How enterprise AI is moving up the stack in 3 layers

Welcome to The Editors’ Room, a new Tearsheet Podcast series where Editor-in-Chief Zack Miller and Managing Editor Sara Khairi take the conversations that usually happen behind the scenes about our biggest stories and put them on the record. There isn’t a rehearsed interview or carefully choreographed panel answers. It’s just two editors comparing notes, challenging each other’s takes and trying to make sense of what is actually happening in financial services. Think of it as pulling up a chair after the meeting ends. It's the stuff we usually debate after the calls end: what a new product actually means, which industry trends have legs, and where the hype gets ahead of reality. Raw, conversational, and occasionally accompanied by a blooper. For our inaugural conversation, the topic was AI and, more specifically, what would you happily delegate to AI and what would you never hand over? From there, we got into the bigger question of how enterprise AI is taking shape. On that first question, Zack’s line is creativity. AI can handle planning and logistics, and he uses it as a kind of editorial sparring partner, asking questions, challenging ideas, and pushing him to dig deeper. But the creative judgment stays human. Sara draws the line at decision-making. Take an expensive laptop: she'll happily let AI compare the options, but she wants to be the person who clicks buy. It turns out that tiny distinction – AI can help make the decision, but shouldn't necessarily make it – is becoming a much bigger question in financial services.