The AI Forecast: Data and AI in the Cloud Era

Ask an AI system a question, and you'll get an answer. Decision logic determines whether you should trust it.  In this episode of The AI Forecast, Paul Muller sits down with Darlene Newman, Innovation Lead at Duczer East , to explore the hidden layer that helps AI move from pattern matching to practical decision-making.  From semantic layers and ontologies to knowledge graphs and governance framew...

You recognize the tune, but something feels off. That's how Marlon Davis describes many of today's AI initiatives: AI karaoke. Organizations are rushing to add AI to products, but too often they're layering technology onto solutions without fully understanding the customer problems they're trying to solve. In this episode of The AI Forecast, Paul Muller sits down with fractional Chief Product Offi...

AI may be the most capable intern your organization has ever hired. However, interns still need guidance and clear direction. Enterprise AI is proving no different. In this episode of The AI Forecast, Paul Muller sits down with Michael Gray, CTO of Thrive, to explore the patterns and anti-patterns emerging from real-world enterprise AI deployments.  Drawing on his experience helping organizations...

For decades, network teams have been forced to choose between speed and stability. AI may finally be changing that equation. In this episode of The AI Forecast, Paul Muller sits down with John Capobianco, Head of AI and Developer Relations at Itential and author of “Automate Your Network,” to explore how AI is reshaping the future of network operations. Drawing on decades of experience in network...

AI governance is already struggling to keep pace. Add quantum computing and space infrastructure, and the challenge becomes exponentially harder.  In this episode of The AI Forecast, Paul Muller sits down with technology governance specialist and researcher Preetha Bedi to explore the growing convergence between AI, space, and quantum technologies—and why this nexus is creating entirely new catego...

As organizations rush to scale AI, many are learning that better models can’t compensate for weak data foundations. AI hype is everywhere, but operational readiness still isn’t. In this episode of The AI Forecast, Paul Muller sits down with Ravit Jain, founder of The Ravit Show and one of the leading voices in the global data and AI community, to explore the trends shaping the future of enterprise...

With the World Cup on the horizon, global attention is about to shift back to football. For clubs, that spotlight represents a rare opportunity to activate millions of fans. The question is whether they’re ready. As AI reshapes how organizations understand and engage their customers, sports clubs are beginning to rethink what a “fan” really is. In markets like Brazil, where membership programs are...

Human spaceflight is one of the few domains in which data and human judgment must work together flawlessly under extreme pressure. That makes it a powerful lens for understanding what it takes to build resilient, intelligent systems here on Earth. In this Women Leaders in Technology spotlight episode of The AI Forecast, Paul Muller sits down with former NASA astronaut Dr. Jeanette Epps to explore...

In the world of enterprise AI, the pressure on data has changed. What used to be “good enough” now gets amplified by faster decisions, and therefore, faster mistakes. Governance is fundamental in ensuring data trust and integrity. In this episode of The AI Forecast, Paul Muller sits down with The Data Governance Coach, Nicola Askham, to share her pragmatic perspective and assert that governance on...

AI ambition is everywhere. The models are ready, the investment is flowing, yet the outcomes aren’t keeping up.  Cloudera’s Data Readiness Index 2026   survey identifies a widening gap between what enterprises want from AI and what they can actually deliver. In this episode of The AI Forecast, Paul Muller sits down with Cloudera CTO Sergio Gago to bring a practitioner’s lens to the problem, drawin...

As AI adoption accelerates, so do the risks that come with it. So what happens when AI puts cyberattack capabilities into everyone’s hands? In this episode of The AI Forecast, Paul Muller is joined by Theresa Payton to break down the new reality of AI-powered threats. Drawing on decades of experience as the first female White House CIO, CEO of Fortalice Solutions, and the author of four books on p...

Enterprise AI is running into a familiar problem in the energy and manufacturing industries: the technology is moving faster than the organizations around it. In this episode of The AI Forecast, Paul Muller sits down with Patrick Bangert, VP and Chief of AI at Occidental Petroleum, and author of “ Leading Enterprise AI Programs: Optimize AI Teams for Value Creation ,” to unpack the complexities of...

What happens when AI stops advising and starts acting? Agentic AI promises autonomy, speed, and a new level of intelligence in how systems operate. But as these systems begin to pursue goals and make decisions, the risks become harder to predict. In this episode of The AI Forecast, Paul Muller sits down with futurist Nell Watson, AI ethics expert and co-author of “Safer Agentic AI: Principles and...

