VUX World

Most teams are still asking where to use AI. The better question is where not to. In this episode, Adrian Matei, Product Manager from Jaja Finance, breaks down what actually happens when generative AI meets real users and real constraints. The result is far less hype, far more discipline, and a clear view of what it takes to ship AI that works. We talk about Jaja’s chatbot, Airi, which is a RAG-based agentic system with six agents in production, serving customers who often face sensitive financial situations, such as debt. Adrian explains the design philosophy behind Airi’s tone, which was developed in collaboration with Jaja's commercial and communications teams to ensure it matches the brand across every customer touchpoint. A significant part of the conversation focuses on the practical realities of building production-grade generative AI systems. Adrian shares his thinking on when to use generative AI and when deterministic, rule-based approaches are simply the better choice. We also touch on broader themes, including the future of AI at the edge and the emerging role of personal AI assistants. Show notes Discover more about the CCW UK Summit: https://europe.customercontactweekdigital.com/events-ccw-uk/agenda-mc/?utm_source=VUX%20World&utm_medium=Media%20Partner&utm_campaign=47758.003_VUX_Social_Post_Agenda&utm_term=&utm_content=&disc=&extTreatId=7634824 Follow Adrian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriangmatei Follow Kane on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms Take our updated AI Maturity Assessment: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/a26bf9Rr?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=audio Subscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeW Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimms Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We hit the floor at the European Chatbot and Conversational AI Summit in Edinburgh with a mic and a simple rule: answer a question, then leave one for the next person. What unfolds is a chain of questions and answers from practitioners at Lebara, Lloyds Banking Group, Uber, ElevenLabs, Carrefour, Virgin Money, Tesco, Jaja Finance and more. The result is an organic, unscripted snapshot of what the conversational AI community is actually thinking about right now. Topics spiral from enterprise AI adoption and the talent crunch, through agentic banking and agent metrics, to some surprisingly personal territory, including AI for mental health support, cardiac research and simplifying the mundane parts of everyday life. Show notes Find out more about The European Chatbot & Conversational AI Summit: https://theeuropeanchatbot.com Follow Kane on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms Take our updated AI Maturity Assessment: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/a26bf9Rr?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=audio Subscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeW Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimms Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most companies sit on a goldmine of customer insight and do almost nothing with it. Every conversation holds signals about frustration, churn risk, and broken experiences, yet extracting that value can be a slow and manual effort. In this episode, Shane Lynn, CEO and Co-Founder of EdgeTier, unpacks how conversational intelligence is evolving in the age of large language models and what it means for contact centres. Shane explains how EdgeTier can now model metrics such as resolution rate and customer satisfaction across every interaction, rather than relying on the 10–15% survey response rate most contact centres achieve. We also get into the organisational challenge that underpins all of this: contact centres often hold the richest customer insights in the business, but lack the tools or organisational standing to act on them. Shane argues that data-driven contact centres can shift from being reactive cost centres to genuine strategic assets, influencing product, policy and process decisions across the wider business. Finally, we touch on the growing challenge of monitoring AI agent conversations and why automated analysis of those transcripts may actually matter more than it does for human-handled interactions. Show notes Discover more about EdgeTier: http://edgetier.com/ Follow Shane on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanealynn Follow Kane on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms Take our updated AI Maturity Assessment: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/a26bf9Rr?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=audio Subscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeW Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimms Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you test something that can behave differently every single time? In this episode, we speak with Amitha Pulijala, Chief Product Officer, and Christoph Börner, VP of Engineering, both at Cyara, about one of the most pressing challenges in conversational AI today. The shift from deterministic, scripted IVRs to generative AI agents is changing how conversational systems are built and tested. The episode covers how Cyara approaches testing in a non-deterministic world, including using AI agents to test AI agents, and why traditional ideas like test coverage no longer apply in the same way. Christoph and Amitha share what they are seeing across Cyara’s clients and the wider industry. The discussion unpacks what AI