Artificial Insights: Conversations About AI

Customer support has always been built around humans doing the work. At Kodif, Co-Founder and CEO Chyngyz Dzhumanazarov is rethinking that “atomic unit of work” with AI customer support agents that can resolve complex tickets, spot patterns in incoming cases, and recommend process improvements, all while keeping human oversight in place. Kodif’s AI automation platform empowers non-technical teams...

For builders, community is more than just an audience, it’s the foundation of the product. After all, those early users shape the product. For Tair Asim, Sage worked at buildspace because the community already trusted the brand. That trust meant people filled out profiles, gave feedback, and kept showing up, even when the product was rough around the edges. In this bonus episode, Daniel and Tair e...

AI isn’t just changing how we work. It’s also reshaping how we meet the people we work with. For Tair Asim, that started with Sage, where he learned AI matchmaking isn’t just for dating apps, it can connect builders, spark new companies, and even launch unexpected collaborations. Instead of filling out forms, Sage asked questions in natural conversation, learned what people cared about, and connec...

Startups rarely fail because the product doesn’t work. More often, they fail because no one knows the product exists. Alex Millar, co-founder and CTO of GovAI, has seen how technical founders can undervalue sales and marketing. Building something that resonates is only half the challenge. Getting it into people’s hands, and knowing when to invest in sales talent, is what keeps companies alive. In...

AI is making its way into one of the hardest customer segments to break into: government. AI adoption in government is notoriously difficult. Strict compliance rules, complex procurement, and slow adoption cycles can stall even the best ideas. Alex Millar, co-founder and CTO of GovAI, has navigated these challenges twice: first with Bonfire, a public sector procurement platform acquired for $108 m...

Big markets mean room to pivot, but also room to get lost. Where do you start? For Bijan Vaez, that meant starting in product photography and ending up deep in retail data. Along the way, he discovered why AI often fails when it’s layered on top of messy information, and how fixing the source of data can unlock far more value than chasing features. In this bonus episode, Daniel and Bijan talk abou...

Most retail AI tools promise to help you sell more. Bijan Vaez started by asking a simpler question: what if the problem is the data itself? That question pulled him from early AI experiments in product photography into the unglamorous but critical work of AI-powered product catalog management. As CEO of Merch Kit (and a three-time founder and former CTO who has scaled SaaS products to millions of...

AI is rising quickly on executive agendas. In 2019, technology wasn’t even in the top six disruptors CEOs worried about. By 2022, it was number one. Jennifer Moss has seen how this shift is creating pressure at the top and anxiety throughout the workforce. Many leaders feel pushed to adopt AI without a clear plan, while employees see change coming without knowing what it means for their future. Th...

"We're in the multiverse of work. We're not in the future of work. We're in a whole different timeline." For executives, HR leaders, and founders, that means leading teams in a workplace reshaped by the pandemic, accelerated by AI adoption, and filled with employees asking new questions about their careers. Jennifer Moss, Harvard Business Review columnist and workplace culture expert, has seen how...

AI often feels different depending on where you stand. For Atif Khan, it’s like the story of the blind men and the elephant, except this time the animal might be a dinosaur. The scale of AI means each person’s experience is partial, and the only way to make sense of it is to keep learning, testing, and coming back to see more of the whole. In this bonus episode, Daniel and Atif talk about why the...

When Atif Khan hears “AI first,” he isn’t thinking about adding a single feature. He’s thinking about how a company sees its problems and whether teams can imagine solutions they couldn’t have built before. As Chief AI Officer at Messagepoint, he’s leading a shift that touches everything from how teams work with data to how they design customer communication workflows. In this episode, Daniel and...

What happens when schools punish students for using the very tools they will need in the workplace? In this bonus episode, Patrick Belliveau shares a candid view on how education is mishandling AI adoption. From unreliable AI checkers that wrongly accuse students of plagiarism to graduates entering the job market without ever learning how to use the tools employers expect, he argues that putting c...

