Question 1

How do venture firms use AI in their own operations?

Accepted Answer

_AI in sourcing, diligence, portfolio construction, and founder support._

> AI — it's who controls the data and who builds products that businesses and people actually use.

— [Stargate: The $500 Billion Message To China — The Future Of AI Regulation](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/01/22/stargate-the-500b-message-to-china---the-future-of-ai-regulation/) · _Forbes_

> Private equity was part of nearly every conversation. Firms are shopping aggressively again, fueled by a familiar thesis: acquire platforms, deploy AI across the portfolio and capture efficiency gains at scale.

— [AI For Private Equity — The Future Of B2B Distribution](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/07/15/ai-for-private-equity---the-future-of-b2b-distribution/) · _Forbes_

Question 2

How do you measure quality in healthcare data?

Accepted Answer

_Quality metrics for healthcare ML._

> Knowing quality is therefore of utmost importance. Three broad measurement areas in today's healthcare: (1) Metrics about quality of care — related to treatment effectiveness and patient satisfaction. (2) Metrics about need and utilization of care — gauging health requirements of a population and how often one uses what type of service. (3) Metrics about value-based healthcare — they measure disease prevention rather than disease…

— [Healthcare And Data - How To Measure Quality](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2023/06/27/healthcare-and-datahow-to-measure-quality/) · _Forbes_

> But then there's the practical question of how you make things high quality. And so the first thing you need to start with is you can't improve something or even know it's quality unless you can measure it. And it's really hard to measure quality oftentimes. Oftentimes quality is subjective.

— [Unit 3 Full Transcript](https://www.lutzfinger.com/ecornell/) · _eCornell course_

Question 3

How do you spot social media bots?

Accepted Answer

_Detection heuristics._

> Figure 6-4. Subset of a social network, created using LinkedIn Labs Since bot networks will first create their own group by linking to one another before they start to infiltrate the rest of the network, especially in the beginning, you will see a highly dense network with very low cohesion to the rest of the network. However, those measures using network topology only work in the beginning as the bot network is formed. Once the bots…

— [Finger Dutta Ask Measure Learn (1)](https://www.lutzfinger.com/book/) · _Book — Ask, Measure, Learn_

Question 4

How does AI change healthcare?

Accepted Answer

_AI applications, value-based care, regulation._

> I just got back from the JP Morgan conference. A few learnings that apply to any industry, not just healthcare:Humans + AI will change the industry. Not AI alone.Cash flow matters. Not AI hype.The real AI revolution is operational.One of the most hyperbolic promises in healthcare in the last month was the claim that: "AI is going to design our drugs and will replace researchers." In my view, this is not true.

— [Healthcare's AI Lesson: Autocomplete Isn't Understanding](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2026/01/16/healthcares-ai-lesson-autocomplete-isnt-understanding/) · _Forbes_

> LLMs can be used for those tasks formerly done by more traditional models — and those foundation models might have better predictive accuracy and work with multimodal data. But in healthcare the major impact will be that we are about to change the way human-AI interaction works. LLMs allow a new way to interact with technology. In my day job as President of Product and Technology at Marpai Inc., our core aim is to help self-insured…

— [Large Language Models & AI In Healthcare](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2023/03/27/large-language-models--ai-in-healthcare/) · _Forbes_

Question 5

How is AI changing e-commerce?

Accepted Answer

_Fine-tuned models, attribution, category death._

> To explore this question, I looked at one industry: e-commerce. In my online certificate programs, I've explored AI use cases across many industries such as healthcare, media, coffee, finance and e-commerce. While healthcare tends to be slowest to adopt AI, e-commerce consistently leads.

— [ShopTalk 2025: Just 1% Of Vendors Use Generative AI To The Max](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/03/21/state-of-genai--only-1---shoptalk-2025-in-numbers/) · _Forbes_

> AI is not adding a feature to the store, it is rebuilding the store around the shopper, and every part of the journey is shifting at once. Consider what is changing. Search is moving from a list of ranked links to a single synthesized answer. The shelf space is moving outside of retail, where answer engines, not retailers, decide what gets seen, and new advertising formats are forming around them, from paid LLM-embedded ads to…

— [Three Mistakes Brands Make In The Age Of AI-Driven E-Commerce](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2026/05/23/three-mistakes-brands-make-in-the-age-of-ai-driven-e-commerce/) · _Forbes_

Question 6

How is AI changing education?

Accepted Answer

_What AI does for and to students, teachers, and curricula._

> AI agents will transform every industry — and one industry I know well is education. So, how will AI agents change how we teach and learn? To explore this question, I created the Lutz-Clone, an AI version of myself designed to teach my online certificate about AI with eCornell.