trust means in practice. We talk about hallucinations, model drift, factual accuracy, bias and regulatory compliance. We explore the economics of generative AI. The cost of running it at scale in production and in testing, and how organisations are rethinking where large language models are necessary versus where smaller, domain-specific models are more effective. The discussion also highlights how failure can scale in AI systems, where a single bad response can affect thousands of customers. Show notes Get a free pass to Cyara’s Xchange 2026 in Dallas, TX, using code VUX: https://cyara.com/event/xchange-2026 Find out more about Cyara: https://cyara.com Follow Amitha on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amitha Follow Christoph on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christoph-b%C3%B6rner-7721ab147 Follow Kane on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms Subscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeW Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimms Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Generative AI is changing how customer support chatbots are built, deployed and measured. In this episode, we sit down with Alia Azim, Product Lead for Chatbots at Citation Group, to discuss the company’s shift from traditional NLU chatbots to generative AI conversational agents. Alia brings a wealth of experience in conversational AI, including time spent at Lloyds Banking Group, and she gives us an honest account of what it actually looks like to move from NLU-based chatbots to generative AI in a real business environment. Citation Group provides HR, compliance and business services for thousands of small and medium businesses. Supporting those customers means handling everything from platform troubleshooting to account access issues. Alia explains how their team rebuilt the chatbot strategy around generative AI, focusing on specific use cases, improved knowledge management, and outcomes that actually resolve customer problems. We explore the limitations of traditional intent-based bots, why generative AI dramatically changes how conversational systems are designed and why success metrics like containment are being replaced by resolution rate. We also get into the debate around whether conversation design is dead. Designers and engineers still play a critical role, but the work now focuses less on building rigid flows and more on shaping AI behaviour through guidance, knowledge design and customer journey thinking. Show notes Follow Alia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliaazim/ Follow Kane Simms on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms Download our exclusive report on how AI agents keep CX stable when volume explodes: https://vux.la/scale Take our updated AI Maturity Assessment: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/a26bf9Rr?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=audio&utm_campaign=vuxconsulting25 Subscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeW Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimms Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when AI stops being treated like a tool and starts being hired like an employee? In this episode, we sit down with Gabe Larsen, Chief Revenue Officer at Atonom (formerly known as Signals), to explore a bold reframing of AI agents as “cloud employees” hired on salary to perform specific job roles. Rather than selling software seats or charging per conversation, Atonom packages AI as role-based digital workers. You hire an AI SDR, a customer service rep, or a recruiter. You coach them and you measure their output. And if they do not perform, you let them go. Gabe explains why the traditional SaaS model failed to deliver outcomes, how AI agents are shifting from tools to teammates, and why pricing AI like a human employee simplifies adoption. We dive into multi-channel AI employees, autonomous multi-agent systems, role-based templates and the realities of scaling AI across sales, customer service and recruiting. Gabe also shares his views on the broader AI market, where Signals sits relative to other AI players and why he believes multi-channel autonomy is a key differentiator. Show notes Find out more about Atonom: https://atonom.ai/ Follow Gabe Larsen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabelarsen Follow Kane Simms on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms Download our exclusive report on how AI agents keep CX stable when volume explodes: https://vux.la/scale Take our updated AI Maturity Assessment: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/a26bf9Rr?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=audio&utm_campaign=vuxconsulting25 Subscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeW Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimms Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Generative AI has changed how conversations are built and experienced. Georgios Tserdanelis, VP of Conversation Design at JPMorganChase, draws on 15 years of designing voice and chat systems to explain what still holds up, what breaks and why conversation design matters more than ever. Georgios brings years of hands-on experience designing voice and chat experiences across startups and global enterprises, including JPMorganChase, Cigna and Walgreens. With a background in linguistics, he offers a grounded perspective on how human conversation actually works and why those fundamentals still matter in a world of generative AI. We explore how conversational AI has evolved from