Insights from Mindgrub’s latest Tech+ Livecast

In our recent Tech+ Livecast, Mindgrub CEO Todd Marks sat down with Adam Dumey, Global Vice President of Retail at WWT and a leading voice in AI, autonomous retail, and cloud innovation. They were joined by Mo Ezderman, Mindgrub’s Director of AI, for a conversation about how AI is changing the way we work, think, and create.

Together, they explored everything from multi-agent AI systems and enterprise adoption to the growing role AI plays in shaping both creative and technical workflows.

One clear message emerged: AI isn’t just another tool. It’s a shift in how we work, build, and lead.

From Tools to Team Members: The Rise of AI Agents

For years, most people have viewed AI as a tool — something to help complete a task faster or improve accuracy. But as Marks explained during the livestream, we’re now entering an era where AI operates more like a team. Instead of a single model assisting with a prompt, organizations are beginning to experiment with multi-agent systems, where different “agents” each take on specialized roles, working together under the direction of an orchestrator.

“If you think about how we used to make websites,” said Marks, “you’d have an information architect to do the wireframes, a visual designer for the creative, a front-end and back-end engineer, and a project manager to manage it all. In a multi-agent AI system, an agent could fill each of those roles, and the project manager becomes the orchestral agent, or conductor, coordinating all the pieces.”

This isn’t just theory. Many of the underlying components — agentic frameworks, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines, and orchestration tools — are already being tested by AI teams and early adopters.

Augment, Not Replace: Rethinking What We Want AI to Do

While it’s true that these agentic systems can displace some of the manual work traditionally done by humans, Dumey was quick to emphasize a key distinction: AI isn’t meant to replace human judgment. It’s meant to augment it.

“There’s a lot of grunt work that we just don’t want to do,” Marks added. “Copying, pasting, drawing boxes for wireframes… Our real value is in the thinking, not the clicking.”

Ezderman echoed this idea, noting that the most successful applications of AI often come from freeing people to focus on strategy, creativity, and innovation, not from automating them out of the picture.

Startups Have the Edge

When asked about where AI can have the most significant impact right now, all three panelists agreed: startups are in a prime position to capitalize on AI’s capabilities.

“Startups have low risk and high flexibility,” Ezderman explained. “You can be the engineer, the marketing team, the content creator — all with the help of AI. That’s why we’re seeing three-person teams become billion-dollar companies.”

Marks added that he sees AI as a path to scaling revenue and innovation without scaling headcount. As an entrepreneur himself, he noted how AI could enable the rise of the “one-man band” business model — ventures run by individuals who leverage AI to do the work of entire teams.

Dumey also highlighted examples from larger companies like Kodium, which has challenged its entire organization to use AI in daily workflows. From sales teams generating demo environments to marketers producing personalized content, this AI-first mindset could be a blueprint for both startups and enterprises.

Aligning AI with Human Values

As AI systems become more autonomous, the question of ethics (and alignment with human intent) becomes more urgent.

Dumey stressed the importance of keeping humans in the loop, particularly when it comes to critical thinking and oversight. “Someone has to make sure these systems are producing the right outcomes,” he said. “We have to elevate judgment, not automate it away.”

Ezderman added that alignment also starts with training data and policy. “We don’t always know what data models are trained on,” he said. “We need transparency, oversight, and policy at both the government and organizational levels.”

Marks emphasized that AI governance should be treated like any other corporate policy, embedded into employee handbooks, IT systems, and leadership strategy. “It’s like seatbelts,” he said. “We didn’t always have them, but now they’re required because they save lives. AI policy will follow the same arc.”

Looking Ahead: A 5- and 10-Year Vision of AI

To close the conversation, the panelists were asked what they think AI will look like in five and ten years.

Ezderman predicted that we’ll move away from screens and start interacting with technology more naturally, through voice, glasses, and even spatial computing. “Right now we’re all looking down,” he said. “But soon we’ll be looking up and out into the world again.”

Dumey took that one step further, envisioning a future where AI is embedded in our bodies—a core part of our health, productivity, and daily decision-making. “In 10 years, AI will be preventative, personalized, and always-on,” he said.

Marks believes we’re on the cusp of a significant shift in how we spend our time. “All the mundane tasks will be automated. Humanoid robots will be more common. And hopefully, we’ll get back to what makes us human—art, poetry, and strategic thinking. That’s the future I want to build.”

Key Takeaways for Business Leaders

If you’re thinking about how to bring AI into your organization, here are a few lessons from the Tech+ panel:

• Start small, scale fast: AI can reduce startup costs and operational overhead, especially for new ventures.
• Use agents to mimic team structures: Think of AI agents like teammates, not tools.
• Keep humans in the loop: Oversight and human judgment will remain essential.
• Invest in policy and governance: Treat AI usage as part of your official company playbook.
• Focus on high-impact tasks: Free your team from mundane tasks and let them lead with creativity and insight.

Mindgrub’s Tech+ series continues to bring together forward-thinking leaders who are shaping the future of tech, business, and society. For more insights from this conversation and future livecasts, stay tuned at mindgrub.com.