— [AI In Education — Up-level Your Teaching With AI By Cloning Yourself](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/03/31/ai-in-educationup-level-your-teaching-with-ai-by-cloning-yourself/) · _Forbes_

> it's a tool that enhances human capabilities. AI is good news, especially for knowledge workers, because it is expanding opportunities rather than eliminating them.

— [Is AI Replacing Us — Good News For Knowledge Workers](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/01/22/is-ai-replacing-us-good-news-for-knowledge-workers/) · _Forbes_

Question 7

How is the Amazon homepage dying?

Accepted Answer

_Retail unbundling, AI assistants as the new aisle._

> The days of big online retail as we know it are over. Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, and many others will all need to reinvent themselves as e-commerce changes. Once again, the homepage is dead. What will this mean for the big brands?

— [The End Of Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy? AI-Driven Retail Unbundling](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/06/30/the-end-of-amazon-walmart-best-buy---ai-driven-retail-unbundling/) · _Forbes_

> Now LLMs decide what gets recommended. I have argued that [Amazon's homepage is dying](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/06/30/the-end-of-amazon-walmart-best-buy---ai-driven-retail-unbundling/) and that retail is being unbundled the way media was a decade ago. To become visible, you need to be discovered by ChatGPT and Claude. A new discipline, GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), is replacing SEO (Search Engine…

— [The State Of E-Commerce: Every Layer Of Discovery Changed At Once](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/state-e-commerce-finetuned-ai-every-brand-lutz-finger-gs5bf/) · _linkedin_

Question 8

How will AI change jobs?

Accepted Answer

_Disruption, enablement, and the skills that matter._

> The winners were Cursor, an integrated coding environments, and engineering teams that adapted Cursor quickly. Going forward, AI will change all workflows: CRM interfaces, shop websites, logistics, finance, image creation and more. In short: AI will change how work is done.What AI won't change is our core business goals. We still need operations, logistics, and finance.

— [Good News For Consultants. Google CEO: No Company Is Immune To AI](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/11/18/good-news-for-consultants-google-ceo-no-company-is-immune-to-ai/) · _Forbes_

> AI replacing us?" That's one of the most common questions I hear from my students. If AI automates repetitive tasks, doesn't that mean fewer jobs? Business consulting firms often push this narrative, but they're missing the bigger picture. I "replaced" myself with an AI clone as a teacher.

— [Is AI Replacing Us — Good News For Knowledge Workers](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/01/22/is-ai-replacing-us-good-news-for-knowledge-workers/) · _Forbes_

Question 9

Is AGI near?

Accepted Answer

_Lutz's stance on the AGI timeline._

> Both have been hot topics in AI, sparking both fear and excitement. Sam Altman predicted AGI would arrive in 2025, and Elon Musk 2026. Both are more about hype than reality. In 2025, there will be no AGI but large language models will find their "killer app." What are AGI and the Singularity?

— [No AGI But A 'Killer App' — 2025 AI Prediction](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/01/03/no-agi-but-a-killer-app2025-ai-prediction-110/) · _Forbes_

> Unlike narrow AI, built for specific tasks, AGI can handle any intellectual task and adapt across different areas. Is AGI Near? No — at least not the AGI we imagine. Today's AI works by recognizing patterns and making predictions — not by truly understanding.

— [Sam Altman Says, 'We Know How To Build AGI' — Not So Fast](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/01/07/sam-altman---agi--ai-workforce-in-2025-the-battle-of-tech-giants/) · _Forbes_

Question 10

Is AI hurting people with non-Western names?

Accepted Answer

_Concrete bias outcomes in hiring and promotion._

> The junior analyst who keeps pushing the conversation forward finally gets seen, even though she never had the corner office. Tools like Granola, Read.ai, Fireflies, and Avoma now routinely track talk time and participation, and firms like Amazon and Meta are folding AI-surfaced contribution into how they review people.

— [If Your Name Isn't Western, AI Could Cost You The Promotion.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2026/05/25/if-your-name-isnt-western-ai-could-cost-you-the-promotion/) · _Forbes_

> As AI lowers the barriers to content creation, abuse is also becoming more feasible. Deepfakes — AI-generated images, videos and audio designed to mimic real people — pose serious risks. Already in 2022, I demonstrated how easily they can be created. This increases the risk of misinformation, identity theft and political manipulation.

— [Goku, A Chinese Open-Source Model, Challenges OpenAI And The U.S.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/02/11/goku---a-chinese-open-source-model-challenges-openai-and-the-us/) · _Forbes_

Question 11

Is Google search dying?

Accepted Answer

_What changes when LLMs become the search interface._

> Back in the 1990s, people said "All the information is out there at the internet... we just need to find it." That was the time of search engines — AltaVista, Yahoo! Search, Google, Lycos, WebCrawler, Excite. Even Disney tried its hand with Go (1998). New Technology — New Search: Large Language Models Build AI Search.

