This is Part 2 of my series on the 7-Layer Agentic AI Framework. Part 1 covered the Perception Layer, how agents ingest and normalize raw inputs. The Semantic Layer picks up right where perception leaves off: perception handles what the agent sees; the semantic layer governs what the agent knows and what it’s allowed to […]
The Semantic Layer: How AI Agents Understand The Context of Your Business Read More »
This is Part 1 of my series on the 7-Layer Agentic AI Framework. This post covers the Perception Layer, how agents transform raw inputs into structured intelligence before any reasoning happens. Part 2 covers the Semantic Layer, which picks up right where perception leaves off: perception handles what the agent sees; the semantic layer governs
The Perception Layer: Why Your AI Agent Needs to See Before It Can Think Read More »
Welcome to Episode 17 of AI, Actually! This week features Jim Johnson as host, joined by Andy Sweet, Nicole Kosky, and first-time guest Evan Gatch—AnswerRocket’s VP, Consulting Sales—for a candid conversation about what consulting actually looks like in the AI era. The spark? A recent Wall Street Journal piece validating what the team has been
New Researcher + AI brand tracking methodology is the first of multiple initiatives designed to drive deeper insights and improved outcomes for clients. Highlights: LONDON AND ATLANTA, March 18, 2026 – Basis Global, a market research and brand intelligence firm, today announced a strategic partnership with AnswerRocket, an enterprise AI solutions consultancy, to redesign how
Welcome to Episode 16 of AI, Actually! This week Pete Reilly hosts alongside Mike Finley, Shanti Greene, and Stew Chisam to dig into one of the hottest debates in tech right now: is vibe coding the death of software development, or just the next chapter? The headlines have been dramatic—Block, parent company of Square, announcing
AI, Actually – Episode 16: Will Vibe Coding Kill Software Engineering? Read More »
Welcome to Episode 15 of AI, Actually! This week Pete Reilly hosts Andy Sweet, Jim Johnson, and Stew Chisam for an honest look at the growing gap between what’s possible with AI today and where most businesses actually stand. While the team is building full-stack apps in an afternoon and watching agents autonomously run multi-hour
AI, Actually – Episode 15: How Businesses Can Actually Get Started with AI Read More »
Complexity is crushing the CPG industry. Across the value chain—from SKU proliferation to global supply logistics—CPG leaders are overwhelmed by raw data but severely lacking decisive, actionable answers. The systems built for the last decade cannot manage the scale of modern business, leaving up to 90% of your operational decisions running blind. Here’s the simplest
How Agentic AI Unlocks Growth and Infinite Analyst Scale for CPGs Read More »
Welcome to Episode 14 of AI, Actually! This week Pete Reilly hosts Jim Johnson, Shanti Greene, and Stew Chisam for a conversation about three interconnected developments forcing enterprises to rethink everything from organizational structure to software procurement. The discussion opens with OpenClaw (formerly ClaudeBot and briefly MoltBot)—an open-source AI assistant that doesn’t just suggest actions
Welcome to Episode 13 of AI, Actually! This week takes a different format—Pete Reilly hosts a live demo and discussion with Alon Goren, Mike Finley, and Andy Sweet as they walk through a working CRM built in just a few weeks using AI coding agents. But this isn’t about showing off a new CRM—it’s about
Featuring Vaithi Bharath, Associate Director of Data Science & AI Solutions at Bayer. In a recent episode of the AI in Business Podcast sponsored by AnswerRocket, Vaithi Bharath, Associate Director of Data Science & AI Solutions at Bayer, joined host Matthew DeMello, Editorial Director at Emerj AI Research, to explore one of pharma’s most persistent
Welcome to Episode 12 of AI, Actually. This week features Jim Johnson as host, joined by Joey Gaspierik, Nicole Kosky, and Stew Chisam for a deep dive into what might be the most important emerging discipline in enterprise AI: Agent Operations (AgentOps). As enterprises move from impressive demos to production agents doing real work, a
Co-authored by Stew Chisam, Operating Partner, StellarIQ If you blinked recently, you might have missed a major shift in the AI landscape. In the span of just a few weeks, the industry has delivered a rapid succession of sophisticated releases: OpenAI’s GPT 5.2, Anthropic’s coding specialist Claude Opus 4.5, and Google’s efficiency engine, Gemini 3 Flash.
Beyond Benchmarks: How to Choose Between Gemini 3, GPT 5.2, and Opus 4.5 Read More »
Welcome to Episode 11 of AI, Actually! This week features Pete Reilly as host, joined by Jim Johnson, Alon Goren, and Shanti Greene to unpack OpenAI’s recent white paper “From Experiments to Deployments: A Practical Path to Scaling AI.” But this isn’t just a review—it’s a reality check based on years of front-line experience helping
The AI landscape is evolving faster than most enterprises can adapt. We asked our leadership team for their predictions on where AI is heading in 2026. Here’s what they had to say. 1. Multimedia Creation Will Flawlessly Mimic Real Artists and People Video, music, and image generation will take another massive leap forward in 2026.
