Data Radicals Season 3: Exploring Data & AI with Industry Leaders

Since the wrap of the last season of Data Radicals in March 2024, we’ve witnessed the explosion of AI and Nividia, the rise of robotics, and the most high-stakes race for the White House in modern history. Within Alation, we’re seeing customers build AI agents, trusted semantics, and data products to drive repeatable value.  

So to say it’s a good time to launch season 3 is an understatement. I’m thrilled to dig into these major trends (and much more) with this season’s slate of thought leaders. Make no mistake that we’ll stay true to the podcast’s original mission of exploring the rise and impact of data culture, with tips on how to lead organizational change around data. But I’m very excited to add two more core themes to our focus this season: driving value and AI. 

In this blog, I’ll offer a glimpse into what to expect for season 3, launching October 23. Let’s dive in!

Guest spotlight: Geraldine Wong

To kick off our season, I sat down with Dr. Geraldine Wong, the CDO of GXS Bank. GXS is one of the first digital full banks in Singapore, officially launched in 2022. The bank caters to the everyday consumer while also paying particular attention to underserved communities. GXS Bank seeks to serve the underserved by leveraging alternative data sources via its ecosystem partners, a telecommunications company, Singtel, and Grab, the Uber of Singapore. 

Not only has Geraldine brought a creative angle to her tenure at GXS, leveraging her experience in climate science to forge new financial products – she’s embraced data governance as an enabler for compliance, culture, and business results.

“Data governance is like a seatbelt,” she says. “Like a seatbelt, when you don't get into a car accident, it's completely unnecessary. But when you do get into a car accident, then you say, oh, why didn't I wear a seatbelt and keep myself safe?... So to me, that's how I see data governance should be. It should be embodied within the organization.”

Geraldine has embraced this mindset by implementing mandatory data governance training into the bank’s yearly requirements. By pioneering a “safety first” culture, she’s created a robust foundation for future innovations. Indeed, a rock-solid governance foundation is critical to the success of future AI use cases at GXS, ranging from fraud detection to hyper-personalized AI chatbots. 

For the latter use case, Geraldine reveals her team is using off-the-shelf AI models they personalize with Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG). “We're going to leverage an ensemble or a hybrid of all these models… whichever is performing the best for this particular purpose,” she says. In the episode, she also shares how she’s approached formulating AI projects by creating an AI steering committee, including a range of experts, from executives and practitioners to compliance leaders. I believe Geraldine’s experience in this realm would be of incredible value to anyone involved in the early stages of AI experimentation within their own business.

What else to expect this season

On top of introducing new core themes, we have Alation CMO, David Chao, interviewing fellow marketer Michael Olaye, who, as the EVP and Managing Director of Hero Digital, has brought the power of AI to fuel digital growth and launch creative branding campaigns from the likes of Nike, BMW, and Minecraft. Don’t miss this special episode, debuting in December!

I’ve also been fortunate to welcome Jeremy Kahn, AI editor at Fortune and author of the incredible book, Mastering AI: A Survival Guide to our Superpowered Future. Jeremy and I discussed the impact of AI on the job market, how it may threaten democracy, and the role of regulation. He also made some fascinating predictions about how the upcoming presidential election will shift the AI landscape. 

We also welcome Taylor Culver, a data consultant who writes pithy LinkedIn notes that I admire. Taylor’s served as a data leader and entrepreneur, and today helps major enterprises tune their data strategies to deliver meaningful business results. Listen to learn how Taylor attacks these knotty data-business problems – and why he says being a successful data leader is tougher than scoring a home run in the major leagues. 

Throughout these discussions, I focus on learning actionable insights that I think you will benefit from. I’ve gotten to hear how real leaders are driving real change with AI, and (zooming back) what the societal impacts of AI could be in just a few short years. And I’ve learned so much already.

This season is already shaping up to be the best yet. Other guests on our roster include Tom Davenport (author of All In on AI), Stewart Bond (Senior Vice President, Data Integration and Intelligence Software Research at IDC), Chris Wiggins (Chief Data Scientist at The New York Times), and Dr. Raza Habib (CEO and co-founder of Humanloop).

Whether you’re a fan from day one, or new to the space and keen to learn: Join me on this journey, and be sure to catch our first episode of season 3, releasing on Wednesday, October 23. 

Explore the show here.