Deep Learning with PolyAI
Episodes
Can journalism teach us how to trust AI?
04 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode of Deep Learning with PolyAI, Michelle Schroeder sits down with Dom Nicastro, Editor-in-Chief at Simpler Media Group and...
What does truly multilingual CX sound like?
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textEvery customer expresses themselves differently, and their choice of language is no exception. So how can brands bridge the gap when cus...
How can enterprises become fluent in AI? (VOX 2025 conference recap!)
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAt VOX 2025, one thing was clear: the best brands aren’t just adopting AI — they’re becoming fluent in it.In this episode of Deep ...
Can we solve AI's "deer-in-headlights" problem? (with Dan Miller, founder of Opus Research)
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe conversational AI market has exploded: ~650 companies, even more tools, and way too many promises. For business leaders, navigating ...
Should hyper-growth brands still pick up the phone? (with Austin Towns, CTO of Hello Sugar)
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textHello Sugar is one of the fastest-growing service brands in America, with more than 140 locations and counting. From the start, they bui...
Why do LLMs ramble on and on? (with Oliver Shoulson, Lead Dialogue Designer at PolyAI)
25 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textLarge language models are powerful tools — but why do they ramble on and on instead of just getting to the point?In this episode of De...
Are "silent complaints" killing your brand? (with Adrian Swinscoe of Punk CX)
18 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMost companies measure CX through surveys, reviews, and dashboards. But there is real danger in “silent complaints”: the underwhelmi...
Is agentic AI the answer to broken analytics?
11 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAnalytics has always been the hardest part of the contact center. Dashboards are slow, incomplete, and rarely used outside of specialist...
Your new favorite colleagues aren’t human
04 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWe all know AI agents can answer calls (with varying success rates depending upon their sophistication). But what if AI agents could als...
Did OpenAI’s Realtime API just change everything?
02 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a text🚨 OpenAI just made its Realtime API generally available, and it's got everyone talking. But is it a true game-changer, or just a...
Behind the Tech: How Dialogue Design Really Works (Deep Learning with PolyAI podcast, Ep. 82)
28 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textEver wonder what really makes an AI voice feel human? In this episode of Deep Learning with PolyAI, an all-star panel from our dialogue ...
Raven v2 and the Race to Smarter Voice Agents with Matt Henderson (Deep Learning with PolyAI, Episode 81)
21 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, your host Nikola Mrkšić sits down with Matt Henderson, VP of Research at PolyAI, to unpack the state of large languag...
“Everybody wants AI, nobody wants BS” with Brian Jeppesen, Fertitta Entertainment
14 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textBrian Jeppesen, who serves as Director, Contact Center Operations at Fertitta Entertainment, joined your host Nikola Mrkšić to discuss...
079: GPT-5 Era Starts Now: The AI Arms Race Just Escalated
08 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textPolyAI co-founder and CTO Shawn Wen joins Nikola for a deep dive into the just-released OpenAI GPT-5 model. From model-flipping and 4o&a...
078: Forward deployed engineers: From the frontline of bringing AI to the world
08 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis week, Nikola is joined by Becky Kershaw, Deployments Lead at PolyAI.Becky shares how using her own British accent for AI voice clon...
077: Private equity roll-up strategies for AI, with Nathan Benaich
08 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textFollowing up from Nikola Mrkšić and Nathan Benaich's recent article for Fortune -- ‘AI rollup’ investors think services firms...
076: AI rollups: all VC sizzle and no stake? Thoughts from a recent Fortune article.
01 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textFortune article: http://fortune.com/2025/06/27/ai-rollup-investment-strategy/Nikola reflects on his recent Fortune commentary (above) in...
075: Human agent & AI cohesion in the contact center. What will it take?
20 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textNikola and Damien are back to discuss the ongoing evolution of AI in the contact center industry. We'll explore whether AI is truly...
074: AI and the State of Financial Services
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textVP of Product Marketing Brian Thompson joins Nikola to discuss the current state and future prospects of AI in financial services, inclu...
073: What are everyday people using LLMs for, really?
29 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDamien and Nikola are back to discuss the transformative impact of generative AI in our everyday lives. The conversation covers everythi...
072: Introducing Owl: PolyAI's in-house speech recognition model
23 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textGuest host Meghan Berton and VP of Engineering Razvan Kusztos cover the release of PolyAI's Owl ASR model, while dishing goss on th...
071: Differentiation in a generative AI era
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDamien and Nikola discuss the brave initiatives taken by executives in the field of generative AI, their successes, and challenges. Niko...