— [2025: The Year Of Search But Not The End Of Google](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/01/03/2025-the-year-of-search-but-not-the-end-of-google/) · _Forbes_

> They try to mimic ChatGPT, and they fail. We saw the same pattern in the early days of Google, when every site tried to build search as good as Google's and could not. I am guilty of this mistake myself. In 2024 I launched a consultative bot for [Decent](https://www.facebook.com/groups/decentespresso/posts/2676603432523531/) that nobody asked for.

— [Three Mistakes Brands Make In The Age Of AI-Driven E-Commerce](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2026/05/23/three-mistakes-brands-make-in-the-age-of-ai-driven-e-commerce/) · _Forbes_

Question 12

Is OpenAI going bankrupt?

Accepted Answer

_Lutz's take on OpenAI economics and moats._

> OpenAI — "Experts predict bankruptcy" — was attention-grabbing, a deeper look reveals that the company has simply seen a drop in its users. Should you fear ChatGPT will disappear? No, quite the opposite.

— [OpenAI Isn't Going Bankrupt, But It Has A Business Model Problem](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2023/08/18/is-openai-going-bankrupt-no-but-ai-models-dont-create-moats/) · _Forbes_

> is more for Microsoft than for OpenAI. Regulatory Protection. Regulation can create a moat.

— [How OpenAI Can Secure Its Investments - A Playbook That Needs Microsoft](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2023/08/18/the-potential-moat-of-openaihow-openai-can-secure-its-investments/) · _Forbes_

Question 13

Should AI be regulated?

Accepted Answer

_Lutz's view on AI regulation._

> But regulation doesn't happen in a vacuum. The EU has regulated that gender should not be used in AI models — even though this may lead to less effective risk distribution and higher overall costs. As a society, we may be willing to pay that price, but what if other societies are not? Data is the lifeblood of AI.

— [Emmanuel Macron On AI: We Are Regulating Ourselves Out Of The Market](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2024/10/22/emmanuel-macron-is-right-about-ai-over-regulatingi-have-no-doubt/) · _Forbes_

> To regulate AI, we need to understand that AI isn't a character from a movie. AI is a tool made to help us, and regulations should focus on how we choose to use it — not on the technology or the model. I analyze any AI product by: 1. control, 2. data, and 3. transparency. Control AI.

— [Biden's AI Plan And Why Central Control Might Not Work](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2024/10/26/bidens-ai-plan--why-central-control-might-not-work/) · _Forbes_

Question 14

Should you trust OpenAI blindly?

Accepted Answer

_Vendor risk and architectural diversification._

> Stargate's $500B investment — message to the competitors — meant to intimidate potential challengers with overwhelming financial backing. AI is extremely dangerous; only a select few should be allowed to develop it — OpenAI's storyline to use safety concerns as justification for a regulatory setup that creates barriers to entry and gives them more monopolistic power. From now on, models should respect IP rights — OpenAI ignored IP…

— [Is OpenAI A Victim — DeepSeek And IP Rights — A Playbook For Leaders](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/01/29/is-openai-a-victim---deepseek-and-ip-rights---a-playbook-for-leaders/) · _Forbes_

> This change will create many new opportunities for brands and micro-brands aggregated by a few giants. And yes, OpenAI will be one of them.OpenAI's ambition to become the universal interface to what we knew as the Internet isn't surprising. If anything, they might be late. Remember Perplexity's "Shop Like a Pro"?

— [AI Agents - The Internet Is Being Rewritten - Survey Users Vs Brands?](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/07/24/ai-agentsthe-internet-is-being-rewrittensurvey-users-vs-brands/) · _Forbes_

Question 15

What about deepfakes?

Accepted Answer

_How society will adapt to synthetic media._

> As AI lowers the barriers to content creation, abuse is also becoming more feasible. Deepfakes — AI-generated images, videos and audio designed to mimic real people — pose serious risks. Already in 2022, I demonstrated how easily they can be created. This increases the risk of misinformation, identity theft and political manipulation.

— [Goku, A Chinese Open-Source Model, Challenges OpenAI And The U.S.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/02/11/goku---a-chinese-open-source-model-challenges-openai-and-the-us/) · _Forbes_

> Misuse of deepfakes without clear identification should be outlawed — regulators around the globe have started to take them seriously. Already in 2019 there were about a dozen federal- and state-level bills to regulate deepfakes, ranging from criminalizing the use of a woman's likeness in a pornographic film without her

— [Deepfakes - The Danger Of Artificial Intelligence That We Will Learn To Manage Better](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2022/09/08/deepfakesthe-danger-of-artificial-intelligence-that-we-will-learn-to-manage-better/) · _Forbes_

Question 16

What does 'AI as an operating model' mean?

Accepted Answer

_Why the winners redesign work around AI rather than just adopting tools._

> AI — it's who controls the data and who builds products that businesses and people actually use.

