Episode 94 — AI Hype: Maxwell Smith
We are back with our first episode of the brand-new season 9 of the podcast—and we are starting right into the topic of these days: AI … well, the AI hype that is out there. And we are discussing what you can do to avoid falling into the trap of falling for that hype.
Our guest today is Maxwell Smith, who I had the pleasure of working with in a past life. He has years of experience in product management and product marketing in the BPM space with an IT background.
Max is a detail-oriented analytical thinker who enjoys empathizing with customers’ problems and bringing solutions to market through products and positioning. The attention to detail is always contextualized with the larger vision of the product. The key success factor is his passion for tech and understanding of people’s perception of it.
In this episode of the podcast, we talk about:
- Max’ background
- A look at the different forms of AI (and their benefits and drawbacks)
- How to see through “AI-washing”
- Guiding questions to help folks to see if the vendor is really using AI
- Secondary questions/guidelines to consider if AI seems to be legit in a vendor’s pitch
- Other concerns to look out for when implementing AI-supported technology
Max can be reached on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxwell-smith-1b612b83/.
Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or signing up for our newsletter and getting informed when we publish new episodes here: https://www.whatsyourbaseline.com/subscribe/.
Additional information
- Gartner’s Hype Cycle for AI 2025
- Asimov’s laws of robotics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics
Credits
Music by Jeremy Voltz, www.jeremyvoltzmusic.com
Roland Woldt is a well-rounded executive with 25+ years of Business Transformation consulting and software development/system implementation experience, in addition to leadership positions within the German Armed Forces (11 years).
He has worked as Team Lead, Engagement/Program Manager, and Enterprise/Solution Architect for many projects. Within these projects, he was responsible for the full project life cycle, from shaping a solution and selling it, to setting up a methodological approach through design, implementation, and testing, up to the rollout of solutions.
In addition to this, Roland has managed consulting offerings during their lifecycle from the definition, delivery to update, and had revenue responsibility for them.
Roland has had many roles: VP of Global Consulting at iGrafx, Head of Software AG’s Global Process Mining CoE, Director in KPMG’s Advisory (running the EA offering for the US firm), and other leadership positions at Software AG/IDS Scheer and Accenture. Before that, he served as an active-duty and reserve officer in the German Armed Forces.
