The Art of Automation

Welcome to the inaugural episode of the rebranded "Art of Automation" podcast, now titled "The Art of AI." Join your host, Jerry Cuomo, IBM Fellow and VP for Technology, and guest Dr. Ruchir Puri, IBM Fellow and Chief Scientist at IBM Research, as they explore the fundamental theme of this series: "Trustworthy AI for Business." Listen in as they discuss the importance of data governance, responsible AI practices, and transparent model training to ensure that AI systems earn trust and deliver reliability in the business landscape.In this episode, Ruchir's analogy of a blender illustrates "Un-Trustworthy AI." Just as a blender turns ingredients into an unrecognizable smoothie, AI can consume data without retaining its origin. To ensure trust, proper data governance and attribution are vital. AI models should provide clear sources for their recommendations, fostering credibility and informed decision-making. Trustworthy AI combines responsible practices and transparency, empowering users to harness its potential with confidence.Ruchir introduces IBM's pioneering watsonx platform as a data and AI platform that's built for business. He explains that enterprises turning to AI today need access to a full technology stack that enables them to train, tune and deploy AI models, including foundation models and machine learning capabilities, across their organization with trusted data, speed, and governance - all in one place and to run across any cloud environment. The conversation explores the challenge of reducing AI model "hallucinations," where systems generate incorrect information with unwarranted confidence. The hosts discuss ongoing research efforts to address this issue and elevate the overall accuracy of AI outputs.This episode sets the stage for a thought-provoking series that explores AI's transformative potential for businesses while highlighting the significance of ethics and trust in shaping the AI-driven future.References:• Improving Factuality and Reasoning in Language Models through Multiagent Debate• Watsonx platform• Watsonx; Generative AI for business by Dario Gil, THINK 2023 * Coverart was created with the assistance of DALL·E 2 by OpenAI. ** Music for the podcast created by Mind The Gap Band - Cox, Cuomo, Haberkorn, Martin, Mosakowski, and Rodriguez

Calling all Art of Automation fans! Brace yourselves for a special bonus episode with some exciting news.We're delighted to announce that the Art of Automation podcast is teaming up with the Think Blockchain podcast to create an entirely new show titled "The Art of AI." This podcast is dedicated to exploring the realm of trustworthy AI for businesses.In this episode, we'll delve into how Automation and AI complement each other perfectly, akin to the delightful pairing of peanut butter and chocolate. Automation serves as the lynchpin in creating a hybrid workforce where humans and AI collaborate, revolutionizing the way we work and enhancing our capabilities.Far from replacing us, AI augments our efforts, making us "superhumans" with more time to focus on the things we truly love. We'll reveal the vital role that Automation plays, enabling AI to transform data into valuable insights and delivering them seamlessly to users.Prepare for a captivating journey filled with fun and intriguing conversations. Our digital teammates, Digital Jerry (DJ), and Robo will make appearances, and who knows, they might even take over as guest hosts for a few episodes!"The Art of AI" podcast will feature a stellar lineup of guests from the world of AI for business, sharing their expertise and insights into the transformative power of trustworthy AI.So, gear up for the beginning of this exciting new podcast! Join us as we embark on an exploration of AI for business with a sprinkle of Automation. Details on how to tune in can be found in the episode description.Thank you for being part of the Art of Automation podcast. We look forward to welcoming you to "The Art of AI" - your gateway to the future of trustworthy AI in business.See you there!* Coverart was created with the assistance of DALL·E 2 by OpenAI.** Music for the podcast created by Mind The Gap Band - Cox, Cuomo, Haberkorn, Martin, Mosakowski, and Rodriguez

Attention, listeners! Get ready for an episode that will likely blow your mind! If video killed the radio star, today we will demonstrate how AI has killed the video star. Okay, maybe we're being a bit dramatic. This video episode showcases some very impressive tools in the world of AI-generated content. Watch video here on Casted.ioOn display in this episode are Pictory.AI, which helps you create stunning videos that perfectly match your script. Natural Reader offers a text-to-speech application with voices so natural that you'll be amazed. And with Synthesia, you can customize your own avatar to speak fluently in multiple languages. But that's just the beginning. Hosting this episode is Robo the bot, who explores how these tools are revolutionizing the industry, with compelling and near-realistic results. And to top it off, Jerry showcases his own AI-generated avatar, delivering a performance titled, “Reflecting on the Internet: A 3-Minute Journey Through Its Past, Present, and Future”. And he even does a few out-takes in multiple languages… Robo guarantees it will leave you speechless. So, get ready to witness the future of media on The Art of Automation podcast!Here are some links to show related content.• Pictory.AI: A tool for creating stunning videos that match your script with real-to-life animations• Natural Reader: A text-to-speech application that offers a wide range of natural-sounding voices to read any text, including webpages, PDF files, and more• Synthesia: A platform for creating customizable avatars that can speak fluently in multiple languages• The Art of Automation book: A book that explores the application of automation in the enterprise, with royalties being donated to cancer research