What happens when you build AI without chasing the hype? For Patrick Belliveau, Managing Partner at Gambit Technologies, staying bootstrapped was more than a financial choice. It kept his team focused on building features people truly needed and would pay for, rather than chasing short-lived opportunities. That discipline allowed them to adapt quickly as new models emerged and avoid the trap of in...

What makes an AI product more than just hype? In Season Two of Artificial Insights , host Daniel Manary returns with new voices, bigger questions, and a sharper focus on building AI that lasts. Joined by “Not Daniel,” his AI voice double, Daniel shares what’s ahead: conversations every Friday, a companion newsletter, and guests who are pushing AI beyond the buzz. The podcast is still grounded in t...

What happens when AI moves from theory to practice? Season one explored the messy, human answers. From launching startups to reshaping industries, the first season of Artificial Insights dug into AI in practice, not just in theory. Guests shared hard-won lessons about why simplicity often beats sophistication, how to lead responsibly through uncertainty, and why AI’s real value lies in solving the...

What does it mean to keep human judgment at the center when AI can handle more of the work? For Kris Braun, co-founder and CTO of RunQL, the answer lies in augmentation rather than abdication. With experience launching serverless products at Google and founding multiple ventures, Kris has seen how tools can help or hinder depending on how they’re used. At RunQL, his team is building AI-powered wor...

Is AI a threat to jobs, or is the real risk failing to learn how to use it? Chris Wynder thinks the second. With a PhD in developmental neurobiology and a career that’s spanned biotech, consulting, and enterprise software, Chris has seen how each wave of technology shifts work. Now as Director of the Developer Program and Product Marketing at OpenText, he helps thousands of developers and partners...

AI can make mental health and wellness apps scalable… but should it? Founder Addy Bhatia argues the point isn’t to mimic a therapist or build a “friend.” It’s to listen well, respect boundaries, and integrate care. In this episode, Addy shares why Suno avoids avatars and pronouns, why the logo is an ear, and how the product sits alongside real relationships rather than replacing them. He walks thr...

Most technology pilots never make it past the trial stage. What separates the few that succeed from the many that stall? Peter Carr, associate professor at the University of Waterloo, has spent years helping leaders navigate that shift. His work spans the Faculty of Engineering and the Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business, where he teaches and researches how organizations can adopt techn...

Where’s the line between empowering workers with AI and replacing them? Prerna Kaul has faced that question firsthand. While launching Walmart’s first Canadian mobile app, she met customers worried that automation might erase human jobs. Years later at Moderna, she led the build of an internal generative AI platform that supported 750 custom GPTs to help the company pursue an ambitious goal of 15...

AI can save money and time. Or it can generate a $20,000 bill overnight. What makes the difference? Mandip Kanjiya has shipped AI-powered products in HR, insurance, and identity verification. Some worked. Some didn’t. Each one taught clear lessons for leaders who want AI to help, not hurt. In this conversation, Mandip shows why an “advisory layer” helps teams avoid leaking sensitive data, how on-d...

The hardest part of AI isn’t the technology. It’s knowing when not to use it. Jake Walker has led products at Toyota, Otto Motors, DarwinAI, and Sportsnet. Across each role, he has seen that success does not come from using AI everywhere, it comes from matching the right technology to the problem. Sometimes that means deep learning, but often the solution is much simpler. In this episode, Daniel a...

What if the smartest move in AI isn’t chasing the shiniest model, but keeping things simple enough to work in production? Anwar Jeffrey has lived that lesson. As co-founder and CTO of Glowstick, he built a revenue operations assistant that helps post-sales teams detect expansion opportunities, churn risks, and customer needs hidden in everyday conversations. But instead of leaning on expensive neu...

Host Daniel Manary delves into the essential aspects of creating AI products that meets people's needs. Daniel explores the motivation behind building impactful AI solutions, then questions one of the most groundbreaking technologies in our lifetime about what makes it so impactful.