scripted IVR and NLU systems to large language models and agentic experiences. Georgios explains why many current GenAI deployments struggle with basic conversational principles such as turn-taking, acknowledgement, and context management. Georgios shares practical insights on designing effective voice and chat experiences at a massive scale in highly regulated industries, where small error rates translate into real-world risk. One of the key themes that emerges during our discussion is the changing role of the conversation designer, the balance between deterministic flows and generative systems, voice versus chat design constraints, and why silence, timing and modality choice matter as much as language itself. We also cover fraud, voice cloning, brand identity in AI assistants and how customer expectations are shifting as people get used to talking to increasingly capable machines. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

HBX Group sits in the middle of one of the most complex customer service chains in travel. A single issue can span a traveller, a travel agent, a global booking platform and a hotel on the other side of the world. In this episode, we explore how HBX Group is leveraging artificial intelligence to transform its global customer service operations with Xavier Godoy Moya, Customer Experience & Automation Director, and Adam Tinsley, Global Customer Service Director. We break down how HBX uses AI-driven classification to triage hundreds of thousands of monthly cases across voice, chat, email and ticketing systems. The team explains how generative models replaced traditional intent-matching systems, enabling accurate routing across more than 70 case types while supporting deterministic safeguards required at operational scale. Adam and Xavier share results across several key use cases, including an AI classification system that accurately categorises customer inquiries into 70 different intents, automated handling of common requests such as booking confirmations and cancellations, and an innovative workflow that can automatically communicate with hotels on behalf of agents. Their real-time translation solution has enabled 24/7 service across 13 languages, dramatically expanding their global support capabilities. We also discuss their approach to agent training, which includes an AI simulation system that lets new staff practice handling customer conversations at varying levels of difficulty before taking real calls. The episode closes with measured business outcomes, including faster case resolution, growing automation rates, operational insights unlocked through AI-native reporting and the next wave of experimentation around sentiment-aware routing and more adaptive voice experiences. Show notes Find out more about HBX Group: https://www.hbxgroup.com Follow Kane Simms on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms Download our exclusive report on how AI agents keep CX stable when volume explodes: https://vux.world/how-ai-agents-keep-cx-stable-when-volume-explodes/?utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=SurgeHappens Take our updated AI Maturity Assessment: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/a26bf9Rr?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=audio&utm_campaign=vuxconsulting25 Subscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeW Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimms Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From IVRs to multimodal AI experiences, the hardest problems are rarely technical. In this episode, we dive into the evolving landscape of conversational AI and enterprise automation with Anne Cantera, Senior Product Designer at Optimum. With extensive experience in transforming traditional IVR systems into conversational interfaces, Anne shares valuable insights on the practical implementation of AI in customer service environments. We explore the concept of 'hybrid architecture' in AI implementation, discussing how combining rule-based automation with generative AI often provides the optimal solution for enterprise needs. Anne explains how her team strategically deploys generative AI in low-risk scenarios while maintaining deterministic approaches where precision is critical, particularly in their recently launched NLU routing system. The conversation also covers the importance of customer-centric design in AI implementations, with Anne emphasising that the ultimate goal should be making experiences simpler for customers rather than focusing solely on containment metrics. We discuss how different industries approach AI adoption based on their risk profiles and how businesses are navigating the challenges of integrating new technologies with legacy systems. Show notes Follow Anne on LinkedIn Follow Kane Simms on LinkedIn Take our updated AI Maturity Assessment Subscribe to VUX World Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AI has moved from pilot projects to boardroom urgency. Companies feel the pressure to act, hire, and keep up. Many start with tools or chase a single unicorn hire. Chris Morrow, Founder of Digitalent, explains why this approach fails and why the real battle is for people who can drive transformation, culture change and long-term value. In this episode, Chris draws on two decades of experience in tech recruitment and his work with VC-backed startups, global enterprises, and governments. He breaks down why AI hiring is unlike any previous talent cycle. Roles are ill-defined, expectations are inflated, and the best candidates command eye-watering