070: The journey from digital-first to AI-first, and how to do it right
09 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDamien and Nikola discuss the implications of AI-first approaches in industries, with a focus on how companies like Duolingo and Klarna ...
069: Announcing Agent Studio, the world's only voice-first conversational AI platform
15 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this buzzy episode, Damien hosts PolyAI's Senior Vice President of Product, Devidas Desai, to announce the launch of Agent Studi...
068: DOGE bites federal phone lines. Are Elon & Co. shutting down toll-free?
04 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDamien and Nikola are back to discuss the impact of removing toll-free numbers for government services, focusing on the DOGE/Social Secu...
067: Sonnet 3.7 + Orion, AWS goes agentic & the US Patent Office sets rules
13 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textNikola and Damien chew the fat about developments from AI giants Anthropic and OpenAI, comparing their new models: Claude 3.7 and GPT-4....
066: The anatomy of telephony, part 3 - Predictions
07 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn the closing episode of Deep Learning's deep dive on telephony, Nikola and Oisin discuss innovative ideas in telephony, especiall...
065: The anatomy of telephony, part 2 - Evolution
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe second episode of a three-part miniseries sees Deep Learning with PolyAI continue exploring the intricate world of telephony and VoI...
064: The anatomy of telephony, part 1 - Origins
19 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textNikola welcomes Oisin Glynn, VP of Solution Consulting, to discuss the fascinating history and evolution of modern telephony. Going back...
063: Surprising findings from PolyAI's recent CS trends report
10 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a text** Check out the report that inspired the episode **Damien welcomes PolyAI's senior director of brand, Kylie Whitehead, to discuss ...
062: AI's Sputnik moment? DeepSeek R1 has entered the chat(GPT).
27 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textBonus breaking news episode of the Deep Learning with PolyAI podcast! Hosts Damien and Nikola chat about the recent release of DeepSeek&...
061: An early look at OpenAI's Operator
24 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textKylie takes the helm for this episode of Deep Learning with Poly AI, where she and PolyAI CEO Nikola Mrkšić chat(no GPT) about OpenAI&...
060: A deep dive into the UK's AI Opportunities Action Plan
16 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDamien and Nikola (CEO & Co-Founder of PolyAI) talk about the recently announced AI Opportunities Action Plan. The conversation high...
059: AI in 2024: A really big year in review.
10 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode of 'Deep Learning with PolyAI,' Damien and Nikola reflect on the significant trends in AI throughout 2024, inc...
058: The rise of CAIOs and AI competency centers
03 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textOrgs establishing AI competency centers or hiring Chief AI Officers are heavy in 2025 predictions. Sit beside the fire with Damien and N...
057: What the #$%& is agentic AI anyway?
05 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textTime to decode the buzzterm du jour - in this episode of Deep Learning, Damien and Nikola discuss the emerging (or is it?) concept of ag...
056: The customer service conundrum, as indicated by a bunch of survey data.
25 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode of 'Deep Learning with PolyAI,' host Damien and guest Kylie Whitehead, Senior Director of Brand and Marketing ...
055: PolyAI's VOX Horizons annual conference recap
18 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a text** Catch a replay of VOX here: https://poly.ai/vox-2024/ **Damien and PolyAI CEO Nikola Mrkšić as they rewind to Thursday, November 14...
054: CX horror stories and AI armor for contact center agents
29 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDamien and Nikola talk rising aggression towards contact center agents and the protective role of AI automation. Highlighting alarming s...
053: Generative AI's Power Paradox. Can it prevent its own energy crisis?
17 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode of Deep Learning with PolyAI, join Damien and Nikola as they kibbitz over the immense energy demands of modern data cent...
052: Speech Synthesis - The anatomy of a voice assistant #4
10 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this concluding episode of the 'Anatomy of a Voice Assistant' series, CTO Shawn Wen discusses the intricacies of speech syn...
051: Secret Agentforce: Declassified! And more from Dreamforce 2024
02 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textOur own Brian Thompson, VP of Product Marketing, joins CEO Nikola to discuss Salesforce's recent AgentForce announcement. This new ...
050: Dialogue design. So hot right now.
26 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a text50th episode! Damien welocmes newcomer to the pod Oliver Shoulson, PolyAI's senior dialogue designer, about what dialogue design en...
049: OpenAI o1, Apple Intelligence, and Exowatt... oh my!
19 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDamien and CEO Nikola Mrkšić discuss recent AI headlines, including Klarna's decision to ditch Salesforce and Workday, Apple&apos...