— [Stargate: The $500 Billion Message To China — The Future Of AI Regulation](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/01/22/stargate-the-500b-message-to-china---the-future-of-ai-regulation/) · _Forbes_

> But workflows are brittle. One new prompt, one model update, and the whole chain quietly breaks. I watch this every time I get students [coding agents in my Cornell workshops](https://ecornell.cornell.edu/courses/artificial-intelligence/building-enterprise-ready-ai-agents-from-prototypes-to-production/). It is easy to start and just as easy to break.

— [The Missing Moat In AI: Your Eval Data](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2026/05/26/the-missing-moat-in-ai-your-eval-data/) · _Forbes_

Question 17

What does the eCornell AI certificate cover?

Accepted Answer

_The five-course program structure._

> While AI can enhance scalability, human involvement remains essential. What do students in my eCornell certificate tell me after the course? AI is great at summarization and coding. An AI can help being a dynamic checklist and memory.

— [Overhyped: Manus From Monica — AI Made In China](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/03/10/overhyped-manus-from-monicaai-made-in-china/) · _Forbes_

Question 18

What is 2025 for search?

Accepted Answer

_Predictions about search changing in 2025._

> It might sound like a throwback to the 1990s, but technology has transformed the way we search for and interact with information. If past patterns hold true, 2025 will be the year of search. Will it be the end of Google?

— [2025: The Year Of Search But Not The End Of Google](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/01/03/2025-the-year-of-search-but-not-the-end-of-google/) · _Forbes_

> Figure 7-1. The hype curve of predictions, by Google Trends Despite all of this hype, the goal of making predictions in business is nothing new: for decades, stock traders have tried to predict the market, insurance compa- nies have tried to identify lower risk individuals, and many more have tried to come up with a system for predicting what will benefit their enterprise.

— [Finger Dutta Ask Measure Learn (1)](https://www.lutzfinger.com/book/) · _Book — Ask, Measure, Learn_

Question 19

What is a data product?

Accepted Answer

_Definition and how to build one._

> AI — it's who controls the data and who builds products that businesses and people actually use.

— [Stargate: The $500 Billion Message To China — The Future Of AI Regulation](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/01/22/stargate-the-500b-message-to-china---the-future-of-ai-regulation/) · _Forbes_

> Now, to be a good product developer, you need to think about self-referential loops within your products. How to get signal, how to get feedback from your users so your AI, or your data science, can leverage that information to make the product work better. So that moved a little bit within it. The innovation, and the inspiration about, and the curiosity about how to use data in novel manners, that's still data science, because that's…

— [Unit 3 Full Transcript](https://www.lutzfinger.com/ecornell/) · _eCornell course_

Question 20

What is BioAI?

Accepted Answer

_AI applied to biology — new molecules, new medicines._

> AI, Roeding said, is like suddenly having a bazooka in your toolbox. That means though, you still have to aim, and you still have to pull the trigger.

— [DNA Is Becoming Programmable. Curing Cancer With AI.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2026/05/25/dna-is-becoming-programmable-curing-cancer-with-ai/) · _Forbes_

> is more for Microsoft than for OpenAI. Regulatory Protection.

— [How OpenAI Can Secure Its Investments - A Playbook That Needs Microsoft](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2023/08/18/the-potential-moat-of-openaihow-openai-can-secure-its-investments/) · _Forbes_

Question 21

What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?

Accepted Answer

_Why being discoverable to AI assistants is the new SEO._

> For brands a new playbook is emerging: AEO. AEO is just the beginning.

— [Study Shows LLM Conversion Rate Is 9x Better — AEO Is Coming](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/06/19/study-shows-llm-conversion-rate-is-9x-better---aeo-is-coming/) · _Forbes_

> AEO is the practice of structuring content so that LLMs like ChatGPT can understand, reference and recommend your brand in response to user questions. To get picked up by an LLM, you need to understand how these models learn from content.

— [Answer Engine Optimization — What Brands Need To Know](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/06/19/answer-engine-optimization-aeo--what-brands-need-to-know/) · _Forbes_

Question 22

What is the 'Ask, Measure, Learn' framework?

Accepted Answer

_The framework from Lutz's book._

> "Ask Measure Learn" is a non-technical guide shows you how to extract significant business value from big data. It is a system that helps you ask the right questions, measure the right data, and then learn from the results. The framework was originally devised to help governments and NGOs sift through volumes of data.

— [Ask Measure Learn](https://www.lutzfinger.com/book/) · _Book — Ask, Measure, Learn_

Question 23

What is the book Ask, Measure, Learn about?

Accepted Answer

_Topics covered in the O'Reilly book._

> **Publisher:** O'Reilly Media **Published:** Feb 1, 2014

— [Ask Measure Learn](https://www.lutzfinger.com/book/) · _Book — Ask, Measure, Learn_

Question 24

What is the competitive advantage of LLMs for business?