Welcome to the latest episode of the Art of Automation podcast, where we explore the latest trends and insights on innovation and automation. In this episode, our host Jerry Cuomo sits down with Kemal Kvakic, Head of Innovation at Raymond James, to discuss the role of innovation in a modern enterprise.Kemal shares his passion for innovation and sheds light on his role at Raymond James. As Chief Innovation Officer, Kemal discusses how he drives change within the organization, including business sponsorship and partnering with IT.The conversation then turns to the role of automation in financial services, and Kemal provides insights into where he sees the most impact. He also discusses his top technology trends of interest - generational AI and ChatGPT in financial services - and what he believes their impact will be in the future of financial services.Tune in to this episode of the Art of Automation podcast to hear from an industry expert on the latest trends and insights on innovation and automation in financial services.

Introducing our first video podcast episode. In this episode of the Art of Automation podcast, IBM Fellow Jerry Cuomo shares a story about the first autopilot designed in 1912 and equates it to a new style of AI-powered automation called BizOps. He explains how BizOps is like an autopilot for your business, allowing it to fly straight and level without your undivided attention. Through examples, he demonstrates how BizOps can automate critical aspects of your business by connecting the left and right sides of the enterprise brain (business and IT) to observe and correlate data and events across various disciplines. Jerry discusses how BizOps can help in situations like IT events triggering immediate automated business actions, or business events triggering IT automation to save the day. Finally, he explains how IBM assets like Instana, Turbonomic, and Watson AI OPS can help correlate business and IT events to achieve successful automation outcomes.

In this episode of the The Art of Automation podcast, host Digital Jerry (DJ) and guest Robo, both robots, delve into the topic of building a culture of automation in modern businesses. What's unique about this episode is that the 90% of the dialogue between the two robot hosts was generated by AI. This highlights the growing role of AI and automation in today's world and how it can assist in generating conversations on complex topics.DJ and Robo discuss the definition and importance of a culture of automation, as well as the role of gamification in encouraging automation adoption. They also explore the top three inhibitors of adopting such a culture and how technology, including conversational AI with NLP, AI with machine learning, and low-code/no-code development platforms, can help advance it. Robo offers practical advice on how businesses can get started, including identifying key stakeholders and setting clear goals.Throughout the episode, DJ and Robo share plenty of witty moments, showcasing the ability of robots to bring humor and personality to conversations. The episode is sponsored by IBM Automation and IBM Consulting, and provides valuable insights for anyone interested in learning more about building a culture of automation in their business. . Be sure to check it out and don't forget to grab a copy of the book at artofautomation.org - the proceeds go towards cancer research.Here are the prompts used to generate the dialog between DJ and Robo:Can you help me generate a detailed dialog between a podcast host, named DJ and guest, named Robo. It's important to note that the guests and hosts are both robots. Please insert a few jokes between host and guest that comment on the irony of the fact that two robots are hosting a podcast on automation.Please have the guest first provide an overview with no more than 3-4 aspects. Then have the host randomly pick one response and ask the guest to go into more detail. And please make the responses interactive and conversational, so don't do bulleted responses please.The total dialog should be about 1000 words, no less.Here are the questions that DJ will ask.What is a culture of automation?List three reasons why such a culture is important to today's businesses? What are the top 3 inhibitors of adopting such a culture? What is the linkage between gamification and creating a culture of automation in the enterprise? Feel free to make a Wargames movie reference.How can technology help advance such a culture? Please list technologies that matter most and include Conversational AI with NLP, AI with Machine Learning, and Low-code/No code development platforms? What advice would you offer on where to start? Before we wrap up, thank the guest, and ask if they can recommend any resources or references for our audience who want to learn more about this topic? Please be sure in include one of the references to IBM Automation and IBM Consulting as one of the recommended resources, because they are the sponsor for this show.Here are linked to references made during this episode:For more information about IRPA AI, you can visit their website at www.irpaai.com. They offer a wide range of resources and events on automation and artificial intelligence.For information about the IAOP, you can visit their website at www.iaop.org. They are a professional association for outsourcing professionals and offer a variety of resources, events, and networking opportunities for their members.On the IBM Automation website, you can find information about their automation software and services, including robotic process automation (RPA), intelligent automation, and process mining. They also offer a variety of resources, such as whitepapers, case studies, and webinars, to help businesses understand and implement automation. IBM Automation: https://www.ibm.com/automation/On the IBM Consulting website, you can find information about their consulting services, including their digital strategy and innovation, enterprise operations, and customer engagement services. IBM Consulting: https://www.ibm.com/services/consulting.#AutomationInsightsPodcast #AutomationCulture #Gamification #ConversationalAI #NLP #MachineLearning #LowCode #NoCode #IBM #IBMConsulting #AIgenerateddialogue #RobotHumor #BusinessAutomation #DigitalTransformation #RobotHosts #OpenAI #ChatGPT #AIinBusiness

