Coffee Talk logo: a moka pot and coffee cup

There was an interesting article in the Financial Times, all about how “America’s top companies keep talking about AI — but can’t explain the upsides”. I think this is normal for where we are in the lifecycle of this technology — and also for the methodology the journalists used.

More helpfully, Bain & Company’s “Technology Report 2025” talked about exactly where GenAI can help, especially in software development — and where it can’t. The report also has interesting data about exactly why developers are not going to be replaced by AI, even as they adopt AI tools to facilitate their own work.

McKinsey found the same when they looked at “One year of agentic AI: Six lessons from the people doing the work”. There is plenty of AI adoption — by expert humans, not to replace the humans.

These are all healthy discussions to have as we figure out where this technology is going and what it is good for — so I put on a pot of coffee to brew, and talked through where we’re at.

This video is also available on LinkedIn, if you prefer to join the conversation over there.