AI strategies and running pilots that go nowhere. Meanwhile, individuals using AI every day are quietly getting 10x leverage on their work, and the gap is widening. The real story isn't about tools or models. It's about people, habits, resistance, and what it actually takes to build a culture where AI creates compounding value. In this episode of AI, Actually , host P...

Every week, someone declares that AI will make consultants obsolete. What we actually see is AI breathing new life into consulting, with practically every model maker teaming up with consulting firms for delivery support. The real story isn't about whether consulting is dead. It's about whether the consulting model your company is paying for is built for this era or the last one. In this episode o...

Every week, someone declares that vibe coding will kill software development. Every week, they're wrong — but not for the reasons most people think. The real story isn't about job loss. It's about an explosion in software creation that most business leaders aren't prepared for. In this episode of AI, Actually, the crew breaks down what vibe coding actually means for enterprise software, why the "d...

Enterprise AI adoption is accelerating — but most organizations are still stuck debating tools like ChatGPT while a smaller group is deploying AI agents that operate like digital colleagues. The gap between experimentation and operationalization is widening. In this episode of AI, Actually , leaders from AnswerRocket break down what’s really happening on the front lines of enterprise AI adoption —...

Artificial intelligence has crossed a major threshold. AI is no longer confined to answering questions in a chat window. It's sending emails, scheduling meetings, moving data between systems, and operating with its own credentials and access. This shift from suggestion to action is forcing every enterprise leader to rethink their AI strategy. In this episode, Pete Reilly sits down with Shanti Gree...

What happens when AI coding agents enter the development process? AnswerRocket's team built a production-ready CRM in just four weeks, showing what's possible with next-generation software development. In this episode, Pete Reilly, Alon Goren, Mike Finley, and Andy Sweet pull back the curtain on what modern AI development actually looks like in practice. Using a custom CRM project as their case st...

As enterprises deploy AI agents into production, a new operational challenge emerges: how do you monitor and maintain systems that don't fail with error codes, but instead drift subtly away from expected performance? In this episode, the AI, Actually crew tackles the emerging discipline of AgentOps—the practice of keeping AI agents performing at peak business value over time. The discussion cuts t...

The old IT playbook is officially dead. Quarterly release cycles, endless approval committees, and throwing requirements over the wall? None of that works when AI models evolve every few weeks. In this episode, Pete Reilly sits down with Jim Johnson, Alon Goren, and Shanti Greene to unpack OpenAI's new white paper, "From Experiments to Deployments: A Practical Path to Scaling AI," and share what t...

The race for AI dominance just shifted. Google's Gemini 3 launch was a coordinated ecosystem play that could reshape how enterprises think about AI infrastructure. In this episode, Pete Reilly sits down with Andy Sweet, Shanti Greene, and Stew Chisam to dissect what Gemini 3 really means for enterprise adoption, where the technology is genuinely improving, and where marketing hype obscures practic...

Are most AI projects really failing, or are we just too early to judge? In this episode, we cut through the headlines to talk about what's actually happening with enterprise AI adoption. Our team tackles the disconnect between AI hype and business reality, exploring why the "easy button" mentality is holding companies back and what it actually takes to succeed. We discuss why treating AI like magi...

Andrej Karpathy just dropped a reality check: 2025 isn't the "year of the agent,” it's the decade of the agent. But does that mean enterprises should hit pause on their AI initiatives? Not even close. In this episode, the AI, Actually crew tackles the gap between AI hype and enterprise reality. Pete Reilly, Alon Goren, Mike Finley, and Jim Johnson break down why current LLMs aren't perfect, why th...

OpenAI's Dev Day dropped some major announcements this month, but is AgentKit really revolutionary or just another "me too!" moment? The AI, Actually crew shares their reactions to the latest OpenAI releases, and digs into how to successfully implement AI agents in the real world. In this episode, Jim Johnson steps in as host alongside Mike Finley, with special guests Nicole Kosky (who leads Answe...

Tired of AI agents that forget context mid-conversation or drift subtly off course in production? You're not alone. In this episode, the AI, Actually crew unpacks six critical engineering principles for building reliable AI agents—principles that separate proof-of-concepts from production-ready systems. Pete, Mike, Andy, and Stew break down insights from AI expert Nate B. Jones, translating techni...

Sequoia says AI is a $10 trillion opportunity. But how do you actually capture it? In this episode, the AI, Actually crew tackles the gap between AI's promise and its practical deployment in the enterprise. From bold predictions about agent automation to Palantir's forward deployed engineer model, we explore what it really takes to move beyond ChatGPT licenses to actual business transformation. Th...

The AI Actually crew tackles the pressing concerns keeping enterprise leaders up at night: shadow AI infiltrating organizations, the crucial distinction between machine learning and LLMs, and why context engineering matters more than prompt engineering. Jim Johnson takes the moderator chair, joined by regular Mike Finley and special guests Andy Sweet (Advanced Models Practice Lead) and Shanti Gree...

The MIT study claiming 95% of AI pilots fail has everyone talking—but what's really behind these failures? In this episode, the AI, Actually crew tackles the hard truths about why enterprises struggle with AI implementations and what separates the toys from the tools. The conversation kicks off with AnswerRocket CEO Alon Goren sharing his journey from pre-PC era computing to building AI solutions...

Is your enterprise AI pilot part of the 95% that's failing? MIT's latest research just confirmed what many suspected: almost all enterprise AI initiatives are floundering. In this episode, we dig into why companies are hemorrhaging money on AI that never delivers real value, and what the successful 5% are doing differently. Forget vendor promises and get ready for some uncomfortable truths about w...

Is your company's AI strategy stuck in the sandbox?  You're not alone. Despite the endless hype, many large companies are finding their AI projects are stuck in the experimental stage. In this episode, we get real about why organizations are struggling and what you can actually do about it. Forget the hype and join us for a candid discussion on the real-world challenges and opportunities of enterp...