048: Dissecting the actual impact of the new Council of Europe AI Framework Convention and treaty
12 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textHost Damien and PolyAI CEO Nikola Mrkšić discuss the latest in an increasingly vague spate of regulatory actions: this time, the AI Fr...
047: The anatomy of a voice assistant, part 3 - Large language models (LLMs)
05 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIt's the third in a series of technical deep dives for building IVAs, and for this episode, it's all about LLMs. Kylie chats w...
046: What's with the anti-AI movement among some brands, and will it last?
29 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDamien and Nikola chat about the controversial rise of anti-AI sentiment among brands, especially in the creator industry. They explore ...
045: Conversations with Kenn So, Generational.pub
22 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDamien interviews Kenn So, an AI researcher, enthusiast and author of the Generational substack. Kenn offers insights in to technical tr...
044: Speech Recognition and Spoken Language Understanding (SLU)
15 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn our second technical dive in the the anatomy of a voice assistant, Kylie hosts Shawn Wen, co-founder and CTO of Poly AI, to analyze t...
043: Size Matters - The rise of small language models (SLMs)
09 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDamien and Nikola discuss the evolution and significance of small language models (SLMs) amid the ever-growing landscape of their bigger...
042: Breaking Bots - Navigating AI deepfakes during election season and beyond
02 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textFrom political campaigns inundating platforms with AI-generated content to the intricacies of voice AI and deepfake technologies, Damien...
041: The cultural phenomenon (and human acceptance) of automation IRL
29 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDamien welcomes back Michelle Schroeder, SVP of Marketing at PolyAI, to discuss the growing role of automation in daily life and enterpr...
040: The multilayered anatomy of a generative AI voice assistant
11 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIt's getting technical up in here! Kylie welcomes PolyAI CTO & Co-Founder Shawn Wen to the show to discuss the complexities of ...
039: Old news is good news for generative AI; Reshaping modern journalism
03 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDamien and Nikola brag about their impressive Duolingo streaks... and then discuss the impact of AI on modern journalism - including iss...
038: Decoding McKinsey/QuantumBlack's State of AI
27 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textGuest host Steven Fine and series regular Nikola Mrkšić discuss the current landscape of AI adoption in businesses, drawing on McKinse...
037: Guiding effective worker utilization of generative AI tools
13 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDamien outs himself as a generative AI avatar (not really though), while he and PolyAI CEO Nikola Mrkšić discuss the growing workforce...
036: Keeping AI prominent in big tech alliances
06 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDamien welcomes Michael Chen, Vice President of Alliances at PolyAI, to chat working with big tech platforms to deploy conversational AI...
035: Artificial General Intelligence, six months later
30 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDamien and Nikola from PolyAI chat about the past six months of artificial general intelligence (AGI) progress. Key points of fiery disc...
034: The ScarJo Effect - Maintaining and Protecting Voice Agency in an AI World
23 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textNew guest, who dis? This episode, Damien invites Nathan Liu, VP of Deployments at PolyAI, discusses the company's approach to makin...
033: PolyAI's Series C Raise & GPT-4o
09 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode of the 'Deep Learning with PolyAI' podcast, Nikola and Damien discuss PolyAI's recent $50 million Series ...
032: Conversations featuring Brian Jeppesen, Fertitta Entertainment
02 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDamien welcomes Fertitta Entertainment's contact center director Brian Jeppesen to the pod to discuss Brian's long career in c...
031: Generative AI in the Contact Center - Build or Buy?
25 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDamien and Nikola tackle the age-old tech question: should enterprise contact centers build or buy AI solutions? They cover pros and con...
030: How the future of measuring success in the contact center requires AI
18 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDamien welcomes Business Value Analyst Steven Fine to the pod and discusses the evolution of measuring success in contact centers, focus...
029: What is 'AI washing' and how you can (and should) avoid it
11 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textToday's chat between Nikola and Damien delves into the concept of 'AI washing,' where companies exaggerate their level of...
028: NLP vs NLP, or AI and the art of human persuasion
04 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textNikola and Damien delve into the topic of humanizing technology and AI, touching upon the preference for non-human interactions in vulne...
027: Managing disruptive change, ships in the tech navy, and big maverick energy
28 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn today's episode, Michelle and Nikola discuss the challenges and strategies involved in managing disruptive change, particularly ...
026: Inside NVIDIA GTC 2024
21 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textJoin Damien and Tomasz, a senior machine learning engineer at PolyAI, as they discuss the key highlights of NVIDIA's megacon GTC. T...
025: Mythbusting generative AI "threats" (and how to cut through the fear-mongering)
14 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textLaura debuts hosting in today's episode, which discusses various concerns and myths around generative AI, particularly addressing G...