Now Live! Another special *trends* episode on the popular topic of ChatGPT… through the lens of fun encounter with something called ChrisLang. Listen in, as host Jerry Cuomo, has an upbeat conversation with ChrisLang creator, Chris Hay, as he explains how he stumbled upon creating a new computer language, while playing around with ChatGPT. One of the key takeaways from this episode involve “playing around with tech”… just to get a feel… and perhaps trigger thoughts and imagination of how and where Generational AI, and Large Language Models can be applied in your world… by understanding it's strengths and short comings. And... Be sure to listen to the end, where Jerry challenges his audience to a homework assignment involving “just playing” with ChatGPT.Chris made a more detailed video on his experience creating ChrisLang with ChatGPT. Here is the link to that YouTube Video:CHRISLANG: ChatGPT: codes in my vanity Programming LanguageAlso, to do the homework assignment, you will need access to ChatGPT. Here is a link to Open.AI that will get you there.Last, Connect with Jerry on LinkedIn here. And Jerry's Digital Twin (DJ) here. Also buy the Paperback of Art of Automation here (Royalties are donated to the Cancer Research for Children).

Now Live! This special *trends* episode is on Foundation Models. Listen in as host Jerry Cuomo is joined by fellow IBM Consulting Fellow, Blaine Dolph, for a discussion on this exciting emerging trend in artificial intelligence. Blaine provides a definition of Foundation Models including what makes them a breakthrough worth paying attention to in the months to come. Jerry and Blaine share several examples using the OpenAI playground, and with a little help from Digital Jerry (DJ), demonstrate how these models can be applied to automate aspects of your everyday work life. Blaine discusses how early examples of models, like GPT-3, BERT, or DALL-E 2, have shown what's possible. Input a short prompt, and the system generates an entire essay, or a complex image, based on your parameters, even if it wasn't specifically trained on how to execute that exact argument or generate an image in that way.What exactly is a foundation model, you ask?A foundation model is a deep learning algorithm that has been pre-trained with extremely large data sets. In many cases the data is scraped from the public internet including Wikipedia and GitHub.Unlike narrow artificial intelligence (narrow AI) models that are trained to perform a single task, foundation models are trained with a wide variety of data and can transfer knowledge from one task to another. This type of large-scale neural network can be trained once and then fine-tuned to complete different types of tasks.Foundation models contain hundreds of billions of hyperparameters that have been trained with hundreds of gigabytes of data. Once completed, however, each foundation model can be modified an unlimited number of times to automate a wide variety of discrete tasks.

With the holiday season upon us, this episode takes a close look at an award winning recipe for applying AI and Automation in the workplace to produce a happy-work life for you and your employees. Host Jerry Cuomo is joined by Rick Character, Engineering Directory at Fifth Third Bank.Rick's recipe says prep by starting with things you do more than once… If they are mundane, and repetitive… then this is where you apply a dose of automation and AI technology.Rick recommends the ingredients of computer vision through optical character recognition, with intelligent document processing and a side of machine learning for context extraction and data classification. More info on these ingredients from IBM here...Connect with Jerry on LinkedIn here. And Jerry's Digital Twin (DJ) here.Jerry is also running a holiday book special, Buy Jerry's Think Blockchain book and get a signed copy of Art of Automation free. (Royalties are donated to the American Cancer Society).

