What's the most important skill for building reliable AI? It might not be what you think.
In this episode, we sit down with Qamir Hussain, Head of AI at Arisa (formerly of Webio), who shares incredible insights from building AI for the high-stakes world of debt collection. He argues that a QA mindset is more critical than any other skill for an engineer in the AI space.
We dive into the real-world war stories of developing AI-driven tools that assist agents in navigating difficult and sensitive financial conversations.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why "out-of-the-box" foundation models failed, starting at only 20-30% accuracy on real-world data.
- The crucial decision to build custom models and evaluation tools in-house for compliance and quality control.
- How a "human-in-the-loop" approach makes AI safe and effective for regulated industries.
- The key differences between maintaining traditional software and non-deterministic AI systems.
Tune in for a masterclass in the practical engineering and strategic thinking required to make AI work in the real world.
