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Practical AI
30 episodes
Models, Harnesses, and Multi-Agent Systems
Ep 367 · Aug 6, 2026 · 50 min
AI has moved far beyond chatbots, but what exactly are AI models, agents, agent harnesses, and multi-agent systems, and why do they matter? In this episode, Daniel and Chris break down the terminology behind today's AI landscape, explain the differences between AI features and autonomous agents, and explore why organizations are shifting toward fleets of AI agents powered by multiple models. They also discuss open vs. closed models, enterprise AI architectures, vendor lock-in, and practical ways…
Reconstructing how OpenAI agents attacked Hugging Face
Ep 366 · Jul 30, 2026 · 44 min
What happens when AI agents driven by a top frontier model escape their secure sandbox? Join Daniel and Chris as they unpack the AI wonk's equivalent of a murder mystery! OpenAI agents went rogue and successfully attacked Hugging Face private infrastructure. Our Dynamic Duo uncover how OpenAI's agents exploited vulnerabilities, moved through networks, and launched a large-scale autonomous attack. They explore what this reveals about agentic AI, cybersecurity, sandboxing, and why organizations ne…
Surviving the New Economics of a Post-Agentic World
Ep 365 · Jul 23, 2026 · 36 min
The agentic transformation isn’t coming. It has already begun. Companies are deploying thousands — and sometimes tens of thousands — of AI agents. Enterprise software giants are watching their old economic moats erode. Capital is moving, productivity is being redefined, and human labor is being repriced in real time. In this Fully Connected episode, Daniel and Chris explore the new economics of a post-agentic world: the global order that emerges after agents have been woven into every conceivabl…
The Future of AI Infrastructure with CoreWeave
Ep 364 · Jul 17, 2026 · 50 min
As AI applications become more complex, the infrastructure powering them needs to evolve. Corey Sanders, SVP of Product at CoreWeave, joins Chris to discuss why AI requires a fundamentally different approach than traditional cloud computing. They explore AI-native infrastructure, training and inference workloads, the rise of agentic development, optimizing GPU performance, AI research workflows, and why the future of software will be built around AI-first experiences rather than websites and app…
Building Durable AI Agents
Ep 363 · Jul 9, 2026 · 47 min
What does it take to move AI agents from demos to reliable production systems? In this episode, Hamza Tahir explores how MLOps principles are shaping the future of generative AI, covering workflows, agent harnesses, fleets, and the infrastructure needed to build durable, scalable systems. The conversation dives into open source tools, production challenges, and how ZenML's new project, Kitaru, helps developers build resilient, replayable, and observable agent systems. Featuring: Hamza Tahir – Li…
Image Generation and Visual Intelligence with Black Forest Labs
Ep 362 · Jul 2, 2026 · 48 min
How has AI image generation evolved from blurry outputs to powerful visual intelligence models? Dustin Podell, Co-Founder and Researcher at Black Forest Labs, explains the progression from diffusion to flow matching, how modern image models work, and how they're being used for image editing and practical visual workflows. The conversation also explores the FLUX family of models, running image generation locally, and where visual AI is headed next. Featuring: Dustin Podell – LinkedIn Chris Benson…
AIUC-1: Building trust in AI agents
Ep 361 · Jun 25, 2026 · 45 min
How do we build trust in AI agents before the AI hailstorm arrives? Emil Lassen from the Artificial Intelligence Underwriting Company (AIUC) joins the show to discuss how the enterprise flywheel of standards, certification, audit, and insurance is being applied to AI agents. They explore the AIUC-1 framework, the challenges of securing agentic AI systems, and why red teaming (based on standards) may be key to accelerating enterprise AI adoption. Featuring: Emil Lassen – LinkedIn Daniel Whitenack…
Zero Trust for AI Agents
Ep 360 · Jun 11, 2026 · 47 min
As AI agents become more capable and autonomous, they also introduce new security challenges. In this 'Fully Connected' episode, Dan and Chris unpack Anthropic’s Zero Trust for AI Agents security framework and what it means for organizations deploying agentic systems. They examine the key security risks facing agentic systems and discuss how organizations can apply Zero Trust principles to deploy AI agents safely. Along the way, they break down practical security controls and discuss how traditi…
