#269 Jason Hardy: How Hitachi Vantara Is Powering the Future of Enterprise AI

AGNTCY - Unlock agents at scale with an open Internet of Agents. Visit https://agntcy.org/ and add your support.   In this episode of Eye on AI, Craig Smith sits down with Jason Hardy, Chief Technology Officer for AI at Hitachi Vantara, to explore what it really takes to deploy AI at scale in the enterprise, beyond the hype.   Jason shares how Hitachi is building a pragmatic, outcomes-driven AI platform through Hitachi iQ. From working with NVIDIA to integrating agentic AI into operations, this conversation unpacks the infrastructure, mindset, and strategies needed to move AI projects from experimentation to production.   Whether you're navigating AI adoption, battling with data readiness, or looking to build your own LLM-powered applications, this episode offers invaluable insights from a company that's actually doing it globally, sustainably, and at scale.   Stay Updated: Craig Smith on X: https://x.com/craigss Eye on A.I. on X: https://x.com/EyeOn_AI     (00:00) Preview (02:10) The Role of CTO for AI at Hitachi Vantara (05:38) Applying AI Across Manufacturing, Energy & Transport (09:54) What Is Pragmatic AI? (13:21) Infrastructure Demands of Generative AI (14:47) Why Most AI Projects Fail (20:25) Inside the Hitachi iQ Platform & NVIDIA Partnership (25:42) Building a Model-Agnostic, Hybrid AI Stack (32:08) Beyond Selling GPUs: Delivering Real AI Outcomes (38:09) Supporting Hybrid Deployments Across Cloud and On-Prem (42:02) Rethinking ROI: Failure as a Strategic Advantage (47:44) Agentic AI and the Future of Autonomous IT Workflows (49:37) Five Core Domains of Agentic AI at Hitachi (53:02) Making AI Infrastructure Sustainable (56:48) Hitachi's Vision for the Future of Enterprise AI