strAIght talk: AI tips for Amazonians

Host Alex Kalish gets a little help from a very special co-host, Alexa, who steps in to ask the questions while Alex tackles your toughest listener submissions head-on. The throughline? Context is king, and Alex's five-step framework will change the way you think about AI.Guest: Alexa, Amazon’s cloud-based voice service available on hundreds of millions of devices from Amazon and third-party device manufacturers.

Stop treating AI like a tool. Start treating it like a partner. Regional Director in Amazon Logistics shares how he transformed his relationship with AI from task assistant to strategic partner and the simple habit that made all the difference. His breakthrough: stop asking AI to complete tasks and start having conversations with it like you would with a colleague.Guest: Joe Hoeksema, Regional Director, Amazon Logistics

Want to think more strategically and accelerate your career growth? Program Manager with Amazon's GoAI team, shares how he uses AI as a personal career coach to prepare for high-stakes meetings, build advocates, and shift from tactical execution to strategic thinking. His approach: create a context document with your role, goals, and priorities, then use AI to help you see what you're missing.Guest: Chris Meriwether, Program Manager

Senior Manager AI/ML Specialist from AWS closes all his apps and does everything through AI for one day. The result? Events planned in minutes instead of hours, and a completely new way of working. Ahmed Raafat shares his "napkin test" and the daily prompt that keeps him focused on what matters. Listen to discover how the GenAI Day technique can work for you.Guest: Ahmed Raafat, Senior Manager, AWS

Principal Software Engineer shares how he went from AI skeptic to AI evangelist — and the exact technique that changed his mind. Learn about the prompt-driven development technique that made AI an indispensable partner for building faster.Guest: James Hood, Principal Software EngineerNote: Some tools, resources, and internal references discussed in this podcast may only be accessible to Amazon employees.Disclaimer: The views, techniques, and tool preferences shared in this podcast represent the personal experiences and opinions of the host and guests. Always follow your organization's security and compliance guidelines when implementing AI solutions.

It took 20 iterations. Now, the prompt framework a program manager from Amazon's Global Corporate Communications team built consistently delivers high-quality research analysis — faster and more precisely than before. Listen to find out how she got there — and how you can apply the same approach to your own research process.Guest: Caitlin Gallagher, Program ManagerNote: Some tools, resources, and internal references discussed in this podcast may only be accessible to Amazon employees. Disclaimer: The views, techniques, and tool preferences shared in this podcast represent the personal experiences and opinions of the host and guests. Always follow your organization’s security and compliance guidelines when implementing AI solutions.

Three hundred questions. Generated by AI, not a human. An AI program lead from Amazon's Global Supply Chain Operations discovered that the secret to better AI results isn't writing better prompts — it's asking AI to write them for you. Listen to find out how.Guest: Lavanya Srivastava, AI Program LeadNote: Some tools, resources, and internal references discussed in this podcast may only be accessible to Amazon employees. Disclaimer: The views, techniques, and tool preferences shared in this podcast represent the personal experiences and opinions of the host and guests. Always follow your organization’s security and compliance guidelines when implementing AI solutions.

Many people use AI like a search engine. But AI agents can do things — find information, manage requests, and take action on your behalf. In this episode we break down what makes agents different and how to put them to work, to see what's possible.Guest: Rashi Dixit, Principal Project ManagerNote: Some tools, resources, and internal references discussed in this podcast may only be accessible to Amazon employees. Disclaimer: The views, techniques, and tool preferences shared in this podcast represent the personal experiences and opinions of the host and guests. Always follow your organization’s security and compliance guidelines when implementing AI solutions.

Three pages of text when you needed three bullet points. Sound familiar? An Ops Tech Solutions leader cracked the code on getting AI to give you exactly what you asked for — no more, no less. Listen to find out how guardrails and constraints can fix that.Guest: Connor McIntyre, Ops Tech Solutions LeaderNote: Some tools, resources, and internal references discussed in this podcast may only be accessible to Amazon employees. Disclaimer: The views, techniques, and tool preferences shared in this podcast represent the personal experiences and opinions of the host and guests. Always follow your organization’s security and compliance guidelines when implementing AI solutions.

Forty hours saved. Insights he never would have found on his own. An Amazon Robotics facilitator discovered that asking AI the right questions — and letting it ask some back — changed everything. Listen to find out how the 3-question technique can work for you.Guest: Josh McCay, Amazon Robotics Onboarding Academy FacilitatorNote: Some tools, resources, and internal references discussed in this podcast may only be accessible to Amazon employees. Disclaimer: The views, techniques, and tool preferences shared in this podcast represent the personal experiences and opinions of the host and guests. Always follow your organization’s security and compliance guidelines when implementing AI solutions.

A few minutes of setup, dramatically better AI results. An AI Integration Lead built a simple context document that transformed how AI understands his role — and you can do the same. Listen to learn how to create yours.Guest: David Metzger, AI Integration LeadNote: Some tools, resources, and internal references discussed in this podcast may only be accessible to Amazon employees. Disclaimer: The views, techniques, and tool preferences shared in this podcast represent the personal experiences and opinions of the host and guests. Always follow your organization’s security and compliance guidelines when implementing AI solutions.