THE REAL STATE OF AI

In this deep-dive episode of the AI Moment, Jonathan Wagstaffe and me (Danny Denhard) strip away the LinkedIn hype to look at the "real" state of AI in April going into May 2026. The conversation focuses on the widening gap between companies that are merely talking about AI and those that are aggressively retooling their operations to stay competitive.---We go deeper on our newsletter with each and every episode, please don't forget to subscribe here and we will help you with each step on the AI journey.---We explore the "Uber Effect" where companies are blowing through token budgets due to a lack of creating a flexible financial environment with how much pressure is being applied on building.One core area we touch on (and is going to be a theme for a long time is) the critical importance of "Operational Readiness." I argue that without a solid repository of company documentation, any attempt to deploy AI agents will likely fail or create more work than it saves. This episode also touches on the "Compute Problem," discussing how "AI slop" and power limitations are beginning to throttle the growth of major LLMs, leading to potential price hikes and tiered service models in the near future.Finally, we discuss the battle for model dominance. While Claude is becoming the preferred "work partner" for professionals, ChatGPT is attempting to become a consumer super-app, and Gemini is leveraging its massive search and workspace data. The takeaway for leaders is clear: 2026 is the year of separation. You must move from awareness to implementation, focusing on solving core business problems rather than just chasing the latest feature.Here are the timestamps: 1:01 - Adoption Curve and its importance 4:45 - tokens and the importance of not buring through tokens and tokenmaxxing 6:15 - Ops readiness and having the right level of documentation to get the most out of AI 9:16 - AI Jobs Replacement, Tasks and Skills Development12:29 - AI Needs Training Through Workshops & Hackathons17:04 - AI Models - Why Anthropic Is Winning BIG & ChatGPT's Consumer Play Explained30:49 - The Compute Problem & Is AI Slop The Actual Cause?38:04 - The Latest Privacy Problems & Why You Need To As You're Now The AI Training DataStruggling With AI?Jonathan and I are hosting dedicated bespoke AI Workshops and AI Hackathons helping companies improve their AI capabilities and business performance, book in a time to chat to get you moving ahead