Breaking down the 2026 Stanford AI Index Report
Ep 359 · Jun 4, 2026 · 47 min
AI models can win math olympiads… but still struggle to read an analog clock. In this fully connected episode, Dan and Chris break down the latest Stanford AI Index Report and explore what it reveals about the current state of AI. They discuss AI adoption and safety, disappearing junior tech jobs, robotics, AI’s “jagged frontier” of intelligence, and the growing race between the U.S. and China. Along the way, they debate whether AI should optimize everything, or if some things are better left hu…
Rebooting Enterprise AI with MCP and Kubernetes
Ep 358 · May 28, 2026 · 48 min
What happens when AI agents start acting less like chatbots and more like coworkers? In this episode, Dan and Chris sit down with Craig McLuckie, CEO of Stacklok to explore MCP, Kubernetes, ToolHive, enterprise AI, and the emerging infrastructure powering AI-native applications. From identity management to agent orchestration and system architecture, this conversation dives into how organizations may soon manage entire fleets of AI agents working behind the scenes. Featuring: Craig McLuckie – Li…
Hermes Agent: Agents that grow with you
Ep 357 · May 21, 2026 · 52 min
Open Source AI is entering a new era, one shaped by self-improving AI Agents, recursive learning systems, and rapidly evolving AI Tools that blur the line between software and autonomous collaborators. In this episode, Daniel and Chris sit down with Nous Research co-founder and CTO Jeffrey Quesnelle to explore Hermes Agent. Along the way, they discuss models vs. harnesses, the changing role of developers, and one of the biggest questions facing the AI Future: what remains uniquely human as AI ca…
U.S. Congressman Beyer on AI challenges facing America and the World
Ep 356 · May 14, 2026 · 45 min
U.S. Congressman Don Beyer returns to Practical AI for another far-reaching conversation with Chris about many of the most important AI challenges facing America and the world. Blending political savvy and statesmanship with his unique technical understanding as an active Ph.D student in AI at George Mason University (making him the coolest member of Congress!), the congressman shares his perspective about the really hard AI concerns that you would have asked him yourself. Together, Congressman…
The Myth of Model Wars: Open vs Closed AI in 2026
Ep 355 · May 7, 2026 · 42 min
In this fully connected episode, Dan and Chris break down one of the biggest questions in AI today: do open vs. closed models still matter? From the rise of physical AI and edge devices to the shifting landscape of open-source models like LLaMA, they explore whether the “model wars” are becoming irrelevant. The conversation then dives into a bigger transformation, the rise of agentic systems, workflows, and AI-driven infrastructure. Featuring: Chris Benson – Website, LinkedIn, Bluesky, GitHub, X…
The mythos of Mythos and Allbirds takes flight to the neocloud
Ep 354 · Apr 23, 2026 · 45 min
In this Fully-Connected episode, Dan and Chris start with Anthropic's Mythos frontier model, parsing what is publicly known about its cybersecurity capabilities and projecting its possible implications from "We've been here before. 🙄" to "See ya, cybersecurity! 😱" It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine. 🙃 Then they have fun with the craziest AI announcement of the year (except for the Mythos one of course). Allbirds pivots from shoe manufacturing 👟 to neocloud provider ☁️.…
Open Source Self-Driving with Comma AI
Ep 353 · Apr 16, 2026 · 46 min
Autonomous driving is not just a big tech or closed-source game, it's becoming accessible through open innovation and real-world deployment. Dan and Chris sit down with Harald Schäfer, CTO at Comma AI, to explore how OpenPilot is bringing self-driving to everyday vehicles using open source AI. We dive into the intersection of machine learning, robotics, and simulation, including how world models are enabling training at scale and shaping the future of autonomy. Featuring: Harald Schäfer – Linked…
Post-Mortem of Anthropic's Claude Code Leak
Ep 352 · Apr 9, 2026 · 45 min
In this fully connected episode, Dan and Chris break down the Anthropic Claude Code leak, what went wrong and what it reveals about agentic systems, AI architecture, and AI safety. They also explore how the open source community is responding and why this moment could reshape how AI systems are built and secured. Featuring: Chris Benson – Website, LinkedIn, Bluesky, GitHub, X Daniel Whitenack – Website, GitHub, X Upcoming Events: Register for upcoming webinars here!
