This is definitely one of the best episodes of Real AI. Now.! Symbolic AI vs Machine Learning is the main theme for a conversation with an amazing guest: Walt Mayo (CEO of Expert.ai). “AI pragmatist and disambiguator” - these are his own words about himself. And as you’ll notice, Walt is funny, very insightful and does not spare any shots about AI. He has been in the industry for over 25 years and is a thought leader when it comes to how AI impacts businesses. You can also sense other past professional experiences sprinkled on his words, for example his work as a diplomat for the US. It’s over 80 minutes of an engaging and insightful conversation with Paulo Nunes (CEO of Two Impulse). We could not think of a better fit to our podcast. With such an interesting background, we obviously need to start there. How does a diplomat get into the AI industry? From there on, Symbolic AI and Machine Learning are omnipresent in pretty much all the topics we go over in the episode. Not only do we get deeper in each one, but also the friction between them, as well as the benefits of balancing through Hybrid AI. Another topic that comes up in some capacity throughout the conversation is ChatGPT and, let me tell you… you don’t want to miss it when it happens. The conversation gets right away very engaging with the discussion about the hype of AI. Very strong points are made there, and it even gets a bit philosophical and profound. The very foundations of what artificial intelligence really means are on the table. It then moves to Natural Language Processing topics and the connection with expert systems. Ethics and Responsible AI also take a big chunk of the talk and, most certainly, will leave you pondering about some of the claims you’ll hear. Finally, unsurprisingly, Paulo and Walt focus on Large Language Models. Consequences, responsibility and even its possible underwhelming usefulness are covered. Before dropping the curtain, Walt still leaves us with a few words of advice for companies that want to use AI to solve problems. Honestly, this might very well be the best content about AI you didn’t know you needed. But don’t take our word for it. Go check it by yourself!