AI - Beyond the Hype
AI - Beyond the Hype is a podcast about what it actually takes to make AI work — and what it actually means when it doesn't.
Hosted by Sarah, a data engineering leader, and James, an enterprise technology leader, the show pairs the mechanics underneath AI systems with the executive consequences on top of them. Sarah opens the hood. James asks what it costs, what it risks, and who owns it. Neither of them is selling anything.
Each season takes a different angle on the same question.
Season one was written for senior executives, technology leaders, and data professionals: a nine-episode arc on the foundations behind successful AI adoption — data quality and observability, modelling, security, privacy, architecture, and operating models. The recurring finding was uncomfortable. Almost every AI failure the hosts examined wasn't an AI failure at all. The system worked exactly as designed. The conditions around it didn't.
Season two changes gear entirely. This season answers questions about AI from people who don't work in this field — and who are quietly tired of pretending they follow the conversation. How does it actually know things? Is it thinking? Why does it make things up? Should I let my kids use it? Will it take my job? Not dumbed down, and not a lecture. Deep enough to give a real answer, then stopping before the jargon starts.
If you have a question like that, the hosts would genuinely like to hear it. No question is too basic — the more basic, the better.
Send any questions, or just get in touch with us at: asksarahandjames@gmail.com
Better AI still starts with better foundations
AI - Beyond the Hype
Latest Episodes
S02 - No Database Inside: How AI Knows Things, and When It Doesn't
Season 2, Episode 2. Part two of two. Last episode ended mid-argument: James asked where a chatbot stores the date of the Battle of Hastings, and Sarah said it doesn't store it anywhere. This is the answer.Still no jargon and no assumed...
S02 - What Is AI? The Question Everyone Stopped Asking Out Loud
Season 2, Episode 1. A new season answering the AI questions people are tired of pretending they understand. Part one of two.Season one was for executives and data leaders. This season is for everyone else. It started when Sarah's mothe...
S02 - AI - Beyond the Hype - Season 2 Trailer
Season two of AI - Beyond the Hype is a different show, and we need your help to make it.Season one was nine episodes for executives and data leaders on the foundations underneath enterprise AI. Season two answers questions about ...
S01 - It's a Wrap: Nine Episodes, One Argument, and What We Got Wrong
Season one finale.Nine episodes. Four arcs. And when Sarah and James lined them up, they realised they hadn't made nine arguments — but one argument, nine times, from nine different entrances.Every failure covered this se...
S01 - Operating Models for Solid Foundations Part 2 - Fund the Foundation, Not Just the Launch
Part 2 of 2 in our Operating Models for Solid Foundations series.Part 1 diagnosed the problem: enterprises fragment their technology portfolios when they don't choose an operating model explicitly, and architecture governance without fu...
Fan Mail
Great podcast, keep it up!
Australia