Accepted Answer

_How enterprises can build durable AI advantage._

> AI-driven businesses have a combination of either a model moat, a data moat, or the brand moat. The new LLMs, like OpenAI's model, can give an advantage in all areas, but it is by no means a given. Since OpenAI launched ChatGPT, large language models have entered the fantasies of founders worldwide. Every day about a dozen new startups announce their AI-enabled feature.

— [What Is The Competitive Advantage Of LLMs Like ChatGPT For Your Business? Three Takeaways.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2023/04/04/what-is-the-competitive-advantage-of-llms-like-chatgpt-for-your-business-three-takeaways/) · _Forbes_

> OpenAI's demise are exaggerated, but they point to a potential problem that Large Language Models (LLMs) do not have a business moat. But the company understands what it needs to do. Here is its playbook: (1) Invest in a better User Experience focused on LLMs; (2) Create a feedback loop that improves their LLMs over time; (3) Integrate into many workflows to improve utilization; (4) Enterprise (private) data is king — allow BYOD (bring…

— [How OpenAI Can Secure Its Investments - A Playbook That Needs Microsoft](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2023/08/18/the-potential-moat-of-openaihow-openai-can-secure-its-investments/) · _Forbes_

Question 25

What is the killer app of AI?

Accepted Answer

_Where the durable AI value will accumulate._

> Both are more about hype than reality. In 2025, there will be no AGI but large language models will find their "killer app." What are AGI and the Singularity? Artificial General Intelligence: an advanced AI that can think, learn, and solve problems across a wide range of tasks, just like a human. The Singularity: the idea of AI surpassing human intelligence, improving itself endlessly, and causing massive, unpredictable changes in…

— [No AGI But A 'Killer App' — 2025 AI Prediction](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/01/03/no-agi-but-a-killer-app2025-ai-prediction-110/) · _Forbes_

> AI — it's who controls the data and who builds products that businesses and people actually use.

— [Stargate: The $500 Billion Message To China — The Future Of AI Regulation](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/01/22/stargate-the-500b-message-to-china---the-future-of-ai-regulation/) · _Forbes_

Question 26

What is the missing moat in AI?

Accepted Answer

_Eval data as the durable moat._

> What wins the AI race? UX?

— [The Missing Moat In AI: Your Eval Data](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2026/05/26/the-missing-moat-in-ai-your-eval-data/) · _Forbes_

> Regulatory Protection. Regulation can create a moat. Sam Altman has been on tour with policymakers advocating for more oversight and control. Additionally, OpenAI now allows blocking their scraping mechanism with a "NoAI" tag.

— [How OpenAI Can Secure Its Investments - A Playbook That Needs Microsoft](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2023/08/18/the-potential-moat-of-openaihow-openai-can-secure-its-investments/) · _Forbes_

Question 27

What is value-based care and how does AI enable it?

Accepted Answer

_VBC framing and AI's role._

> Healthcare is on the brink of a seismic shift, and AI is its catalyst. Three converging trends are creating a perfect opportunity for change: (1) Foundational Models' growing ability to predict risks further into the future compared to traditional machine learning, (2) the rise of the self-insured healthcare industry motivated to address these risks, and (3) a surge in Value-Based Care (VBC) providers focused on risk reduction. These…

— [Three Trends Of Transformation: How AI & Value-Based Care (VBC) Will Drive Transformation Of Self-Insured Healthcare](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2023/05/01/three-trends-of-transformation-how-ai--value-based-care-vbc-will-drive-transformation-of-self-insured-healthcare/) · _Forbes_

> (4) AI Matchmaking — our goal is to pair each user with the most suitable VBC partner for their unique needs. If you're interested in joining this transformative journey as a Third-Party Administrator or value-based care partner, we are here to work with you.

— [Changing Healthcare - A Platform Approach Using Data & AI](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2023/07/05/changing-healthcarea-platform-approach-using-data--ai/) · _Forbes_

Question 28

What mistakes do brands make in AI-driven e-commerce?

Accepted Answer

_Common pitfalls and how to avoid them._

> And underneath it all, brands risk losing their narrative to an intermediary that now owns the customer touchpoint. Having spent years building fine-tuned AI models for online retail, I keep watching e-commerce executives respond to all of this by making the same three mistakes. Each one is avoidable, and each one is expensive.