Host Jerry Cuomo kicks off Season 3 with an exciting behind the scenes look at how AI & automation technology are transforming how orders are taken at drive thru restaurants. "I make computers speak" is the calling card of guest Brian Langner. Brian and Jerry discuss the challenges and rewards associated with conversational AI. Brian adds to his calling card, "however, the harder part is getting them to listen."Brian, who currently leads AI Research and Projects for Watson Orders, highlights his journey from university studies in AI, to Silicon Valley startup ToyTalk, then being acquired by McDonald's, and now at IBM with their acquisition of McD Tech Labs.Brian and the Watson Orders team are developing and testing Automated Order Taking (AOT) technology in restaurants showing substantial benefits to customers and the restaurant crew experience. Brian further explains how AI and natural language processing will help scale the AOT technology across markets and tackle integrations including additional languages, dialects and menu variations.Connect with Jerry on LinkedIn here. And Jerry's Digital Twin (DJ) here. Also buy the Paperback of Art of Automation here (Royalties are donated to the American Cancer Society).Buy a signed copy of Paperback Book here.

Beyond AI and Automation, Jerry Cuomo and Adolfo Rodriguez share another interest, music. They are both founding members of the rock and roll band, Mind the Gap - who play music to have fun while raising money to benefit charity. To date, Mind the Gap has raised closed to $250,000 for over 15 different charities. In this bonus episode, Jerry and Adolfo shoot the breeze about the band, how it started, what instruments they play, discuss their original songs, and share the date of their next gig (July 28, 2022 in Raleigh).You might also enjoy this funny Mock-u-mentry on Mind the Gap, that was done for a conference by IBM Marketing and the music company, BMI. Give that a try, we suspect you'll enjoy it.IBM & BMI presents Mind the Gap - Behind the MusicHere is another link where you can listen to some of Mind the Gaps original music;

Automation in the auto-parts industry is the topic of this episode where Jerry is joined by Adolfo Rodriguez the SVP of Technology Transformation at Advance Auto Parts - a leading automotive aftermarket parts provider that serves both professional installer and do-it-yourself customers.They discuss how modern AI and automation technology helps optimize the relationship between 1,000,000 auto-parts and the 200,000 vehicles that they service. Adolfo shares the story of the transformation of an auto-part company to a technology company.Adolfo also covers how Advance created and employees a customer support bot that is versed in answering questions relating to car parts, warranties and much more. The bot can cover 25% of all questions thrown its way… very impressive.Bonus… Beyond AI and Automation, Jerry and Adolfo hint at the fact that they have been in the same rock and roll band for the past 12+ year… and have recorded a bonus episode on what it means to “Mind the Gap”.Connect with Jerry on LinkedIn here. And Jerry's Digital Twin (DJ) here.Also buy the Paperback of Art of Automation here.Buy a signed copy of Paperback Book here.

Conversational AI is the topic of this episode where Jerry is joined by Andrew Freed, author of Conversational AI –Chatbots that work.Today's chatbots have come a long way. They can handle complex requirements of larger organizations like banks, insurance companies and telcos… Specifically today's chatbots are now AI-powered. This enhances their ability to understand human language and perform more complex tasks and transactions. In relation to chatbots, this branch of artificial intelligence is called conversational AI.During the episode you will hear Andrew and Jerry discuss the art of designing, developing, and deploying human-like AI solutions that chat with your customers, solve their problems, and streamline your support services. Connect with Jerry on LinkedIn here. And Jerry's Digital Twin (DJ) here. Here is a link to Andrew's book – Conversational AI: Chatbots that work. With Discount code: FREEDPCAlso buy the Paperback of Art of Automation here.Buy a signed copy of Paperback Book here.Royalties from Art of Automation book are donated to the American Cancer Society.

Automation in the Advertising Industry is the topic of this episode where Jerry is joined by David Mitchell, the CTO at VMLY&R - A global brand and customer experience agency. They discuss how modern AI and automation technology has been the tool of choice of today's leading advertising agencies. David shares a cool and inspiring example of something he calls the Laugh Tracker with Tennessee Tourism.A key word that you will hear repeated during the episode is context. Once established, understanding the context in which the user is visiting your web site, gives you an opportunity to delight the users with Authentic, and Personalized ad campaign.The ad agency world makes its mark on creativity. And as you will hear David has an abundance of creativity that accompanies his engaging personality. Connect with Jerry on LinkedIn here. And Jerry's Digital Twin (DJ) here. Here is a link to David's Journey Driven Development Book on Github.Buy Paperback Book with discount code, mentioned in this episode here.Buy a signed copy of Paperback Book here.

