
← Main Street AI17 Sept · 35 min
If You Offload Expertise to AI, You Offload Control
Ankur Patel interviews Erik Librader, Client Partner, and Ian Butler, Chief Technology Officer, at Vistrada.<br /><br />📩 Subscribe to the Main Street AI Newsletter: https://multimodal.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=podcast<br /><br />Vistrada is a business risk and technology consultancy that sits inside dozens of institutions after the AI contract is signed, which makes this an outside-in view of what actually works and what quietly fails. Erik and Ian break down the 95% of AI spend that never produces measurable return, why the right architecture is usually a chain of small models rather than a chatbot, and why handing expertise to AI means handing over decision making and control with it.<br /><br />Guest: Erik Librader, Client Partner, Vistrada<br />Guest: Ian Butler, Chief Technology Officer, Vistrada<br />Host: Ankur Patel, CEO & Founder, Multimodal<br /><br />0:00 Introduction: Meet Erik and Ian<br />0:39 What the first AI call sounds like<br />2:11 Clients who don't know where to begin<br />3:10 AI is the tool, not the chair<br />5:14 Speed is what's different<br />7:38 Why AI projects fail<br />10:59 Business process optimization in an AI coat<br />13:59 Not an AI consultancy<br />15:45 Repurpose the headcount<br />18:24 Offload expertise, offload control<br />21:23 Snake oil in the vendor market<br />23:24 Loan origination and traceability<br />26:59 Where the real AI risk lives<br />31:25 Budget, sponsorship, ownership<br />32:55 Is the organization ready<br />34:30 Closing