Sai Krishna Reddy Mudhiganti

expert panel

Marketing has always operated around a simple proposition: Get in front of people. Capture attention, create preference and make it easy for the consumer to buy.AI agents complicate every part of that formula.Instead of opening a search engine, comparing products, reading reviews and navigating checkout, a consumer may increasingly tell an agent what they want and let software handle the rest. The agent can interpret preferences, compare options, check prices, evaluate constraints and eventually complete the transaction.And if humans are no longer evaluating every option, companies may have to stop asking, “How do we get noticed?” and start asking, “How do we become the option an agent can confidently recommend?”Members of the Senior Executive AI Think Tank—a curated group of experts specializing in machine learning, generative AI and enterprise AI applications—see that transition from different vantage points. Here, they explore what this shift could mean for companies, consumers and the future of commerce—and what businesses may need to rethink as AI agents take on a greater role in the buying process.

expert panel

For many executives, AI has already become part of the daily workflow. They use it to summarize reports, find information, draft emails and work through routine tasks. But familiarity with the tools can create a false sense of fluency—and make it harder to recognize the gap between using AI and knowing how to use it strategically.Microsoft research involving thousands of knowledge workers found that generative AI can reduce time spent on tasks such as writing, information retrieval and summarization. But those individual productivity gains do not automatically translate into changes in how organizations make decisions or operate. Research from McKinsey similarly finds that while AI adoption is widespread, most organizations are still struggling to turn it into significant enterprise-level impact.The challenge, then, is not simply getting leaders to use AI more. It is learning to recognize where AI can change the work itself—and developing the judgment to know when, where and how to make that change.So what does genuine AI fluency look like at the leadership level? Members of the Senior Executive AI Think Tank approach that question from different vantage points, spanning enterprise technology, research, finance, retail, design and AI implementation. Their experiences offer a closer look at what happens when leaders move beyond individual productivity and begin applying AI to decisions, workflows, business systems and organizational strategy.

expert panel

For all the talk about AI making customer service faster and more personal, there is still a harder question to answer: Does the customer actually feel better served? An instant answer or perfectly timed recommendation may be useful, but usefulness is not the same as feeling understood. When a customer has a complicated problem, is frustrated or simply wants to talk to someone, efficiency can quickly become the problem.That tension is becoming more important as companies bring AI into more customer interactions. Customers are increasingly comfortable with AI when it saves time or effort, but many still expect a human option when the stakes are higher. The challenge then is figuring out how technology can remove friction without taking away the judgment, reassurance and connection that make good service feel like good service.In this article, members of the Senior Executive AI Think Tank—a curated community of leaders specializing in machine learning, generative AI and enterprise AI applications—explore that challenge from different angles. They discuss personalization and customer memory, where human involvement matters most, how AI can give employees more room for empathy, and how customer signals can shape better products. They also examine what it really means for AI to remember—and how leaders can tell whether an interaction leaves customers feeling understood, rather than simply processed.