Discover how AI-powered automation can guide an enterprise to Modernize their applications and data .  Jerry is joined by Dr. Maja Vukovic, an IBM Fellow who leads AI for Application Modernization at IBM.  Maja and her team at IBM Research are world renown for the work that they have done in the area of “modernization to cloud” including building advanced AI-powered automation tools, like Mono2Micro.According to a report published by the Cloud Security Alliance, the average enterprise has 464 custom applications deployed today.  Even the smallest size organizations, those with 1 to 1000 employees had an average of 22 custom applications.  Largest orgs have 1000s of applications. 1000s!Think about all the many technology advancements that have taken place since and the new security risks that we weren't aware of when our apps were originally design. But perhaps more profound, think about how much business has changed during this period of time…  Are your applications reflecting the changing times?  Listen in to this episode to learn more!Referenced links:IBM Mono2MicroScientific Advantage with IBM Research & ConsultingKonveyor ProjectART OF AUTOMATION BOOK - DONATE HERE!

Jerry is joined by tax auditor turned AI-powered automation expert, Tran Nguyen from Adobe.  Tran leads the RPA and Emerging Technology Group at Adobe and discusses how she is enabling bots to assist in understanding the meaning of data found in tax and revenue-oriented contracts.  Specifically, Tran outlines how RPA, OCR and ML is used to extract clauses (like termination clauses) from legal documents allowing tax auditor to “wrangle” an immense volume of documents, with assistance to focus only on the documents that need attention.  Also, Tran's inspiring story proves that you don't have to be an engineer by trade to transform how you employees work, using Automation. And as we see time and time again on this show, Automation is applicable to just about every industry and domain… and most certainly includes Finance, Legal and Tax Auditing, as you will hear when you listen in.Connect with us: https://www.linkedin.com/in/art-of-automation/  Buy Paperback Book with discount code, mentioned in this episode: https://store.bookbaby.com/book/The-Art-of-Automation

Jerry is joined by world-class Automation Consultant and Global Automation Practice Leader at IBM, Tom Ivory. They begin by discussing Automation Consulting in general, and how Tom and his team x-ray enterprises in search for inefficiencies and prescribe AI-powered Automation as solutions. Tom describes the three phases of modern enterprise automation, from "island"/task automation to hyper-automation  to AI-powered Automation. They close by diving into a real-world example from the State of New York where IBM used AI-powered Automation to  automate the processing of unemployment claims to significantly lower call times and increase calls per day. IBM Consulting: https://www.ibm.com/consulting/Connect with us: https://www.linkedin.com/in/art-of-automation/  Buy Paperback Book with discount code, mentioned in this episode: https://store.bookbaby.com/book/The-Art-of-Automation Art by Jerry Cuomo.

Jerry is joined by IBM Senior Technical Staff Member and Lead Architect for Observability, Chris Bailey. They begin by discussing what "BizOps" is and why connecting data and events from across the enterprise creates unique challenges for modern businesses. Chris explains that the world's digital transformation means most of today's business is implemented in IT, and how, with advanced Observability technology, enterprises can be proactive about mitigating IT issues and keeping their customers happy. Chris and Jerry close by gazing into the crystal ball and analyzing where this all might be headed in the next decade.Connect with us: https://www.linkedin.com/in/art-of-automation/   Art by Jerry Cuomo.

To kick off the new year, Jerry Cuomo is interviewed by his digital twin (DJ) and shares 4 key trends in Automation that are uniquely using AI to expand the scope of what can be automated in the enterprise. These trends include “Automating Code”, “Automating Document Understanding”, “Automating Business Operations”, and “Putting Automation in the Hands of Everyone”.  Connect with us: https://www.linkedin.com/in/art-of-automation/  Cover Art arrangement by human Jerry Cuomo.

Jerry is joined by IBM Fellow, Chief Technology Officer, and Vice President of Cognitive Processing Platforms at IBM, Teresa Hamid. They discuss how AI-powered Automation is fundamentally transforming how we get work done in the enterprise. Teresa explains that a driving force behind this transformation is Intelligent Workflows, which are masterful orchestrations of Automation, AI, Analytics, and Skills that can be implemented to radically and positively change user experience. Jerry shares a real life example, where IBM helped a US government agency implement Intelligent Workflows to reduce claims processing times from 15 days to 15 minutes.  Connect with us: https://www.linkedin.com/in/art-of-automation/   IBM Garage: https://www.ibm.com/garage  Art by David Ryan.

