#321 Nick Frosst: Why Cohere Is Betting on Enterprise AI, Not AGI

This episode is sponsored by tastytrade.  Trade stocks, options, futures, and crypto in one platform with low commissions and zero commission on stocks and crypto. Built for traders who think in probabilities, tastytrade offers advanced analytics, risk tools, and an AI-powered Search feature.   Learn more at https://tastytrade.com/ In this episode of Eye on AI, Nick Frosst, Co-Founder of Cohere and former Google Brain researcher, explains why Cohere is betting on enterprise AI instead of chasing AGI.   While much of the AI industry is focused on artificial general intelligence, Cohere is building practical, capital-efficient large language models designed for real-world enterprise deployment. Nick breaks down why scaling transformers does not equal AGI, why inference cost and ROI matter, and how enterprise AI differs from consumer AI hype.   We discuss enterprise LLM deployment, private data, regulated industries like banking and healthcare, agentic systems, evaluation benchmarks, and why AI will likely become embedded infrastructure rather than a headline breakthrough.   If you care about enterprise AI, AGI debates, large language models, and the future of AI in business, this conversation delivers a grounded perspective from inside one of the leading AI companies.   Stay Updated: Craig Smith on X: https://x.com/craigss Eye on A.I. on X: https://x.com/EyeOn_AI   (00:00) From Google Brain to Cohere (03:54) Discovering Transformers (06:39) The Transformer Dominance (09:44) What AGI Actually Means (12:26) Planes vs Birds: The AI Analogy (14:08) Why Cohere Isn't Chasing AGI (18:38) Distillation & Model Efficiency (21:42) What Enterprise AI Really Does (25:20) Private Data & Secure Deployment (26:59) Enterprise Use Cases (RBC Example) (32:22) Why AI Benchmarks Mislead (34:55) Why Most AI Stays in Demo (38:23) What "Agents" Actually Are (43:32) The Problem With AGI Fear (49:15) Scaling Enterprise AI (53:24) Why AI Will Get "Boring"