E061 - AI or Not - Zoher Karu and Pamela Isom

About this episode

Welcome to "AI or Not," the podcast where we explore the intersection of digital transformation and real-world wisdom, hosted by the accomplished Pamela Isom. With over 25 years of experience guiding leaders in corporate, public, and private sectors, Pamela, the CEO and Founder of IsAdvice & Consulting LLC, is a veteran in successfully navigating the complex realms of artificial intelligence, innovation, cyber issues, governance, data management, and ethical decision-making.

AI is moving fast, but most organizations are still stuck at the “more dashboards” stage. We sit down with data analytics and AI executive Zoher Karu to talk about what actually moves the needle: decision intelligence that helps people make the call, not just justify it later. Along the way, Zoher shares a career journey across consulting, retail, finance, and healthcare, and why a business-first mindset beats a technology-first rollout every time.

We dig into a real product example with Taylor.ai, a men’s clothing rental subscription that blends human stylists with algorithms. It’s a surprisingly hard matching problem: understanding a person’s fit, taste, and goals while also understanding the clothing itself and the context around it, from weather to travel. That leads to a bigger takeaway for anyone building AI products: clean feedback loops, clear definitions of “better,” and data that is organized enough to support real decisions.

From there, we challenge a common pattern in enterprise AI strategy: using generative AI to shave minutes off manual work while missing the larger transformation. Zoher argues the bigger prize comes from redesigning the whole process, even asking why the work exists at all. We also get candid about trustworthy AI, security, and why models will always produce an answer even when they are guessing, which raises the stakes for data quality, access controls, and critical thinking.

If you’re leading AI, analytics, or digital transformation, this one is built for you. Subscribe, share it with a teammate, and leave a review with the biggest decision you want data and AI to improve.