A Beginner's Guide to AI

🤖🧠 Thinking with Machines with Vasant Dhar

What happens when AI stops being a tool and starts becoming a collaborator and an agent? In this episode, NYU Stern professor and AI pioneer Vasant Dhar takes us through the real story behind modern AI, and the practical frameworks we need for AI trust, AI governance, and the coming era of agentic AI.

🚀 What you will learn

- Why “thinking with machines” is a bigger idea than “thinking machines”

- How the automation frontier separates low-risk automation from high-stakes human control

- Why healthcare has lots of data but still struggles to make good decisions

- Why mental health is a dangerous place to outsource empathy to machines

- What edge cases in AI mean and why they matter for self-driving cars

- How AI agents change the governance conversation, from obligations to restrictions to rights

📌 Key highlights

- A practical definition of trust in AI based on error rates and consequences

- AI in healthcare data: turning medical trails into usable decision intelligence

- The future of work: AI as an amplifier, not a substitute, unless you let it become a crutch

- Governance questions that no one gets to avoid once agents can act in the world

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About Dietmar Fischer:
Dietmar is a podcaster and AI marketer from Berlin. If you want to know how to get your AI or your digital marketing going, just contact him at argoberlin.com

Quotes from the Episode 💬

“Trust depends on how often a machine makes mistakes and the consequences of those mistakes.”

“In physical health, I’m very optimistic. In mental health, not so.”

“It’ll likely lead to a bifurcation of humanity… skills get amplified… or people rely on the machine as a crutch.”

Chapters ⏱️
00:00 Vasant Dhar’s origin story in AI and early expert systems
05:08 A Brave New World warning and why optimism still needs guardrails
07:26 AI in healthcare vs mental health and why feelings change the rules
12:37 The trust heat map and the automation frontier in real life
18:21 Edge cases, bounded rationality, and what machines pay attention to
26:03 The future of work and why AI amplifies both skill and decline
36:23 Governance, AI agents, and how much agency we should allow
44:05 AI wow moments and the next frontier: integrated machine senses
47:15 Where to find the book, podcast, and newsletter

Where to find Vasant Dhar 🔎
- Visit Vasant's Website, also to find all the links to shops with "Thinking with Machines", his book: vasantdhar.com
- Listen to his Podcast: bravenewpodcast.com
- and get his Newsletter: vasantdhar.substack.com

Music credit: "Modern Situations" by Unicorn Heads`
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Most people think better AI results come from better prompts. This episode proves why that’s wrong.
Professor GePhardT introduces Context Engineering, the missing skill that transforms AI from a confused parrot into a capable collaborator. Through relatable metaphors, real business examples, and a deliciously British cake analogy, you’ll learn how shaping an AI’s environment matters more than clever wording.

You’ll discover:
Why prompt engineering alone fails
How context helps AI understand intent
The difference between guessing and knowing
A real telecom case where context fixed customer support
How to apply context engineering in everyday AI use

📧💌📧
Tune in to get my thoughts and all episodes, don’t forget to ⁠⁠⁠⁠subscribe to our Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠: ⁠⁠⁠⁠beginnersguide.nl⁠⁠⁠⁠
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Quotes from the Episode
“Prompt engineering is asking nicely. Context engineering is setting the stage.”
“Without context, AI is guessing. With context, it understands intent.”
“Context turns AI from a parrot into a collaborator.”

Chapters
00:00 Why Prompts Alone Are Not Enough
04:12 What Context Engineering Really Means
10:25 Understanding Intent Through Context
18:40 Context Engineering vs Prompt Engineering
25:10 Telco Case Study
35:20 The Cake Example
44:00 Final Takeaways

About Dietmar Fischer
Dietmar is a podcaster and AI marketer from Berlin. If you want to know how to get your AI or your digital marketing going, just contact him at argoberlin.com

Music credit: “Modern Situations” by Unicorn Heads 🎵
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🤖🧠 AI is making strategy cheap. Adoption is still expensive.

In this episode, Dietmar Fischer sits down with Bud Caddell (NOBL) to unpack what leaders miss when they roll out generative AI and expect instant results. Bud shares how his team thinks about AI change management, why “turning on Copilot” is not an adoption plan, and what happens to consulting when LLMs can produce “firm-grade” recommendations in seconds.

You will also hear the story behind ConsultingSlop.com, a strategy generator that models the reasoning styles of major consulting firms and outputs polished advice instantly. What started as a parody quickly became a serious signal about commoditization, incentives, and the real differentiator: execution, trust, and organizational design.

Key takeaways you can apply immediately:
✅ How to approach Microsoft Copilot adoption strategy like a redesign effort, not a software toggle
✅ Why AI literacy and training reduce fear, resistance, and “adoption theater”
✅ What the agents wave means in practice, including platforms like Agentforce
✅ How “vibe coding” changes prototyping speed and risk for teams

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About Dietmar Fischer: Dietmar is a podcaster and AI marketer from Berlin. If you want to know how to get your AI or your digital marketing going, just contact him at argoberlin.com

Quotes from the Episode
“AI is this incredible wave that I think is gonna fundamentally change individual organizations, but the entire economy, society at large.”
“We turned on Copilot, so why aren’t we more productive? … it’s a design process.”
“My big prediction is that over the next 18 months, we’re gonna see a lot of backpedaling… and sunk cost fallacy.”

