The level to which firms are already using AI varies according to technological maturity, strategic focus, and on an industry by industry basis.
But what’s clear is that from the smallest to the largest businesses, the landscape is already shifting. We’ve spoken about AI agents on the podcast before – the promise of autonomous AI activity – but it’s only now that businesses are beginning to put more faith in these tools.
How is AI already being used to improve business processes? And what will progress in the sector look like?
In this episode, Rory speaks to Oliver Parker, VPAI GTM at Google Cloud, to explore some of the practical ways AI is changing organizations from startups to the enterprise.
Highlights
“So, I often say to clients, and it sounds a little cliche, yes, it’s about use cases but it’s about a use case with a business case. And that business case could be changing NPS scores, it could be around basket conversion if you’re a retailer, it could be around citizenship, if you’re in the public sector, and planning documents like I referenced earlier.”
“There’s sort of two schools of thought, which is, everything looks leaner going forward, everyone’s a 10x, I can be a 10x go to market leader, I can be a 10x engineer. So we don’t need more of me, because I’m doing 10 more. So I think that’s one school of thought, but I still think people are going to continue hiring.”
“I mean, obviously at an engineering level and developers, you’re looking for very strong backgrounds and engineering development, but also people that have used and use a lot of these tools on a day to day basis.”
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DRUID AI today announced it has secured $31 million in Series C financing to advance the global expansion of its enterprise-ready agentic AI platform under the leadership of its new CEO Joseph Kim. The strategic investment – which will advance DRUID AI’s mission to empower companies to create, manage, and orchestrate conversational AI agents – was led by Cipio Partners, with participation from TQ Ventures, Karma Ventures, Smedvig, and Hoxton Ventures.
“This investment is both a testament to DRUID AI’s success and a catalyst to elevate businesses globally through the power of agentic AI,” said Kim. “Customer success is what it’s all about, and delivering real business outcomes requires understanding companies’ pain points and introducing innovations that help those customers address their complex challenges. That’s the DRUID AI way, and now we’re bringing it to the world through this new phase of global growth.”
Roland Dennert, manager partner at Cipio Partners, a premier global growth equity fund, explained: “At Cipio Partners, we focus on supporting growth-stage technology companies that have achieved product-market fit and are ready to scale. DRUID AI aligns perfectly with our investment strategy – offering a differentiated, AI-based product in a vast and rapidly growing market. Our investment will help accelerate DRUID AI’s expansion into the U.S. and elsewhere, fuel further technological advancements, and strengthen its position as a global leader in enterprise AI solutions. We are excited to partner with DRUID AI on its journey and look forward to supporting the company in shaping the future of enterprise AI-driven interactions.”
Kim’s proven track record in leading high-performance teams and scaling AI-driven technology businesses ideally positions him to spearhead that effort. He has more than two decades of operating executive experience in application, infrastructure, and security industries. Most recently, he was CEO of Sumo Logic. He serves on the boards of directors of SmartBear and Andela. In addition, he was a senior operating partner at private equity firm Francisco Partners, CPTO at Citrix, SolarWinds, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and chief architect at GE.
DRUID AI cofounder and Chief Operating Officer Andreea Plesea, who had been interim CEO, commented: “I am delighted Joseph is taking the reins as CEO to drive our next level of growth. His commitment to customer success and developing the exact solutions customers need is in total sync with the approach that has fueled our progress and positioned us to raise new funds. Joseph and the Series C set up DRUID AI and our clients for expanded innovation and impact.”
In 2024, DRUID AI grew ARR 2.7x year-over-year. Its award-winning platform has powered more than 1 billion conversations across thousands of agents. In addition, the DRUID AI global partner ecosystem has attracted industry giants Microsoft, Genpact, Cognizant, and Accenture.
DRUID AI is trusted by more than 300 global clients across banking, financial services, government, healthcare, higher education, manufacturing, retail, and telecommunications. Leading organizations such as AXA Insurance, Carrefour, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Georgia Southern University, Kmart Australia, Liberty Global Group, MatrixCare, National Health Service, and Orange Auchan have adopted DRUID AI to redefine the way they operate.
Companies have embraced DRUID AI to help teams accelerate digital operations, reduce the complexity of day-to-day work, enhance user experience, and maximize technology ROI. Powered by advanced agentic AI and driven by the DRUID Conductor, its core orchestration engine, the DRUID platform enables businesses to effortlessly deploy AI agents and intelligent apps that streamline processes, integrate seamlessly with existing systems, and fulfill complex requests efficiently. DRUID AI’s end-to-end platform delivers 98% first response accuracy.
“At Georgia Southern, we recognized that to truly meet the needs of today’s digital native students, we needed to offer dynamic and accurate real-time support that would solve their issues on the spot,” said Ashlea Anderson, CIO at Georgia Southern University. “By leveraging DRUID AI’s platform, we’ve created personalized and intuitive experiences to support students throughout their academic journeys, increasing enrollment and student retention. The result is a more efficient, connected campus where students feel supported, engaged, and better positioned to succeed.”
DRUID AI (druidai.com) is an end-to-end enterprise-grade AI platform that enables lightning-fast development and deployment of AI agents, knowledge bases, and intelligent apps for teams looking to automate business processes and improve technology ROI. DRUID AI Agents enable personalized, omnichannel, and secure interactions while seamlessly integrating with existing business systems. Since 2018, DRUID AI has been actively pursuing its vision of providing each employee with an intelligent virtual assistant, establishing an extensive partner network of over 200 partners, and servicing more than 300 clients worldwide.