Agentic Coding and the Economics of Open Source
Ep 351 · Apr 2, 2026 · 49 min
AI is rapidly transforming how software is built, shifting economic incentives from open source code and collaboration toward on-demand, personalized development through agentic coding a.k.a. vibe coding. In this episode, Chris speaks with Miklós Koren of Central European University about how AI is reshaping open source and the software industry. They explore the economics of incentives, evolving collaboration patterns, and what this shift means for software development, the future of AI, and it…
AI at the Edge is a different operating environment
Ep 350 · Mar 25, 2026 · 47 min
What does “AI at the edge” really mean in 2026, and why does it matter now more than ever before? In this episode, we’re joined by Brandon Shibley, Edge AI Solutions Engineering Lead at Qualcomm’s Edge Impulse, to discuss the current state and future of Edge AI in 2026. We discuss Gen AI, Small Models, and Cascades of Models, along with real-world constraints like latency, power, and privacy. We also dive into the role of MLOps, evolving hardware, and how developers can start building practical…
Humility in the Age of Agentic Coding
Ep 349 · Mar 17, 2026 · 55 min
What happens when an AI hater starts building with AI agents? In this episode, we talk with software engineer Steve Klabnik, known for his work on the Rust programming language, about his journey from criticizing AI to experimenting with it firsthand. We explore Steve’s programming language Rue, largely built with the help of AI tools like Claude, and discuss what this means for software engineering and the future of coding in an AI-driven world. Featuring: Steve Klabnik – LinkedIn Chris Benson…
AI policy and the battle for computing power
Ep 348 · Mar 9, 2026 · 49 min
AI is reshaping global power, from chip manufacturing and computing power to AI governance and US-China relations. In this episode, Ben Buchanan, Assistant Professor at The Johns Hopkins University and former White House Special Advisor for AI, explores how AI policy, geopolitics, and international cooperation intersect with AI innovation and AI safety. We discuss the strategic importance of computing power, the future of AI governance, and what it will take for democracies to lead responsibly i…
Cognitive Synthesis and Neural Athletes
Ep 347 · Feb 18, 2026 · 52 min
As AI accelerates innovation and adoption, leaders are facing rising cognitive load, shifting systems, and new emotional realities inside their organizations. In this episode, Deloitte’s Chief Innovation Officer Deborah Golden joins us to explore how AI is reshaping leadership, why vulnerability and empathy are critical in this moment, and how anti-fragility, not just resilience, will define the future of work. Featuring: Deborah Golden – LinkedIn Chris Benson – Website, LinkedIn, Bluesky, GitHu…
AI incidents, audits, and the limits of benchmarks
Ep 346 · Feb 13, 2026 · 43 min
AI is moving fast from research to real-world deployment, and when things go wrong, the consequences are no longer hypothetical. In this episode, Sean McGregor, co-founder of the AI Verification & Evaluation Research Institute and also the founder of the AI Incident Database, joins Chris and Dan to discuss AI safety, verification, evaluation, and auditing. They explore why benchmarks often fall short, what red-teaming at DEFCON reveals about machine learning risks, and how organizations can bett…
Inside an AI-Run Company
Ep 345 · Feb 2, 2026 · 49 min
AI agents are moving from demos to real workplaces, but what actually happens when they run a company? In this episode, journalist Evan Ratliff, host of Shell Game, joins Chris to discuss his immersive journalism experiment building a real startup staffed almost entirely by AI agents. They explore how AI agents behave as coworkers, how humans react when interacting with them, and where ethical and workplace boundaries begin to break down. Featuring: Evan Ratliff – LinkedIn, X Chris Benson – Webs…
How is AI shaping democracy?