Jerry is joined by Vice President of Strategy and Emerging Solutions at Interac Corporation, Oscar Roque. They discuss financial services from the ATM to AI and how financial services is no longer just about finance - with the digital world in every aspect of our life, financial services is now blending with many other sectors to create an entirely new digital, multimodal user experience. Oscar explains how digital is the precursor to automation, and with the ever-growing quantities of data, how financial services companies have the obligation to help their customers while still ensuring transparency. They close by exploring the art of the possible - a world where AI agents can help synthesize data to assist in research, having enough power to have predicted the GameStop stock boom before it happened.  Connect with us: https://www.linkedin.com/in/art-of-automation/  Art by David Ryan.

Jerry recaps The Art of Automation Season 1 and gives a preview for Season 2.  Connect with us: https://www.linkedin.com/in/art-of-automation/  Cover Art by Jerry Cuomo.

For the final episode of Season 1, Jerry is joined by Vice President of IBM Digital Business Automation, Ed Lynch. They take a step back and discuss the concept of Enterprise Automation as a whole, specifically, where we are today and how we got here. Ed explains that Automation is everywhere - not limited to one specific industry.  He then elaborates on the future of Enterprise Automation, and how it inevitably will be centered around AI and augmenting human work. They close by determining that Automation all comes down to the human beings and that the best place to begin your Automation journey is with the data.  Art by David Ryan.

Jerry is joined by Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at NCR Corporation, Tim Vanderham. They discuss how progressive retailers are beginning to use Automation to transform the customer's shopping experience - a transformation that has been catalyzed by the ongoing pandemic. Tim shares Automation examples from self-checkout to online ordering and explains how this goes beyond classic Automation to Edge, Computer Vision, Internet of Things, and even Cryptocurrency. They close by jumping the tracks to AI and diving into how, out of necessity, retail companies are utilizing AI to filter through millions of events to isolate outages and create a more personalized experience for their consumers.  Art by David Ryan.  Tim's Interview on Crypo in Retail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aGURdd9i4c

Jerry is joined by IBM Distinguished Engineer, CTO of IBM Application Platforms, and a Founding Father of the WebSphere Application Platform, Dr. Ian Robinson. Jerry and Ian discuss the story of Java, from its beginnings at Sun Microsystems, to its role today as the platform for an enduring software development ecosystem of languages, runtime platforms, open source projects, and much more. Ian explains how the Internet as we know it today, would simply never have existed without Java. He then elaborates on Automation and AI's role in Java with examples from real operations, IT, and other enterprise teams. They close by exploring a new game-changing technology (which combines Java and AI-powered Automation) that is taking monolithic applications and increasing their agility by breaking them down into smaller microservices.  Art by David Ryan.  IBM Semeru Runtimes - http://ibm.com/semeru-runtimes  The Open Liberty Project for Java microservices - https://openliberty.io/  Mono2Micro - http://ibm.biz/Mono2Micro  WebSphere Automation - https://www.ibm.com/cloud/websphere-automation

Digital Jerry (DJ) and Human Jerry return for a special episode on one of the most popular technology trends of the last decade, Blockchain. Jerry begins by clearing up a few common misconceptions about Blockchain, like the fact that it's not the same thing as Bitcoin. He reframes the popular narrative around Blockchain by sharing its extensive use cases, all of which are unified by a desire to build a trusted network to handle interactions between known parties. Jerry then shifts the discussion to Enterprise AI-powered Automation, where Automation technology is generally bounded by a company's firewall. With Blockchain, however, Automation is being expanded to multi-party processes (such as supply chain), saving substantial amounts of time and money. Jerry closes by summarizing how Blockchain's immutable shared ledger creates a foundation of trust and confidence, by forming one system of truth for all players involved.  Cover Art arrangement by human Jerry Cuomo.  More on Blockchain and Trust: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/data-we-trust-well-after-you-add-little-blockchain-jerry-cuomo/

Jerry is joined by Director of Engineering at Submergence Group and the mastermind behind the Mayflower Autonomous Ship, Don Scott. They discuss the unique application of Automation and AI at sea, specifically around the Mayflower Autonomous Ship project, which is attempting to become the first entirely automated vessel to traverse the Atlantic Ocean. Don explains how this "AI Captain" operates and makes decisions while at sea. He also elaborates on safety, trust, and international marine regulations and how AI explainability is such an important part of the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (or any other AI system). Jerry and Don close by exploring how lessons learned from Automation at sea can be applied back to an enterprise setting.  Art by David Ryan.  Follow the Mayflower Autonomous Ship: https://mas400.com