— [Three Mistakes Brands Make In The Age Of AI-Driven E-Commerce](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2026/05/23/three-mistakes-brands-make-in-the-age-of-ai-driven-e-commerce/) · _Forbes_

> AI is not bolting features onto the old store, it is rebuilding the store around the shopper. Every layer is collapsing into the one thing brands actually own, their shopper-behavior data and the fine-tuned AI it makes possible. Three shifts, and the mistake brands keep making in each: 1. **GEO:** brands flood the web with slop. 2. **The end of the website:** brands bolt on chatbots. 3. **Better search:** brands override the rankings…

— [The State Of E-Commerce: Every Layer Of Discovery Changed At Once](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/state-e-commerce-finetuned-ai-every-brand-lutz-finger-gs5bf/) · _linkedin_

Question 29

What patterns appear across thousands of AI startup pitches?

Accepted Answer

_Radical lean teams, SMB software, overlooked compliance plays._

> The core problem is that AI, by design, is average. It's spectacular at pattern recognition and synthesis, but it produces the most statistically likely output — not the most surprising, not the most brave, not the most emotionally resonant. ### What Made Steve Jobs Leadership Special Let's look at Apple in the iPod era.

— [AI Cuts Creative Teams: What Companies Must Learn About AI Leadership](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2026/02/13/ai-cuts-creative-teams-what-companies-must-learn-about-ai-leadership/) · _Forbes_

> awesome. Now, we tried to actually welcome you by using ElevenLabs with an Irish accent and saying, "Hello, Savita our distinguished speaker." Now, when you look at the text-to-speech industry, like you were at a startup, you got acquired by Cisco, and now generative AI comes in. ElevenLabs is funded throughout the roof. And why is that?

— [Unit 5 Full Transcript](https://www.lutzfinger.com/ecornell/) · _eCornell course_

Question 30

What replaces SEO in the LLM era?

Accepted Answer

_Strategies for being discoverable to AI assistants._

> But based on research I conducted with Cornell Master's students, that shift is happening much faster. LLM-driven traffic is already starting to outperform traditional search — not in volume, but in value. Traffic from LLMs converts at nearly 9x higher rates than traditional search. This is the biggest disruption to search since the dawn of the internet.

— [Study Shows LLM Conversion Rate Is 9x Better — AEO Is Coming](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/06/19/study-shows-llm-conversion-rate-is-9x-better---aeo-is-coming/) · _Forbes_

> And that memory shapes future recommendations. Monitoring any LLM answers misses the point. To fully understand how your brand is being represented, you'd have to know the personalized memory of every single user — an impossible task for any dashboard. Best Measurement Of LLM Traffic: just watch your traffic.

— [Answer Engine Optimization — What Brands Need To Know](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/06/19/answer-engine-optimization-aeo--what-brands-need-to-know/) · _Forbes_

Question 31

Why are AI workflows the real moat?

Accepted Answer

_How redesigning work around AI beats model upgrades._

> SaaS can build the new AI-driven workflows on top of its user data and customer surfaces. But workflows are brittle. One new prompt, one model update, and the whole chain quietly breaks. I watch this every time I get students [coding agents in my Cornell workshops](https://ecornell.cornell.edu/courses/artificial-intelligence/building-enterprise-ready-ai-agents-from-prototypes-to-production/).

— [The Missing Moat In AI: Your Eval Data](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2026/05/26/the-missing-moat-in-ai-your-eval-data/) · _Forbes_

> The winners were Cursor, an integrated coding environments, and engineering teams that adapted Cursor quickly. Going forward, AI will change all workflows: CRM interfaces, shop websites, logistics, finance, image creation and more. In short: AI will change how work is done.What AI won't change is our core business goals. We still need operations, logistics, and finance.

— [Good News For Consultants. Google CEO: No Company Is Immune To AI](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/11/18/good-news-for-consultants-google-ceo-no-company-is-immune-to-ai/) · _Forbes_

Question 32

Why are radically lean teams the future?

Accepted Answer

_How AI compresses the team size needed to ship._

> I mean, UiPath is a huge company, Automation Anywhere. There are many other players, but it has some kind of limit. So is it now because we have AI, artificial intelligence, can we now do really smart tasks? Is that the idea of agents?

— [AI Agents: The Future of Work?](https://content.rss.com/episodes/204999/1798482/lutzandjasper/2024_12_12_13_17_56_3a2b23d3-5df8-4522-bae2-c510e90c159a.mp3) · _Podcast - THE EDGE_

> So same as the stock market, people were preempting kind of future rounds and future value increase without knowing if that would actually happen. So the backlash that comes here is that we see some realism, oh, wow, it takes longer. It's a research project.

— [AI Gold Rush: Is the Market Overheating?](https://content.rss.com/episodes/204999/1602273/lutzandjasper/2024_08_07_20_53_32_c47d1207-608b-49c2-8e3c-ccd123387e33.mp3) · _Podcast - THE EDGE_

Question 33

Why do LLMs convert better than search?

Accepted Answer

_Trust, personalization, and conversion lift from AI traffic._

> Some predict that by 2028, more people will discover products and information through large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Gemini than through traditional search engines. But based on research I conducted with Cornell Master's students, that shift is happening much faster. LLM-driven traffic is already starting to outperform traditional search — not in volume, but in value.