Why Karpathy’s “Decade of the Agent” Means You Need to Start Today Andrej Karpathy just handed executives everywhere what might sound like permission to wait. In a recent Dwarkesh Patel podcast, the AI expert said 2025 isn’t the “year of the agent,” it’s the “decade of the agent.” I can already hear the boardroom conversations:
Don’t Wait for Perfect AI: Why the ‘Decade of the Agent’ Means Start Today Read More »
Welcome to Episode 10 of AI, Actually! This week features Pete Reilly as host, joined by our technical dream team: Andy Sweet, Shanti Greene, and Stew Chisam. Fresh off Gemini 3’s launch, the team goes deep on what’s actually different, how it stacks up against GPT-5.1 and Claude, and why Google’s play is about ecosystems,
AI, Actually – Episode 10: Gemini 3 Deep Dive and Bold Predictions for 2026 Read More »
The conversation around AI agents has reached a fever pitch. Every enterprise leader we talk to wants to know: How do we actually do this? How do we move from proof-of-concept demos to agents that get real work done? We recently sat down with our AI Business Transformation team: Nicole Kosky, who leads the practice,
What It Really Takes to Get an AI Agent Up and Running Read More »
You must take a human-centric approach to engage a skeptical workforce. Picture this: You’re a leader introducing new AI tools that promise to revolutionize how work gets done. The executives are thrilled. The consultants are celebrating. But when you look around your team, you see crossed arms, furrowed brows, and a Slack channel full of
Featuring Mike Finley, CTO at AnswerRocket Our own Mike Finley, CTO at AnswerRocket, recently joined Matthew DeMello, Editorial Director at Emerj AI Research, on the AI in Business Podcast to continue the conversation about enterprise AI in CPG. Building on Jim Johnson’s earlier appearance, Mike dives deep into the technical and strategic realities of moving
AI in Business Podcast: Turning Consumer Goods Data into Real-Time Business Decisions Read More »
Welcome to Episode 9 of AI, Actually! This week features Jim Johnson as host, joined by three voices from the front lines of AI implementation: Joey Gaspierik (Sales Director who meets with clients daily), Shanti Greene (Senior Data Scientist with deep technical expertise), and Nicole Kosky (leader of our AI Business Transformation practice). This episode
OpenAI’s recent Dev Day made waves with the announcement of Apps SDK and AgentKit, tools designed to make building AI agents more accessible than ever. But beyond the flashy demos and 800 million daily users milestone, what does this really mean for enterprise leaders navigating the AI landscape? Our team weighed in on the latest
Beyond the Hype: 5 Key Insights from OpenAI’s Dev Day Read More »
Featuring Jim Johnson, President at AnswerRocket Our own Jim Johnson, President at AnswerRocket, recently joined Matthew DeMello, Editorial Director at Emerj AI Research, on the AI in Business Podcast to explore how agentic AI is revolutionizing consumer packaged goods (CPG) analytics. The conversation cuts through the hype to reveal practical strategies for companies drowning in
AI in Business Podcast: CPG Data Challenges to Business Value with Agentic AI Read More »
Welcome to Episode 8 of AI, Actually! This week features Pete Reilly as host, joined by Alon Goren (founder and CEO), Jim Johnson (who leads our services organization), and Mike Finley (our guide through the LLM landscape). The team tackles one of the hottest debates in enterprise AI: is 2025 really the “year of the
Welcome to Episode 7 of AI, Actually! This week features Jim Johnson stepping in as host (while Pete enjoys 30A), joined by Mike Finley, and two special guests from our AI Business Transformation team: Nicole Kosky, who leads the practice, and Reilly Carroll, Senior AI Solutions Consultant. Fresh off client meetings in Europe, Jim brings
Welcome to Episode 6 of AI, Actually! This week features Pete Reilly as moderator, joined by Mike Finley, Andy Sweet, and Stew for a deep dive into the engineering principles that separate successful AI implementations from failed proofs of concept. This episode unpacks six critical engineering principles from AI thought leader Nate B. Jones, translating
AI is at an inflection point. Models are powerful, tools are plentiful, and pilots are easy to launch. Yet most organizations stall when moving from prototypes to meaningful transformation. The constraint isn’t intelligence; it’s execution. The solution is not new. For decades, the best engineering outcomes have come when builders sit close to users. Palantir
Forward Deployed Engineers: The Critical Role That Drives AI Success Read More »
Co-authored by Stew Chisam, Operating Partner, StellarIQ After extensive hands-on testing with Replit Agent 3, we can tell you it represents a meaningful step forward in AI-assisted development. But not for the reasons you might expect, and not without significant limitations you need to understand before adopting it. What Is Replit Agent 3? Replit Agent
Welcome to Episode 5 of AI, Actually. This week features Pete Reilly as our moderator, joined by Alon Goren (CEO and co-founder), Shanti Greene (Head of Data Science and AI Innovation at AnswerRocket), and Stew Chisam (Operating Partner at StellarIQ). This episode tackles three major themes shaping enterprise AI today. First, we dive into Sequoia’s
The ML vs. LLM Debate Is Missing the Point “Should we build ML models or just use LLMs?” This is the wrong question, but I hear it constantly. Companies either pour millions into enterprise LLM licenses hoping they’ll handle everything, or they build sophisticated ML models that only data scientists can understand and translate. Most
Data Science Democratized: Why ML Models and LLMs are a Powerful Combination Read More »
Welcome to Episode 4 of AI, Actually! This week brings a fresh lineup with Jim Johnson stepping into the moderator role, joined by Mike Finley, Andy Sweet (leader of AnswerRocket’s advanced models practice), and Shanti Greene (senior data scientist and our resident “mad scientist running more models locally than OpenAI”). This episode dives deep into