compensation, especially in the US. He describes the AI talent market as an arms race, with startups, big tech and even nations competing for the same small pool of elite engineers and researchers. The conversation goes beyond salaries and job titles. Chris shares what AI-ready companies do differently, why small proof-point projects matter more than grand 18-month programmes and how misuse of AI can kill belief internally before value is ever realised. The episode also explores the global picture. The US surge in AI investment and talent density. The UK experiences brain drain and risk-averse capital. Australia’s early-stage market. Chris offers a blunt assessment of government readiness, education systems and why countries that fail to treat AI as a productivity and talent priority will fall behind. This is the ultimate episode on the AI talent war, covering what companies should fix before hiring, which roles actually matter, how the best teams are built, and why the next decade will reward organisations that treat AI as a people-and-change challenge first and a technology problem second. Show notes Check out Digitalent: https://digitalent.agency Connect with Chris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismorrow/ Discover UKAI: https://ukai.co/ Follow Kane Simms on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms Take our updated AI Maturity Assessment: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/a26bf9Rr?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=audio&utm_campaign=vuxconsulting25 Subscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeW Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimms Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cars are becoming one of the most competitive frontiers in AI, and most people don’t realise how complex it really is. In this episode, we’re joined by BalaKrishna Kolluru, Senior Director of AI at Cerence, the company powering conversational AI in over 500 million vehicles worldwide. With over 25 years of experience in machine learning and speech recognition, Bala brings deep insights into how generative AI is transforming the in-vehicle experience. We explore how voice AI in vehicles has evolved from basic command-and-control systems to sophisticated conversational interfaces powered by hybrid cloud-edge architectures. Bala explains how Cerence's technology serves around 80 car manufacturers globally, and how their agentic AI approach enables seamless integration with external systems while maintaining functionality even without cloud connectivity. We address the technical challenges of implementing voice AI in vehicles, from microphone placement to processing capabilities, and explain how Cerence collaborates closely with manufacturers to create systems that minimise cognitive load while keeping drivers connected and safe. We also discuss how generative AI has expanded the capabilities of in-car assistants, enabling more natural, contextual interactions that can anticipate user needs. Show notes Discover more about Cerence AI Connect with Bala on LinkedIn Follow Kane Simms on LinkedIn Take our updated AI Maturity Assessment Subscribe to VUX World Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does it really take to build AI that can resolve customer support at scale reliably, safely, and with measurable business impact? We explore how Intercom has evolved from a traditional customer support platform into an AI-first company, with its AI assistant, Fin, now resolving 65% of customer queries without human intervention. Intercom's Chief AI Officer, Fergal Reid, discusses the company's journey from natural language understanding (NLU) systems to their current retrieval augmented generation (RAG) approach, explaining how they've optimised every component of their AI pipeline with custom-built models. The conversation covers Intercom's unique approach to AI product development, emphasising standardisation and continuous improvement rather than customisation for individual clients. Fergal explains their outcome-based pricing model, where clients pay for successful resolutions rather than conversations, and how this aligns incentives across the business. We also discuss Intercom's approach to agentic AI, which enables their systems to perform complex, multi-step tasks, such as processing refunds, by integrating with various APIs. Fergal shares insights on testing methodologies, the balance between customisation and standardisation, and the challenges of building AI products in a rapidly evolving technological landscape. Finally, Fergal shares what excites and honestly freaks him out a bit about where AI is heading next. Timestamps 00:00 - Intro 02:31 - Welcome to Fergal Reid 05:26 - How to train an NLU solution effectively? 