— [Study Shows LLM Conversion Rate Is 9x Better — AEO Is Coming](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/06/19/study-shows-llm-conversion-rate-is-9x-better---aeo-is-coming/) · _Forbes_

> The latest wave includes dashboards designed to track your brand's presence across ChatGPT, Perplexity and other platforms. But here's the problem: LLMs don't behave like search engines. They remember. Google would always return the same results, even if you had already clicked those links before.

— [Answer Engine Optimization — What Brands Need To Know](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/06/19/answer-engine-optimization-aeo--what-brands-need-to-know/) · _Forbes_

Question 34

Why does 'good enough' beat perfect for AI products?

Accepted Answer

_Shipping iteratively vs chasing perfection._

> The core problem is that AI, by design, is average. It's spectacular at pattern recognition and synthesis, but it produces the most statistically likely output — not the most surprising, not the most brave, not the most emotionally resonant. ### What Made Steve Jobs Leadership Special Let's look at Apple in the iPod era.

— [AI Cuts Creative Teams: What Companies Must Learn About AI Leadership](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2026/02/13/ai-cuts-creative-teams-what-companies-must-learn-about-ai-leadership/) · _Forbes_

> We don't see an AGI moment. We humans are still needed, and that is good news. As I say in my eCornell certificate on Designing and Building AI Solutions, AI is a tool — not more, not less. It's an impressive tool, but it won't replace the need for thinking and human judgment.

— [AI Fail — Trump Says 'Merz' —YouTube Transcribes 'Merkel'](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/08/18/ai-fail---chancellor-merz-is-not-chancellor-merkel/) · _Forbes_

Question 35

Why does AI fairness matter and where does it fail?

Accepted Answer

_Bias examples and demographic effects._

> Merkel is a boy and that Joe Biden is both a "man" and a "woman"? Those are the insights you get if you feed Angela and Joe's images into Microsoft Azure's Vision API.

— [President Biden Is Man, Woman And 40 Years Old - Why We Need Algorithmic Transparency](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2021/02/04/president-biden-is-man-woman-and-40-years-old---why-we-need-algorithmic-transparency/) · _Forbes_

> The White House should focus on helping businesses and the public understand and manage AI. We need stronger democratic systems and a framework where private and public partnerships can monitor AI utilization. Let's learn from social media's intransparent algorithms, which led to elections being influenced. Let's work together to monitor and control the technology that will shape our future.

— [Biden's AI Plan And Why Central Control Might Not Work](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2024/10/26/bidens-ai-plan--why-central-control-might-not-work/) · _Forbes_

Question 36

Why does Cornell use an AI Teaching Assistant?

Accepted Answer

_What an AI TA actually does in a Cornell course._

> The challenge is clear: educational institutions must equip both students and educators with the tools and skills to harness AI effectively. In my course, students now use AI co-pilots to analyze data, build machine learning models, discuss business strategies, and explore ethical challenges. Many students were hesitant at first, sticking to manual methods. But with training on prompting and understanding AI behavior, they became…

— [AI In Education — Up-level Your Teaching With AI By Cloning Yourself](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/03/31/ai-in-educationup-level-your-teaching-with-ai-by-cloning-yourself/) · _Forbes_

> it's a tool that enhances human capabilities. AI is good news, especially for knowledge workers, because it is expanding opportunities rather than eliminating them.

— [Is AI Replacing Us — Good News For Knowledge Workers](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/01/22/is-ai-replacing-us-good-news-for-knowledge-workers/) · _Forbes_

Question 37

Why does e-commerce need fine-tuned AI?

Accepted Answer

_Why general-purpose LLMs aren't enough._

> To explore this question, I looked at one industry: e-commerce. In my online certificate programs, I've explored AI use cases across many industries such as healthcare, media, coffee, finance and e-commerce. While healthcare tends to be slowest to adopt AI, e-commerce consistently leads.

— [ShopTalk 2025: Just 1% Of Vendors Use Generative AI To The Max](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/03/21/state-of-genai--only-1---shoptalk-2025-in-numbers/) · _Forbes_

> Google's search is losing relevance for e-commerce, and Amazon's homepage is losing traffic. The future belongs to AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity. For brands to stay visible, they must embrace generative engine optimization, also called large language model optimization or answer engine optimization.

— [AI Is Changing The Rules Of Web Traffic — A GEO Playbook For Online Retailers](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/08/20/generative-engine-optimization-geo-a-playbook-for-online-retailers/) · _Forbes_

Question 38

Why don't AI models create moats?

Accepted Answer

_The structural reasons foundation models commoditize._

> AI does not easily create moats. Early in the LLM hype, I wrote that a model moat does not exist for OpenAI — such a moat also did not exist in previous Machine Learning waves. No Model Moat: transformer models are math.