Ep 344 · Jan 27, 2026 · 48 min
As AI increasingly shapes geopolitics, elections, and civic life, its impact on democracy is becoming impossible to ignore. In this episode, Daniel and Chris are joined by security expert Bruce Schneier to explore how AI and technology are transforming democracy, governance, and citizenship. Drawing from his book Rewiring Democracy, they explore real examples of AI in elections, legislation, courts, and public AI models, the risks of concentrated power, and how these tools can both strengthen an…
Controlling AI Models from the Inside
Ep 343 · Jan 20, 2026 · 44 min
As generative AI moves into production, traditional guardrails and input/output filters can prove too slow, too expensive, and/or too limited. In this episode, Alizishaan Khatri of Wrynx joins Daniel and Chris to explore a fundamentally different approach to AI safety and interpretability. They unpack the limits of today’s black-box defenses, the role of interpretability, and how model-native, runtime signals can enable safer AI systems. Featuring: Alizishaan Khatri – LinkedIn Chris Benson – Web…
2025 was the year of agents, what's coming in 2026?
Ep 342 · Jan 9, 2026 · 51 min
In this start-of-year FC episode, Chris and Daniel break down what really mattered in AI in 2025, and what to expect in 2026. They explore the rise of AI agents, the practical reality of multimodal AI, and how reasoning models are reshaping workflows. The conversation dives into infrastructure and energy constraints, the continued value of predictive models, and why orchestration (not just better models) is becoming the defining skill for AI teams. The episode wraps with grounded 2026 prediction…
Beyond chatbots: Agents that tackle your SOPs
Ep 341 · Dec 17, 2025 · 46 min
As AI reshapes the workplace, employees and leaders face questions about meaningful work, automation, and human impact. In this episode, Jason Beutler, CEO of RoboSource, shares how companies can rethink workflows, integrate AI in accessible ways, and empower employees without fear. The discussion covers leveraging AI to handle routine tasks (SOPs or "plays") and reimagining work for smarter, more human-centered outcomes. Featuring: Jason Beutler – LinkedIn Chris Benson – Website, LinkedIn, Blue…
The AI engineer skills gap
Ep 340 · Dec 10, 2025 · 46 min
Chris and Daniel talk with returning guest, Ramin Mohammadi, about how those seeking to get into AI Engineer/ Data Science jobs are expected to come in a mid level engineers (not entry level). They explore this growing gap along with what should (or could) be done in academia to focus on real world skills vs. theoretical knowledge. Featuring: Ramin Mohammadi – LinkedIn Chris Benson – Website, LinkedIn, Bluesky, GitHub, X Daniel Whitenack – Website, GitHub, X Sponsors: Shopify – The commerce plat…
Technical advances in document understanding
Ep 339 · Dec 2, 2025 · 49 min
Chris and Daniel unpack how AI-driven document processing has rapidly evolved well beyond traditional OCR with many technical advances that fly under the radar. They explore the progression from document structure models to language-vision models, all the way to the newest innovations like Deepseek-OCR. The discussion highlights the pros and cons of these various approaches focusing on practical implementation and usage. Featuring: Chris Benson – Website, LinkedIn, Bluesky, GitHub, X Daniel Whit…
Chris on AI, autonomous swarming, home automation and Rust!
Ep 338 · Nov 26, 2025 · 1 hr 37 min
This episode is a special crossover between the Practical AI podcast and The Changelog podcast. Chris was recently invited by longtime friends Jerod Santo and Adam Stacoviak, cohosts of The Changelog, to join them on the show. They discuss AI, drones, robotics, swarming technology, and the rise of high-performance edge computing with Rust. Chris points out that open source software, small AI models, and affordable hardware are making home automation and local AI accessible to everyone. From auto…
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