Chapters
00:00 Bud’s path from software to organizational change and why AI feels different
04:20 ConsultingSlop.com, vibe coding, and when AI strategy gets uncomfortably believable
06:30 Copilot mandates vs real adoption, why productivity math fails without redesign
16:40 AI as a catalyst for deeper issues: brand story, conflict, and culture
19:25 The next 18 months: investment traps, backpedaling, and what leaders should do
38:00 Agents, Agentforce, and Bud’s personal AI toolkit plus wow moments and wrap

Where to find the Guest
Bud Caddell: https://budcaddell.com/
NOBL: https://nobl.io/
Consulting Slop: https://consultingslop.com/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/budcaddell/

Music credit: "Modern Situations" by Unicorn Heads
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🚀 In this episode, Dietmar Fischer talks with Janet Barker-Evans about what happens when AI stops being a novelty and becomes part of a serious creative workflow.

Janet breaks down how she uses custom GPTs for marketing as brainstorming partners and how synthetic personas can help teams validate campaigns faster, sometimes in a single day instead of waiting weeks for traditional research cycles.

Our topics today include hands-on AI training, multi-model workflows (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Copilot), and why AI fear often comes down to power and control.

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About the Host:
Dietmar is a podcaster and AI marketer from Berlin. If you want to know how to get your AI or your digital marketing going, just contact him at argoberlin.com

🎯 What you will learn:
How synthetic personas in market research and synthetic customers can accelerate concept testing
How custom GPTs for marketing can unlock better creative options
How to choose between tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Copilot for real business work

🕒 Chapters
00:00 Welcome and Janet’s AI origin story
01:47 Custom GPTs as brainstorming partners for marketers
05:05 Hands-on AI workshops: building confidence across ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Copilot
15:23 Synthetic personas and rapid creative validation with “persona panels”
20:00 Multi-model workflows: choosing the right tool and making outputs usable
35:03 The wow moments and the fear factor: prototyping visuals, power, control, and what’s next

💬 Quotes from the Episode
“It’s like having a partner who’s not afraid to pitch a crazy idea.”
“When we come up with a creative campaign, we will go test it against our synthetic persona panel.”
“They’re all synthetic!”
“Some of them will poke holes in our thinking, which helps us make it stronger.”
“We can gut check it inside of a day.”
“So, it’s about power, it’s about control…”

🔎 Where to find the Guest
Janet's website: janetbarkerevans.com
AbelsonTayler's website: AbelsonTaylor Group
Or connect on LinkedIn with Janet: Janet Barker-Evans

Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the episode, please follow the show and share it with someone who is trying to ship better work faster.

Music credit: "Modern Situations" by Unicorn Heads
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Michael Sacca (Leadpages) on AI-powered landing pages, personalization, and the future of search 🚀

In this conversation, Michael Sacca shares how Leadpages is weaving AI landing page optimization into real marketing workflows - from personalization that actually moves the needle to what Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) means for search and conversions.

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📧📧📧

💡 Highlights
How AI landing page optimization boosts conversion rates with smarter on-page decisions 🤖
Practical ways to implement AI-driven personalization without overwhelming your stack
Why AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) matters as search shifts to assistants and LLMs 🔎
Navigating privacy & data considerations when deploying AI
The future roadmap for AI inside SaaS marketing tools 🚀

⚡Quotes from the Episode
"Can AI be an analyzer of customer data, a designer, or even a generator of entire assets? That’s what we’re experimenting with—expanding from just a landing page builder into a conversion optimization platform, with AI at the heart of that story.” - Michael Sacca

“If we can get you the answer faster, we can increase conversions.” - Michael Sacca

“One exciting use case is syncing ad creative with landing page optimization. Imagine designing a page, having ads produced, and feeding both into a system that constantly optimizes them together. That’s where we’re heading.” - Michael Sacca

🧾 Chapters
00:00 Introduction – Dietmar Fischer welcomes Michael Sacca from Leadpages
05:17 Making AI accessible for SMBs in landing page optimization
10:28 Building an AI-first landing page builder
15:37 The exciting shift in Martech and AI adoption
20:59 Exploring personalization and customer experience challenges
26:09 Conversational landing pages and chatbots in Beta
31:19 The cusp of transformation: AI’s role in marketing workflows
36:39 Lessons from 13 years of Leadpages and the future outlook
41:45 Closing remarks and where to find Michael Sacca

Where to find Michael Sacca:
🔗 Website: leadpages.com
🧑‍🦰 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/michaelsacca
🙅 X/Twitter: x.com/michaelsacca
🎙️ "On the Record" Podcast: lp.leadpages.com/podcast/

📧 Tune in to get my thoughts, and don’t forget to subscribe to our Newsletter: beginnersguide.nl

Music credit: "Modern Situations" by Unicorn Heads
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.