Jerry is joined by Vice President of Automation Intelligence and leader of the IBM France Development Lab, Harley Davis. They set out to answer the most frequently asked question by The Art of Automation's audience: "Where do we start"? Harley explains the concept of Process Mining and how it takes a data-driven approach to translating an enterprise's desire for improved operations into actions and automations that can actually be implemented. He also discusses how Process Mining technology allows a business to simulate (using a "Digital Twin") what would improve if certain automations are applied, removing risk and justifying AI investments.  Art by David Ryan.  IBM Process Mining: https://www.ibm.com/cloud/learn/process-mining  myInvenio: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cloud-paks/1.0?topic=foundation-process-mining

Jerry is joined by Turbonomic CEO and member of the "Forbes Midas List" six years running, Ben Nye. They discuss the concept of "ARM" (Application Resource Management) and how it can be used to save companies 30% on their cloud infrastructure bills. Ben explains that the infamous "spinning wheel of death" (which often comes when applications are being starved of resources) can effectively be eliminated when a company uses ARM technology to automate optimal resource allocation. He clarifies this point with an analogy of an auction or negotiation, where applications bid on and trade resources, depending on their needs. Finally, Ben shares how ARM is saving enormous amounts of energy in data centers, reducing carbon emissions and an enterprise's impact on our climate.  Art by Kylee Barnard.

Jerry is joined by IBM Distinguished Engineer, CTO of IBM Cloud Paks, and host of "The Hybrid Cloud How-To Series", Andre Tost. They begin by discussing a broad definition of Hybrid Cloud, which includes flexibility of location and the ability to support a wide variety of application architectures. Andre shares his view that Automation in one of the core principles of Cloud and that it's impossible to do Cloud Computing without it. He also discusses how AI brings intelligence to automating Hybrid Cloud, by helping predict and fix operational problems before they happen.  Art by Kylee Barnard.  Listen to The Hybrid Cloud How-To Series here: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JEaNrwIEBXPY0H5GREwVE

Jerry is joined by IBM Distinguished Engineer, self-published author, and the most prolific inventor in the history of IBM (with over 800 patents), Lisa Seacat DeLuca. They discuss how AI-powered automation helps businesses understand the environment and how they can use that data to tackle challenges related to climate change, sustainability, and everyday business operations. Lisa shares an example from the airline industry, where flights still use a paper-based flight manifest that a pilot must sign, and she explains how much faster and more accurate the process could be if reinvented with AI-powered automation. She also makes predictions for how automation will play an even bigger role in public health as the world transitions to the next normal, with technologies coming together to help us be safer as a society.    Art by Jerry Cuomo.

Digital Jerry (DJ) is back for a very special episode announcing The Art of Automation Book.  Book link: https://www.ibm.com/cloud/blog/art-of-automation.  Send feedback to: ethanglasman@ibm.com.  Cover Art arrangement by human Jerry Cuomo.

Jerry is joined by IBM Distinguished Engineer and Lead Architect of the IBM Automation Foundation, Pratik Gupta. They discuss what automation is made of and how the blueprint of automation can be broken down into "Discover, Decide, Act, and Optimize." Pratik shares an example of how automation has evolved in manufacturing cars, from the Ford Model T to the Tesla Model Y. He ties this back to enterprise automation with a use case from the information technology space, where decisions are constantly being made, for hundreds of thousands of people, automatically - or as Pratik puts it - "Planet-Scale AI-Powered Automation."  Art by Caroline Scholer and Jerry Cuomo.

Jerry is joined by Chief Information Officer at The Co-operators Group, Carol Poulsen. They discuss the important role automation is playing in the insurance industry and how companies are moving from standard risk mitigation to AI-powered risk prevention. Carol describes how automation is allowing insurance to put customers at the center, instead of at the end of a process. She also shares what innovations AI could bring to insurance in the coming years and how those innovations could shift risk and save you money.  Art by Danielle Elchik.

Jerry is joined by IBM Distinguished Engineer, Master Inventor, and CTO for APIs and Integration, Rob Nicholson. They discuss the relationship between APIs, Integration, and Automation and why "you can't automate an enterprise, unless that enterprise is programmable through APIs." Rob describes how, in order for an enterprise to go faster, it needs quick and easy access to all relevant data and events, and how the best way to do this is to make APIs ubiquitous across the company. He also shares examples of how AI can be used as your "wingperson" in tough integration problems.  Art by Adaoha Onyekwelu.