08:56 - What gen AI changed for Intercom 10:57 - How would you describe Fin? 14:30 - Fin’s performance increase 17:18 - Inrercom’s custom models 22:14 - Large Language Models vs Small Language Models 30:40 - RAG and 'the full stop problem' 40:08 - Agentic AI capabilities at Intercom 50:40 - Intercom’s approach to testing 1:04:46 - About the most exciting things in the AI space Show notes Learn more about Intercom Connect with Fergal Reid on LinkedIn Follow Kane Simms on LinkedIn Article - The full stop problem: RAG’s biggest limitation Take our updated AI Maturity Assessment Subscribe to VUX World Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Joe Kim, the new CEO of DRUID AI, unpacks what might be the biggest shift in technology since the internet. We discuss the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence and its growing impact on businesses. Joe, who has been in his role for 70 days, brings fresh perspectives on how DRUID AI positioned itself as a workflow automation platform years before the market caught up, a bet that's now paying off as companies move beyond AI experimentation into real implementation. The discussion covers the current state of the AI market, including the challenges of customer adoption, why some customers actively prefer interacting with AI over humans, and the importance of maintaining a balance between generative and agentic AI. Joe also shares his vision of AI as the next major distribution platform. Just as Amazon has tried to make Alexa the operating system of our lives, OpenAI’s ChatGPT and similar platforms could become the primary gateway to accessing services in the future. Chapters 00:00 - Meet Joe Kim 00:33 - Celebrating 70 days at DRUID AI 01:35 - What attracted Joe to DRUID 03:06 - The real value of AI 06:43 - What Joe learnt about the market 11:19 - The AI God Box for enterprises 14:08 - The state of the AI market 20:29 - Why you should learn about AI as much as you can 23:47 - Generative AI adoption among enterprises 27:36 - The concept of agent washing 36:05 - Is AI bigger than the internet? 39:11 - ChatGPT as the new distribution platform 48:52 - Will chatbots replace websites and apps? 50:31 - The next 6–12 months for DRUID AI 56:59 - The biggest AI ultimatum facing businesses today 1:01:29 - AI replacing people is not growth 1:05:33 - The systems of record at enterprises and LLMs 1:08:46 - The future of AI automation 1:14:13 - LLMs could replace apps Show notes Find out more about DRUID AI Follow Joe Kim on LinkedIn Sign up for our webinar: How to run AI like your business depends on it Follow Kane Simms on LinkedIn Take our updated AI Maturity Assessment Subscribe to VUX World Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Everyone's slapping 'agentic' on their AI products, but what does that even mean? Anne Jenkins, Vice President of Solution Architecture at Teneo, helps us separate substance from buzzwords. In this episode, Anne shares her expertise on agentic AI and the evolution of conversational AI technologies. We explore what truly makes an AI ‘agentic’ versus the marketing hype all over your LinkedIn feed and beyond. Anne explains why Teneo's hybrid approach, combining traditional NLU capabilities with large language models, creates more reliable, cost-effective, and latency-friendly solutions than pure LLM implementations. We also discuss the challenges organisations face when adopting AI solutions, including the misconception that LLMs alone can solve all problems without proper conversation design or business rule integration. Anne shares valuable insights on how companies can prepare for AI adoption through education, competitive pilots, and architectural considerations. We touch on many best practices when it comes to implementation, with Anne emphasising the importance of proper context engineering, state management, and dynamic prompting. Chapters 00:00 - Meet Anne Jenkins 05:01 - AI is now a boardroom conversation 06:48 – OpenAI’s agentic AI platform 08:48 – What is an AI agent? 21:38 – The hybrid AI model or end-to-end LLMs 26:49 – AI in debt collection 34:55 – How Teneo helps implement agentic AI 42:39 – Context engineering 47:19 – State management and LLMs 55:40 – How Teneo designs AI experiences 01:00:32 – Demo – teaching Teneo something new 01:10:26 – How businesses should adopt AI 01:16:44 – What sets Teneo apart Show notes Check out Teneo Follow Anne Jenkins on LinkedIn Read Kane’s article - What agentic AI actually is: a deeply researched and definitive explanation Follow Kane Simms on LinkedIn Take our updated AI Maturity Assessment Subscribe to VUX World Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Once switched off during busy periods, Lloyds Banking Group’s chatbot now handles more than 15 million conversations a year. Learn what it really takes to build AI solutions that customers trust with their money. We sit down with Cainan Wright, Senior Product Owner, and John Young, AI Lead - Chatbots and Generative AI, from Lloyds Banking Group, to explore their remarkable nine-year journey in building one of the UK's most successful banking chatbots. From handling 3 million conversations in 2021 to over 15 million in 2025, they share the hard-earned lessons of transforming a rather "unloved" virtual assistant into a mission-critical service for almost 27 million customers. We cover how the team stabilised their service by focusing on the basics, investing in design expertise, and securing organisational buy-in through demonstrating clear value. Cainan and John also share valuable insights into their pragmatic approach to generative AI, explaining how they combine deterministic processes with generative language capabilities to deliver the best customer experience while maintaining brand consistency and ensuring regulatory compliance. The team's journey offers important lessons about perseverance and the importance of striking a balance between innovation and responsibility when deploying AI in a highly regulated industry. Show notes Follow Kane Simms on LinkedIn Discover VUX Consulting Take our updated AI Maturity Assessment Subscribe to VUX World Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we dive into the art and science of context engineering with Martin Cross, President of Connect, a company that empowers enterprises to transform through the use of AI and automation. Martin shares how most businesses