The Artificial Intelligence Show

David's Bridal was built around one thing for 75 years: the dress. In this AI Transformations episode, Elina Vilk (President & Chief Business Officer) and Mike Ball (Head of Product) join Mike Kaput to explain how the company is reinventing itself around the whole wedding journey, the "aisle to algorithm" strategy.

We get into Pearl Planner, the free AI wedding-planning companion now used by hundreds of thousands of couples with no marketing spend; Pearl Connect, the new vendor-side platform built on Google Cloud; the vision quiz and dynamic budgeting that make it work; and how David's own teams are adopting AI internally. Presented by Gemini Enterprise.

Part of the AI Transformations series, presented by Google Cloud.

Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here

Timestamps:

00:00:00 — Intro

00:05:01 — How the AI transformation at David's Bridal began

00:06:36 — The early phases and turning points

00:10:53 — Inside Pearl Planner, the customer-facing assistant

00:13:59 — Using AI for timelines, budget, and vendors

00:19:24 — The models, tools, and platforms behind it

00:21:00 — Pearl Connect and the Google Cloud stack

00:25:46 — Early results from Pearl Planner and Pearl Connect

00:27:32 — How internal teams at David's Bridal use AI

00:33:29 — What's next for David's Bridal

This episode is presented by Google Cloud:

Google Cloud is the new way to the cloud, providing AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and collaboration tools built for today and tomorrow. Google Cloud offers a powerful, fully integrated and optimized AI stack with its own planet-scale infrastructure, custom-built chips, generative AI models and development platform, as well as AI-powered applications, to help organizations transform. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted technology partner.

Learn more about Google Cloud here: https://cloud.google.com/

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A former OpenAI and Anthropic researcher resigned with a warning that went viral, reigniting the "should we slow down?" debate. Then OpenAI said an internal model solved the Navier–Stokes Millennium Prize problem - followed by a credit controversy with an NYU mathematician.

Paul Roetzer and Mike Kaput break down this week’s latest stories, plus new data suggesting an AI jobs boom, Anthropic's 2030 economic scenarios, Jensen Huang declaring AGI has arrived, and a run of "agents gone wild" security incidents.

AI-Pulse Survey: Fill out this week’s AI-Pulse Survey here.

Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here

Timestamps:

00:00:00 — Intro

00:06:35 — Anthropic Researcher Sounds Red Alert on AI Safety

00:45:26 — OpenAI’s Math Breakthrough and Controversy

01:00:48 — AI Jobs Apocalypse Postponed?

01:08:53 — Anthropic Maps Economic Futures

01:15:00 — Jensen Declares AGI

01:18:10 — More AI Agent Security Incidents and Concerns

01:22:25 — AI Use Case Spotlight

01:30:02 — AI Product and Funding Updates

This episode is brought to you by Marketing AI Month. All month, the AI for Marketing Core series inside AI Academy is free (a $499 value): five expert-led sessions from Mike Kaput, the frameworks and tools the SmarterX team actually uses, and a professional certificate on completion. Enroll by September 30 (you don't have to finish by then - just enroll).

The month closes with a live AMA on October 1, where Cathy puts your questions to Paul and Mike; anyone enrolled can attend.

Enroll at SmarterX.ai/marketing.

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A smaller bank replaced a $375,000 software contract by building its own tool, and now runs named "digital employees" that answer tickets, review its websites, and message staff in Teams. This is what an AI transformation actually looks like inside a regulated institution.

CTO John Kowal joins Mike Kaput to unpack Peapack Private Bank and Trust's journey since 2023: flipping build-vs-buy, giving every AI agent a name and personality, building a network of 29 AI champions, and the guardrails that keep AI in check in banking. Part of the AI Transformations series, presented by Google Cloud.

Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here

Timestamps:

00:00:00 — Intro

00:06:02— What PPAC Private Bank and Trust does

00:07:41 — How the AI transformation started

00:10:24 — What's driving PPAC from chat to agents

00:12:09 — Concrete examples of AI changing daily work

00:16:23 — Re-engineering workflows, not just layering on tech

00:17:25 — The technology stack powering the work

00:19:24 — The data warehouse foundation and OpenAI + Microsoft ecosystem

00:24:14 — How AI champions surface use cases

00:25:30 — Measuring impact and ROI

00:27:39 — Lessons learned and what comes next

00:32:09 — Why PPAC gives its digital employees names

00:34:18 — How the CTO role and tech team are changing

00:35:59 — Competing with larger banks

This episode is presented by Google Cloud:

Google Cloud is the new way to the cloud, providing AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and collaboration tools built for today and tomorrow. Google Cloud offers a powerful, fully integrated and optimized AI stack with its own planet-scale infrastructure, custom-built chips, generative AI models and development platform, as well as AI-powered applications, to help organizations transform. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted technology partner.