AI governance is the Achilles heel of most enterprises. As organizations accelerate AI adoption, boardrooms face urgent questions about cybersecurity, compliance, resilience, and regulatory risk. In this episode of The AI Forecast, Paul Muller meets with Shoshana Rosenberg, author of “Practical AI Governance: Building a Program for Oversight and Strategy,” and creator of the Prism AI Governance Fr...

In this special Women Leaders In Technology episode of The AI Forecast, Wayfound.ai CEO Tatyana Mamut, PhD, makes a bold claim: AI is already acting like a workforce—and organizations are unprepared for what that means.  From econometrics to anthropology to leading roles at Salesforce, AWS, an d Nextdoor, Tatyana shares how her background shaped a fundamentally different approach to leadership. Dr...

Cloud computing promised efficiency, scalability, and reliability. But as AI workloads grow more complex, many enterprises are learning the hard way that these promises don’t come automatically.   In this episode of The AI Forecast, Paul Muller sits down with Linthicum Research founder David Linthicum to talk through the real state of hybrid cloud strategy and enterprise architecture in the age of...

AI adoption is accelerating across small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), but many businesses lack the in-house expertise to build and manage AI infrastructure effectively.  In this episode of The AI Forecast, Paul Muller speaks with Hyve’s Marketing and Operations Director, Charlotte Webb, about how managed service providers (MSPs) are reshaping AI adoption for SMEs. They explore the build vs...

Open lakehouse architecture is becoming the foundation for production AI and enterprise AI at scale.  In this episode of The AI Forecast, Dipankar Mazumdar, Director of Developer Relations at Cloudera and co-author of the book “Engineering Lakehouse with Open Table Formats,” joins Paul Muller to explain why open lakehouse architecture is critical for moving from AI pilot to production AI.  They br...

For decades, success in baseball was built on instinct. Scouts trusted their guts and managers leaned on tradition, meaning experience and unwritten rules shaped decisions that often went unquestioned. Then Billy Beane changed the game. The former Executive VP of Baseball Operations for the Oakland Athletics and pioneer of the Moneyball philosophy joins host Paul Muller on this special episode of...

As telecom operators invest billions in next-generation networks, many are racing to deploy AI to cut costs and unlock new revenue. But beneath the push for automation and smarter infrastructure lies the deeper challenge of rethinking how connectivity itself should be trusted. In this episode of The AI Forecast, Mike O’Sullivan, Head of Member Solutions at TM Forum, joins host Paul Muller to explo...

As AI and BI projects race to deliver quick wins, many organizations overlook what truly determines long-term success: the people behind the data. In this episode of The AI Forecast, Jen Stirrup, author, speaker, and founder of Data Relish, joins host Paul Muller to dissect the difference between data literacy (reading the numbers) and data fluency (speaking the language of business). Jen challeng...

Data complexity is the enemy of innovation. Adam Skotnicky, VP of Engineering at Cloudera and founder of Taikun (acquired by Cloudera), joins host Paul Muller to explain how engineering teams can reclaim simplicity without sacrificing flexibility or control. Together they unpack why most teams are overwhelmed by tooling and operational overhead, how platform engineering can abstract complexity awa...

AI is reshaping how sales teams find prospects, build relationships, and close deals. Frank O’Dowd, Cloudera’s Chief Revenue Officer, joins to discuss Cloudera’s approach to AI in the sales function.  Frank details his philosophy, which is that rather than replacing the human touch, AI is helping sales professionals work smarter, offering insights, personalization, and efficiency at scale. It’s a...

One common cause of concern around AI is how its computing may negatively impact the environment. In this episode of The AI Forecast, Julie Kae, VP of Sustainability and Social Impact at Qlik and Executive Director of Qlik.org, joins host Paul Muller to reframe the conversation: when designed intentionally, AI isn’t a threat to ESG: it can be one of its most powerful enablers. Drawing on more than...

As AI adoption accelerates, so do the risks. In this episode of The AI Forecast, Jessica Hammond—Senior Director Product Management of GenAI at Protegrity—joins host Paul Muller to unpack how organizations can move fast with AI without compromising security, privacy, or compliance. Drawing on her background in product, engineering, security, and compliance, Jessica explains why sensitive data expo...