— [DeepSeek - New Economic Rules And Regulatory Challenge](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/01/29/deepseeknew-economic-rules-and-regulatory-challenge/) · _Forbes_

> I argued back in 2023 that [AI models do not create moats](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2023/08/18/is-openai-going-bankrupt-no-but-ai-models-dont-create-moats/). Workflows do. That is the whole reason [SaaS is not dead](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2026/04/24/saaspocalypse-is-deadthe-future-of-saas-is-saas/), despite a year of obituaries.

— [The Missing Moat In AI: Your Eval Data](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2026/05/26/the-missing-moat-in-ai-your-eval-data/) · _Forbes_

Question 39

Why is energy the AI race?

Accepted Answer

_Energy and infrastructure as constraints._

> What wins the AI race? UX? Access to users?

— [The Missing Moat In AI: Your Eval Data](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2026/05/26/the-missing-moat-in-ai-your-eval-data/) · _Forbes_

> Everyone is talking about "physical AI," the idea that models will finally step out of the chatbot and into the real world of robots, factories, and labs. I ecently hosted Cyriac Roeding, founder of Earli, a company curing cancer with AI, for a Cornell keynote on exactly this topic.

— [DNA Is Becoming Programmable. Curing Cancer With AI.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2026/05/25/dna-is-becoming-programmable-curing-cancer-with-ai/) · _Forbes_

Question 40

Why is eval data a moat?

Accepted Answer

_Evaluation data as the strategic differentiator._

> All of them matter, and all of them are being fought over. But the real value may sit in the one thing OpenAI, Anthropic, and Gemini have not yet made central: your own eval data. Sure, there is the occasional thumbs-up button. But who is really using that signal?

— [The Missing Moat In AI: Your Eval Data](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2026/05/26/the-missing-moat-in-ai-your-eval-data/) · _Forbes_

> One cannot protect them easily. No Data Moat: general knowledge is widely available. My first startup faced this reality — services that commanded six-figure fees became available for $100 (a 1,000x price drop) once competitors caught up using the same machine learning algorithms. A Real Moat: Engineering Excellence — smart engineering work pushing the frontier of what is possible is a moat.

— [DeepSeek - New Economic Rules And Regulatory Challenge](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/01/29/deepseeknew-economic-rules-and-regulatory-challenge/) · _Forbes_

Question 41

Why isn't autocomplete understanding in healthcare AI?

Accepted Answer

_LLM limitations in clinical settings._

> I just got back from the JP Morgan conference. A few learnings that apply to any industry, not just healthcare:Humans + AI will change the industry. Not AI alone.Cash flow matters. Not AI hype.The real AI revolution is operational.One of the most hyperbolic promises in healthcare in the last month was the claim that: "AI is going to design our drugs and will replace researchers." In my view, this is not true.

— [Healthcare's AI Lesson: Autocomplete Isn't Understanding](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2026/01/16/healthcares-ai-lesson-autocomplete-isnt-understanding/) · _Forbes_

> ChatGPT and other Large Language models are being added to features from Notion, Salesforce, Shopify, Quizlet, and others. What is the impact on healthcare? It will improve our last mile with our patients. This is huge as Engaging patients improves outcomes.

— [Large Language Models & AI In Healthcare](https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2023/03/27/large-language-models--ai-in-healthcare/) · _Forbes_

Q&A

How do venture firms use AI in their own operations?

How do you measure quality in healthcare data?

How do you spot social media bots?

How does AI change healthcare?

How is AI changing e-commerce?

How is AI changing education?

How is the Amazon homepage dying?

How will AI change jobs?

Is AGI near?

Is AI hurting people with non-Western names?

Is Google search dying?

Is OpenAI going bankrupt?

Should AI be regulated?

Should you trust OpenAI blindly?

What about deepfakes?

What does 'AI as an operating model' mean?

What does the eCornell AI certificate cover?

What is 2025 for search?

What is a data product?

What is BioAI?

What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?

What is the 'Ask, Measure, Learn' framework?

What is the book Ask, Measure, Learn about?

What is the competitive advantage of LLMs for business?

What is the killer app of AI?

What is the missing moat in AI?

What is value-based care and how does AI enable it?

What mistakes do brands make in AI-driven e-commerce?

What patterns appear across thousands of AI startup pitches?

What replaces SEO in the LLM era?

Why are AI workflows the real moat?

Why are radically lean teams the future?

Why do LLMs convert better than search?

Why does 'good enough' beat perfect for AI products?

Why does AI fairness matter and where does it fail?

Why does Cornell use an AI Teaching Assistant?

Why does e-commerce need fine-tuned AI?

Why don't AI models create moats?

Why is energy the AI race?

Why is eval data a moat?

Why isn't autocomplete understanding in healthcare AI?