Learn more about Google Cloud here: https://cloud.google.com/

Visit our website

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GPT-6 Astra can operate a computer for days at a time, and OpenAI is positioning it as the model that does the work, which is exactly why Paul says this launch felt less like a demo and more like a turning point. He and Mike dig into Astra's computer-use leap, the fumbled rollout, and the jobs question the labs keep sidestepping.

Then: New York City's ban on student AI through 8th grade and the debate it set off, Trump going all-in on data centers as the fight reaches the midterms, the U.S. government backing OpenAI in the NYT copyright case, Wall Street banks pushing Big Law to cut fees, and MIT's warning that AI can now complete most undergraduate assignments, plus a rapid fire stacked with model releases.

AI-Pulse Survey: Fill out this week’s AI-Pulse Survey here.

Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here

Timestamps:

00:00:00 — Intro

00:06:10 — GPT-6 Is Here

00:38:51 — Trump Goes All-In on Data Centers

00:45:24 — New York City Schools Ban AI Through Middle School

01:02:43 — US Government Backs OpenAI in The New York Times Copyright Case

01:08:04 — Banks Push Big Law to Pass On AI Savings

01:12:29 — MIT Says AI Can Now Complete Most Undergraduate Assignments

01:16:26 — AI Use Case Spotlight

01:22:32 — AI Product and Funding Updates

This episode is brought to you by Marketing AI Month. All month, the AI for Marketing Core series inside AI Academy is free (a $499 value): five expert-led sessions from Mike Kaput, the frameworks and tools the SmarterX team actually uses, and a professional certificate on completion. Enroll by September 30 (you don't have to finish by then - just enroll).

The month closes with a live AMA on October 1, where Cathy puts your questions to Paul and Mike; anyone enrolled can attend.

Enroll at SmarterX.ai/marketing.

Visit our website

Receive our weekly newsletter

Join our community:

Slack Community

LinkedIn

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Looking for content and resources?

Register for a free webinar

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If you stop hiring entry-level staff and quietly decimate the leadership pipeline, where do future managers come from once AI does the junior work? That's one of 15 listener questions Paul Roetzer and Cathy McPhillips take on in this AI Answers edition, drawn from recent Intro to AI and Scaling AI classes and an Academy Live session with SmarterX's COO and legal counsel.

The conversation runs from the practical (how to carve out time for AI, generic vs. custom agents, human-in-the-loop checkpoints) to the strategic (funding AI, token budgets, intelligence redundancy, and whether we're building businesses on "rented land").

Show Notes: ⁠Access the show notes and show links here⁠

00:00:00 — Intro

00:07:15 — What are the best ways to use AI in marketing?

00:10:54 — How do you carve out time for AI when the team is already slammed?

00:14:46 — Should a small company hire outside consultants to build agents?

00:19:19 — Who should own AI transformation in the enterprise?

00:23:49 — Are there generic agents everyone can use, or do you build your own?

00:25:58 — Can you build human approval checkpoints into an agent?

00:28:01 — How do you enable agents on sensitive data without adding risk?

00:30:31 — How should a company fund its AI investments?

00:34:11 — How do you budget and forecast total AI spend, including tokens?

00:37:03 — What does a right-sized AI vendor approval process look like?

00:40:33 — What happens to your data if an AI vendor is acquired or goes under?

00:42:48 — When should you disclose that AI was used to create the work?

00:46:03 — If AI does the entry-level work, where do future managers come from?

00:47:57 — Is an LLM really a black box, and is that ominous?

00:50:38 — Are we building businesses on rented land with LLMs?

This episode is brought to you by Marketing AI Month. All month, the AI for Marketing Course series inside AI Academy is free (a $499 value): five expert-led sessions from Mike Kaput, the frameworks and tools the SmarterX team actually uses, and a professional certificate on completion. Enroll by September 30 (you don't have to finish by then - just enroll). The month closes with a live AMA on October 1, where Cathy puts your questions to Paul and Mike; anyone enrolled can attend. Enroll at SmarterX.ai/marketing.

Visit our website

Receive our weekly newsletter

Join our community:

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LinkedIn

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Looking for content and resources?

Register for a free webinar

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Enroll in our AI Academy