still approach AI with a technology-first mindset, deploying solutions before clearly defining the customer problem they’re solving. He explains why successful AI experiences begin with understanding the user journey, designing the right interaction, and then selecting the appropriate tools, not the other way around. We also unpack Connect’s acquisition of Elerian AI and why contact centre voice recordings represent an untapped goldmine of training data. Martin explains how fine-tuning models with real-world conversations, including dialects, accents, and customer intents, can dramatically improve AI accuracy and empathy. The conversation delves into the various layers of context - from session-level to journey-wide to CRM-integrated, and how they work together to transform generic interactions into deeply personalised, proactive experiences. We also reflect on why the industry continues to repeat old mistakes and how businesses can design AI that truly understands and anticipates customer needs. Show notes Follow Martin Cross on LinkedIn Find out more about Connect Follow Kane Simms on LinkedIn Discover VUX Consulting Take our updated AI Maturity Assessment Subscribe to VUX World Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Voice AI is having a breakthrough moment. With large language models delivering unprecedented understanding and next-gen text-to-speech achieving near-human fidelity, the possibilities for immersive, scalable, and personalised customer experiences are greater than ever. We’re joined by Andrei Papancea (CEO & Co-Founder, NLX) and Kylan Gibbs (CEO & Co-Founder, Inworld), who break down how their companies are working together, making studio-quality voice experiences accessible to developers and enterprises at scale. The conversation traces how voice technology has progressed from basic assistants to today’s lifelike AI voices. We also discuss the shift from brand voices to brand personalities, and how voice experiences can be tailored to different demographic segments and eventually to individual users. This episode is brought to you by NLX. NLX is a conversational AI platform enabling brands to build and manage chat, voice and multimodal applications. NLX’s patented Voice+ technology synchronizes voice with digital channels, making it possible to automate complex use cases typically handled by a human agent. When a customer calls, the voice AI guides them to resolve their inquiry through self-service using the brand’s digital asset, resulting in automation and CSAT scores well above industry average. Just ask United Airlines. Show notes Learn more about Inworld Kane Simms on LinkedIn Discover VUX Consulting Take the updated AI Maturity Assessment Subscribe to VUX World Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when one of the world’s leading analysts on customer service and conversational technologies sits down to unpack the future of AI? We explore the profound implications of AI adoption with Ian Jacobs, VP, Lead Analyst at Opus Research. We discuss how AI is transforming contact centres and customer service operations, from agent augmentation to process automation. Ian shares insights on how businesses are navigating the balance between AI efficiency and human empathy, including the fascinating concept of when non-empathetic AI might actually be the more empathetic choice for customers in certain scenarios. Along the way, the conversation zooms out into deeper territory, touching on human happiness, the future of work, and whether regulation can ever keep pace with innovation. Show notes Learn more about Opus Research Kane Simms on LinkedIn Discover VUX Consulting Take the updated AI Maturity Assessment Subscribe to VUX World Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Conversational AI platforms is back in 2025! This is a must-watch for CX leaders seeking to make informed decisions about their AI tech stack. Here, we provide deep technology market analysis for artificial intelligence in customer experience. Whether you're looking to build AI chatbots, AI agents, Retrieval Augmented Generation applications, these conversational AI platforms are the best of breed. Show notes Kane Simms on LinkedIn Discover VUX Consulting Take the updated AI Maturity Assessment Subscribe to VUX World Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As one of the world’s largest car manufacturers, Toyota is giving its machines a voice using AI as a trusted partner to transform how cars are built and serviced. In this episode, we speak with Kordel France, Principal AI Engineer & AI Architect at Toyota, to uncover how artificial intelligence is reshaping production and maintenance globally. We explore how Toyota has moved from technicians spending hours sifting through thousands of pages of manuals to intelligent systems that can diagnose faults in seconds and even predict breakdowns before they happen. Kordel explains the technical architecture behind these solutions, blending classical machine learning with generative AI, and the challenges of creating specialised systems from general-purpose models. You’ll also hear why high-quality data ingestion is more important than the model itself, how even a relatively small number of users can drive asymmetric improvements in efficiency, and what Toyota’s collaboration with NLX means for service technicians working across increasingly complex powertrains. Show notes Kane Simms on LinkedIn Discover VUX Consulting Take the updated AI Maturity Assessment Subscribe to VUX World Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.