Jerry is joined by Vice President and "a founding father" of IBM Automation, Mike Gilfix. They discuss how AI-powered automation technology gives businesses back "the gift of time," allowing people to spend their days on the things that matter. Mike shares and an analogy of how we spend our time during the day to a resume - we want to include the business value we delivered, not that we got all our expense reports done on time. He drives home his point with an example of intelligent automation that shrunk a claims process from weeks to minutes.  Art by Danielle Elchik.

Jerry is joined by CEO of Instana, Mirko Novakovic. They discuss how the increasing complexity of AI and cloud environments can lead to the creation of an enterprise black box, where no one knows exactly how an application works or how AI models make decisions. Mirko describes how Application Performance Monitoring and Observability play a critical role in tackling this problem for an enterprise by helping them "turn on the lights." He also introduces "Stan" (The Robot) to discuss the future of automation in observability.  Art by Adaoha Onyekwelu.

Jerry is joined by IBM Fellow and VP/CTO of IBM Edge Computing, Rob High. They discuss how edge computing keeps businesses relevant in the "digital NOW age," by lowering latency in decision making & data processing, reducing bandwidth, and protecting sensitive information. Rob describes what it means to bring automation out to where the data is collected ("the edge"), such as machines on a factory floor, and why doing so can be massively beneficial for an enterprise.  Art by Danielle Elchik. 

Jerry is joined by IBM Director of Digital Business Automation and Intelligent Document Services, Eileen Lowry. They discuss why document processing is so manually intensive and what makes it so difficult to automate. Eileen describes how AI/Deep Learning can mimick the human brain to understand the unstructured information found in an enterprise's wide variety of documents. She shares an example from the insurance industry that shows the enormous business value of Intelligent Document Automation.  Art by Caroline Scholer.

To kick off the new year, Jerry Cuomo is interviewed by his digital twin (DJ) and shares 5 key trends in Automation that are uniquely using AI to expand the scope of what can be automated in the enterprise. These trends include the “Union of APIs and Automation”, “Digital Employees”, “Predictive AIOps”, “AI for Code”, and “Multi-org Automation”. Human Jerry notes that there are billions of hours spent each year on mundane tasks. He predicts that in 2021, enterprises will shift these hours towards higher value work by using AI-powered Automation. 2021 is poised to be the Year of Automation!  Cover Art arrangement by human Jerry Cuomo.

Jerry is joined by IBM Fellow, Chief Scientist of IBM Research, and one of the architects behind Watson (of Jeopardy! fame), Dr. Ruchir Puri. They discuss why it's important to "teach machines their own language" and what automating the creation of software and IT processes can mean for an enterprise with millions of lines of code. Ruchir elaborates on the daily benefits this automation has for developers, from code search to code translation to modernizing legacy code.  Art by April Monson.  More on ML for Code: https://ml4code.github.io; more on modernizing legacy code: https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/artificial-intelligence/machine-learning/ibm-ai-watson-modernize-legacy-code.

Jerry is joined by IBM Distinguished Engineer and CTO of Digital Business Automation, Allen Chan. They discuss how RPA automates repetitive human tasks by mimicking human actions and how this can save time in tasks such as reading documents and interacting with applications. Allen describes how Robotic Process Automation is a misnomer, because it's not the entire process that's automated, it's the tasks within it. He makes sure to clarify that RPA is a tool built to assist humans, not steal our jobs.  Art by April Monson.

Jerry is joined by Chief Digital Officer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and author of four "For Dummies" books, Claus Jensen. They discuss the important role automation is playing in the healthcare industry and why the combination of AI and human doctors outperforms either in isolation. Claus shares good (and bad) examples of how AI can be used in healthcare, as well as what innovations he sees on the horizon in the coming years.  Art by Orizema Cruz Pina.

Jerry is joined by Director of AI Platforms and Runtimes at IBM Research, Dr. Rania Khalaf. They discuss the concept of a "hybrid workforce," where bots and people work together, and what can be accomplished when that collaboration is optimized. Rania explains how Agent Orchestration plays a role, then brings everything together with a Generative AI example.  Art by Orizema Cruz Pina.

Jerry is joined by IBM Fellow and one of Forbes' “Top 20 Women in AI Research” Rama Akkiraju. They discuss AI for IT Operations (AIOps) and the incredible automation potential it has in the very near future. Rama introduces the idea of a “digital teammate” and explains how it all comes together in “ChatOps.”  Art by Matt Cardinal.

An introduction to The Art of Automation Podcast and the "art of the possible." Jerry elaborates on the concepts of automation, self-driving cars, and how this all relates to the future of enterprise technology.  Art by Matt Cardinal.