A key technology leader at the Department of Veterans Affairs told lawmakers Monday that the agency intends to “capitalize” on artificial intelligence to help overcome its persistent difficulties in providing timely care and maintaining cost-effective operations.
At the same time, a federal watchdog warned the same lawmakers that the VA could face challenges before the agency can effectively do so.
Lawmakers on the House VA subcommittee on technology modernization pressed Charles Worthington, the VA’s chief data officer and chief technology officer, over the agency’s plans to deploy AI across its dozens of facilities as the federal government increasingly turns to automation technology.
“I’m pleased to report that all VA employees now have access to a secure, generative AI tool to assist them with their work,” Worthington told the subcommittee. “In surveys, users of this tool are reporting that it’s saving them over two hours per week.”
Worthington outlined how the agency is utilizing machine learning in agency workflows, as well as in clinical care for earlier disease detection and ambient listening tools that are expected to be rolled out at some facilities later this year. The technology can also be used to identify veterans who may be at high risk of overdose and suicide, Worthington added.
“Despite our progress, adopting AI tools does present challenges,” Worthington acknowledged in his opening remarks. “Integrating new AI solutions with a complex system architecture and balancing innovation with stringent security compliance is crucial.”
Carol Harris, the Government Accountability Office’s director of information technology and cybersecurity, later revealed during the hearing that VA officials told the watchdog that “existing federal AI policy could present obstacles to the adoption of generative AI, including in the areas of cybersecurity, data privacy and IT acquisitions.”
Harris noted that generative AI can require infrastructure with significant computational and technical resources, which the VA has reported issues accessing and receiving funding for. The GAO outlined an “AI accountability framework” in a full report to solve some of these issues.
Questions were also raised over the VA’s preparedness to deploy the technology to the agency’s more than 170 facilities.
“We have such an issue with the VA because it’s a big machine, and we’re trying to compound or we’re trying to bring in artificial intelligence to streamline the process, and you have 172 different VA facilities, plus satellite campuses, and that’s 172 different silos, and they don’t work together,” said Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-Texas. “They don’t communicate very well with each other.”
Worthington said he believes AI is being used at facilities nationwide. Luttrell pushed back, stating he’s heard from multiple sites that don’t have AI functions because “their sites aren’t ready.”
“Or they don’t have the infrastructure in place to do that because we keep compounding software on top of software, and some sites can’t function at all with [the] new software they’re trying to implement,” Luttrell added.
Worthington responded: “I would agree that having standardized systems is a challenge at the VA, and so there is a bit of a difference in different facilities. Although I do think many of them are starting to use AI-assisted medical devices, for example, and a number of those are covered in this inventory,” in reference to the VA’s AI use case inventory.
Luttrell then asked if the communication between sites needs to happen before AI can be implemented.
“We can’t wait because AI is here whether we’re ready or not,” said Worthington, who suggested creating a standard template that sites can use, pointing to the VA GPT tool as an example. VA GPT is available to every VA employee, he added.
Worthington told lawmakers that recruiting and retaining AI talent remains difficult, while scaling commercial AI tools brings new costs.
Aside from facility deployment, lawmakers repeatedly raised concerns about data privacy, given the VA’s extensive collection of medical data. Amid these questions, Worthington maintained that all AI systems must meet “rigorous security and privacy standards” before receiving an authority to operate within the agency.
“Before we bring a system into production, we have to review that system for its compliance with those requirements and ensure that the partners that are working with us on those systems attest to and agree with those requirements,” he said.
Members from both sides of the aisle raised concerns about data security after the AI model had been implemented in the agency. Subcommittee chair Tom Barrett, R-Mich., said he does not want providers to “leech” off the VA’s extensive repository of medical data “solely for the benefit” of AI, and not the agency.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks at Microsoft Build AI Day in Jakarta, Indonesia, on April 30, 2024.
Adek Berry | AFP | Getty Images
LONDON — Microsoft said on Tuesday that it plans to invest $30 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure in the U.K. by 2028.
The investment includes $15 billion in capital expenditures and $15 billion in its U.K. operations, Microsoft said. The company said the investment would enable it to build the U.K.’s “largest supercomputer,” with more than 23,000 advanced graphics processing units, in partnership with Nscale, a British cloud computing firm.
The spending commitment comes as President Donald Trump embarks on a state visit to Britain. Trump arrived in the U.K. Tuesday evening and is set to be greeted at Windsor Castle on Wednesday by King Charles and Queen Camilla.
During his visit, all eyes are on U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is under pressure to bring stability to the country after the exit of Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner over a house tax scandal and a major cabinet reshuffle.
“I haven’t always been optimistic every single day about the business climate in the U.K.,” Smith said. However, he added, “I am very encouraged by the steps that the government has taken over the last few years.”
“Just a few years ago, this kind of investment would have been inconceivable because of the regulatory climate then and because there just wasn’t the need or demand for this kind of large AI investment,” Smith said.
Starmer and Trump are expected to sign a new deal Wednesday “to unlock investment and collaboration in AI, Quantum, and Nuclear technologies,” the government said in a statement late Tuesday.