023: Why contact leaders are getting promoted off successful AI implementations
29 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textToday's episode covers the potential impact of successful AI implementation in contact centers on the career growth, and promotion ...
022: AI News Recap! Sora, LAMs and the Elephant in the Machine
22 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMichelle and Nikola discuss the impact of recent AI advancements on customer experience, including the developments in generative AI, mu...
021: How customer data is flipping the business value of the contact center
15 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textPolyAI's Global VP of Solution Consulting Brad talks with CEO Nikola about the future of customer data in the contact center. They ...
020: Effective Accelerationism, Fully Automated Contact Centers and Serbian Agriculture
08 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textNikola and Michelle dish about the future of fully automated support systems, the pros and cons of effective accelerationism, and the ba...
019: How practically safeguarding generative AI works IRL
01 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textKylie Whitehead and Meghan Berton discuss the importance of implementing guardrails to limit a system to its intended scope and ensure t...
018: How to avoid PR nightmares when deploying generative AI
25 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDamien and Nikola discuss the importance of safeguarding when deploying generative AI instances, specifically calling out the recent DPD...
017: Brand in the Contact Center
19 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textKylie and Michelle converse about the role of brand in the contact center, highlighting the disconnect between the effort put into creat...
016: Introducing Pheme, the speech generation model built to scale.
11 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this insightful episode, host Kylie Whitehead converses with Dr. Ivan Vulić, a Senior Scientist at PolyAI and a Principal Research A...
015: 2023 - An AI Year in Review
04 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, Michelle and Nikola discuss the year in review for PolyAI and the advancements in conversational AI. They also talk abo...
014: Why the New York Times is suing OpenAI - Copyright, Lawsuits & Fair Use
28 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textJoin hosts Michelle and Nikola as they dive into a potentially industry-shaping lawsuit: the New York Times vs OpenAI. They explore vari...
013: The Evolution of Voice Generation
21 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textJoin host Kylie Whitehead as she discusses the transformation of voice generation with PolyAI's head of machine learning, Paweł Bu...
012: AI & CX Trends in Retail
15 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode of Deep Learning with PolyAI, Michelle and Nikola shed light on the potential of AI and voice technology in enhancing th...
011: The AI Alliance, Google Gemini and Other News
08 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this highly reactive episode of Deep Learning, Damien and Nikola talk about the recent announcement of the AI Alliance and Google&apo...
010: Effective Altruism & Safety in AI
30 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe Deep Learning pod is back, and this week Nikola and Michelle discuss effective altruism, its influence on technology builders, and...
09: The Monumental Potential of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)
23 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this thought-provoking episode of Deep Learning with PolyAI, hosts Damien (Communications) and Nikola (CEO & Co-Founder) delve in...
08: Customer Experience or Operational Efficiency? Boost Both.
17 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis week, hosts Michelle Schroeder (SVP, Marketing) and Nikola Mrkšić (CEO, Co-Founder) of PolyAI talk about the crux of boosting bot...
07: Reaction to OpenAI DevDay 2023
10 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textPolyAI's Michelle and Nikola unpack announcements from this week's DevDay, touching on GPT-4 Turbo, the impact of consistent m...
06: The Evolution of Speech Recognition with Paweł Budzianowski, Head of Machine Learning at PolyAI
09 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode of the PolyAI podcast, host Kylie Whitehead interviews Paweł Budzianowski, the head of machine learning at PolyAI. They...
05: The Future of Conversational AI (Pt. 2) with Yan Zhang, COO of PolyAI
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn a continuation of last week's episode, PolyAI's Michelle (SVP Marketing), Nikola (CEO) and Yan (COO) delve into the challen...
04: The Future of Conversational AI (Pt. 1) with Yan Zhang, COO of PolyAI
27 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textOoh, a new look! Michelle (SVP Marketing), Nikola (CEO), and Yan (COO) discuss the changing landscape of conversational AI, the impact o...
03: Generative AI in Contact Centers
17 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis one starts off strong! Episode 3 in a weekly series touching on AI, voice and the customer experience. Today, Michelle and Nikola o...
02: Generative Voice AI with PolyAI CEO Nikola Mrkšić
10 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThere's a lot of hype around the application of generative AI to the voice channel. Listen in as Nikola and Michelle discuss who&ap...
01: The Future is Generative with PolyAI CEO & Co-Founder Nikola Mrkšić
03 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn their first episode, join PolyAI CEO/co-founder Nikola Mrkšić and SVP Marketing Michelle Schroeder as they discuss – and demo! –...