The Business of AI
AI is our Business. Looking at how businesses are using AI to build services and tools, transforming organisations and delighting consumers. We explore the different types of businesses that are emerging and find out how they are using AI technology. UKAI is the trade association for AI businesses in the UK. The show is hosted Tim Flagg, AI entrepreneur and chief executive of UKAI. Featuring business leaders, policymakers, authors, politicians and entrepreneurs. Join us to learn how to build your AI business.
Episodes
101 episodes
Your Next Employee Might Be an AI Agent, with Ray Welsh, Agentic Workforce Solutions [101]
Most companies are still treating AI like software and that may be why so many struggle to turn promising pilots into enterprise value. The shift to agentic AI changes the equation: autonomous agents can execute work, make decisions and pursue ...
How is the UK workforce actually using GenAI? Ben Stanton from Deloitte [100]
AI adoption is soaring, so why are half of users saving no time at all? Deloitte’s new GenAI Workforce survey of 25,000 UK workers exposes a growing gap between access to generative AI and meaningful business impact. While 63% of workers have u...
AI Data Centres: Separating Energy Myths from Facts with Spencer Lamb from Kao Data [99]
Are AI data centres really about to consume Britain’s power and water, or are the headline numbers hiding a very different story? Spencer argues that some of the biggest assumptions about AI infrastructure need challenging. While around 80GW of...
Is AI About to Reinvent Consulting? With Neil Marley from Neologik [98]
What happens to consulting when AI can do in days what teams of consultants used to spend months delivering? Neil argues that AI is rapidly collapsing the cost and time of traditional software and services, forcing businesses to rethink where v...
Robotaxis in Westminster. What Else Happened in British AI This Week - Ten Minute Take - Fri 040926
This week Tim gets a ride at the buzzy Uber x Wayve robotaxi launch in London ("AI on wheels" and, "a real milestone for the British AI industry"), digs into the £100m government fund backing British AI startups, unpacks the Matt Clifford-to-An...
Context Is Everything: The Secret to Better AI Design with Kevin Coyle, Drutek [95]
Why does AI-generated code so often look sloppy, even when it works? Kevin Coyle, founder of Drutek, joins the podcast to explain why the missing ingredient isn't better prompts, it's context. He breaks down how design systems give AI tools the...
The Secret Weapon for Small Business Growth with Daniel Callis from Beyla [97]
What if every small business could access the same financial expertise as a global enterprise? This conversation with Daniel Callis from Beyla AI explores how AI is making that possible. Beyla is building a conversational platform that acts lik...
The Real Reason Your AI Strategy Is Failing (It's Not the Tech) with Kirsty Mac from Illuminate [96]
AI transformation isn't a technology challenge, it's a leadership challenge. This conversation explores why the biggest barriers to AI adoption are human, not technical, from fear and shame to curiosity, humility, and the willingness to learn. ...
Who Gets Rewarded in the AI Economy? With Isvari Maranwe from YuVoice [094]
Social media has become exceptionally good at rewarding attention and dangerously poor at rewarding social value. This episode explores a different model: using AI to amplify credible voices, strengthen communities and direct recognition toward...
Why AI Leadership Must Value Humans with Jenny Garrett [093]
AI’s biggest opportunity is not simply cutting costs or accelerating output. It is improving people’s lives without leaving anyone behind. Jenny Garrett argues that leaders need to move beyond narrow productivity metrics and ask who benefits, w...
Who Controls AI-Powered Creativity? With Tanya Samuel [92]
AI will not replace creativity, but it could reshape who gets to create, whose work is protected and which stories reach the market. Tanya argues that the real business challenge is not whether creative industries adopt AI, but who sets the rul...
Why AI Leadership Needs More Women with Tram Anh Nguyen [91]
AI adoption will not create value until organisations can answer three questions: where is it changing workflows, what measurable value is it producing, and who is accountable? Tram argues that finance must move beyond disconnected pilots towar...
How to Design AI for Scale From Day One with Tom Greenlees, Intelligent Core [090]
Most AI pilots do not fail because the technology is weak. They fail because nobody truly owns the operational problem, incentives reward the status quo, data is fragmented and insights never reach the people empowered to act. The critical less...
From AI Hype to Hard ROI, with Sam Jeremiah, Fern AI [087]
AI spending is rising faster than the evidence that it works. The real problem is not lack of ambition, but lack of observability: companies see the cloud bills immediately, while productivity gains remain hypothetical. The episode argues that ...
Why AI Needs More Than an Autopilot with Ed Chinn, Kintara [089]
AI should work like autopilot: powerful enough to accelerate progress, but never trusted so blindly that people lose the ability to take control. The biggest risk is not the technology itself. It is cognitive offloading, weak governance and lea...
How to Build AI Literacy That Drives Adoption with Greg Freeman, Data and AI Literacy Academy [088]
Most AI programmes fail because companies teach tools instead of changing how work gets done. Real AI literacy is not “buttonology”; it is the confidence, judgement and curiosity to rethink problems, redesign workflows and experiment safely. Le...
The Human Interface for Enterprise AI, with Ilann Hepworth at ShopAI [086]
Most AI adoption fails because businesses force employees into yet another system. The bigger opportunity is to bring trusted intelligence into familiar workflows, especially email, so people can access business data without learning new dashbo...
Optimising the Operating Model for Continuous AI with Sarah Heffron [085]
AI transformation is the wrong goal. Businesses should be building for continuous adaptation. New tools will keep emerging, operating conditions will keep shifting, and there may never be a stable “after” state. The organisations that win will ...
Accessible AI Is Better Business, with Rachael Mole - Moleworks [084]
AI could become the most powerful workplace adjustment ever created—or another system that quietly excludes millions. The difference comes down to design. Accessibility cannot be retrofitted after launch or treated as a compliance exercise. Wit...
How Agentic AI Changes the Way We Work with Howard Chen - Alknoma [083]
AI agents will not transform productivity if employees must supervise dozens of disconnected tools. The real opportunity is orchestration: one intelligent interface that coordinates tasks, people, systems and deadlines while keeping every actio...
AI That Helps Humans Do Their Best Work, with Emma Beattie
Most companies are measuring AI too narrowly. The real business opportunity is not just productivity, but removing the hidden friction that stops people doing their best work. AI can reduce cognitive load, help structure thinking, hold context,...
Using AI to Stop Fraud Before It Starts with Heather Adams
AI’s biggest value in risk may not be faster detection, it may be stopping people before harm happens. In fraud, financial crime, and scam prevention, the next wave of AI will be less about back-office automation and more about real-time interv...
Why AI Governance Unlocks Innovation with Seto Adenuga [080]
Responsible AI is often treated as a compliance burden. That is a mistake. Done properly, governance becomes an innovation gate: helping organisations build AI that is safer, more trusted and easier to scale. The real challenge is moving beyond...
When AI Lies About You: The New Reputation Crisis with Ian Aizikovich, Flarepoint
AI hallucinations are no longer just technical glitches. They are becoming reputational, legal and financial risks for companies, public bodies and individuals. As LLMs become a primary source of knowledge, what AI says about a brand, leader, g...
How Regulation Unlocks AI Investment with Angela Stathi
AI policy is no longer just about risk. It is becoming a lever for investment, market confidence and national competitiveness. The hardest challenge is balancing innovation with stability: creating rules that protect consumers without slowing t...