Value Driven Data Science

Episode 116: [Value Boost] What Data Scientists Need to Know Before the AI Free Ride Ends

29 July 2026 13:57 Dr Genevieve Hayes

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About this episode

Right now, AI is cheap. But the companies providing it are losing billions of dollars a year and are expected to go public within the next 12 months. When they do, the price of intelligence is going up - and any organisation that has built its AI future entirely on rented intelligence is going to face a very unpleasant surprise.

In this Value Boost episode, Nicholas Kelly joins Dr Genevieve Hayes to explore why organisations shouldn't be building their AI future entirely on frontier models, and what data professionals need to understand to be the strategic voice in the AI infrastructure conversation.

You'll discover:
1. Why relying entirely on frontier AI models is a strategic error [02:00]
2. How the economics of AI are about to change [03:34]
3. The case for owning at least some of your AI infrastructure [07:53]
4. What data professionals need to know to become the strategic voice in AI infrastructure decisions [11:02]

Guest Bio

Nicholas Kelly is the co-founder and Chief AI Architect of Delivering Data Analytics, a consultancy that helps organisations turn data, BI, analytics, and AI into confident decisions people actually act on. He is also the author of Delivering Data Analytics, How to Interpret Data and the recently released The AI-Driven Data Team.

Links

  • Nicholas's Website
  • Connect with Nicholas on LinkedIn
  • Connect with Genevieve on LinkedIn
  • Be among the first to hear about the release of each new podcast episode by signing up HERE

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