In this special Inspire Alter everything episode, we unlock the secrets of building trustworthy AI to drive real impact. In a world flooded with flashy demos, it’s important to understand what separates those leading the pack from those chasing trends. This episode reveals how top executive leaders are transforming AI from experimental pilot projects into reliable business engines that truly serve customers.

Start your 30 day free trial of Alteryx desktop or the Analytics cloud platform at https://www.alteryx.com/AlterEverything

Subscribe to the Alter Everything podcast on your favorite podcast app:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alter-everything/id1356137854

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/17KLxb23QlvgcbvLiaPck1?si=FWmOQEITRFCQ42smFjOpfA

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/alteryx/alter-everything

Episode Chapters

0:00 AI Beyond the Demo

1:18 Ben Canning: Building AI People Can Trust

2:36 Hands-On Product Leadership

3:26 Leading Teams Through AI Change

7:01 Turning AI Experiments Into Practice

10:51 The Future of AI Interfaces

12:32 Michelle Huff: AI in Marketing

15:32 Experimentation and Business Value

18:40 The AI "Aha" Moment

21:12 Derek Bates: AI in Sales

24:26 AI as a Sales Advantage

27:18 Alteryx One and MCP

30:34 Closing Thoughts

This week on Alter Everything, dive into a comprehensive discussion on how AI is reshaping marketing teams, outlining what tasks AI is best suited for, and emphasizing the critical role of human oversight. This episode offers practical insights on integrating AI tools effectively while maintaining brand integrity and governance.

Start your 30 day free trial of Alteryx desktop or the Analytics cloud platform at https://www.alteryx.com/AlterEverything

Subscribe to the Alter Everything podcast on your favorite podcast app:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alter-everything/id1356137854

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/17KLxb23QlvgcbvLiaPck1?si=FWmOQEITRFCQ42smFjOpfA

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/alteryx/alter-everything

Episode Chapters

0:00 AI meets real marketing teams

1:35 What inbound marketing means

4:08 Where AI in marketing stands today

7:11 Adoption challenges: tools, workflows, and mindset

12:00 The 80/20 shift for AI work

15:50 Copywriting, brand voice, and human editing

22:37 AI, design, and human creativity

27:48 Marketing tech stacks and AI literacy

34:04 Governance, security, and shadow AI

40:32 What AI-first marketing teams may look like

45:32 Lightning round: tools, skills, and mistakes

51:18 Closing reflections

In this episode of Alter Everything, we sit down with Fern Halper to discuss how most companies are now hitting a stage where productivity gains plateau because foundational elements like data, governance, and measurement are overlooked. Fern, a seasoned data and AI expert, reveals how organizations often chase quick wins with off-the-shelf tools, only to hit a wall when results stop improving or are unmeasurable.

• Fern Halper, VP of Research @ TDWI - LinkedIn
• Joshua Burkhow, Chief Evangelist @ Alteryx - @JoshuaB , LinkedIn

Resources and Links

• Data Makes the World Go Round
• EU AI Act

Ready to get hands-on with Alteryx One? You can now dive into two brand-new learning paths—Workspace Administrator and Account Administrator—designed to help you build real expertise, fast. Even better, you’ll be able to validate your skills with official certifications launching May 1.

Explore these new paths and unlock all of our free learning content today on Alteryx Academy.

Start learning now: [Visit Alteryx Academy]

Start your 30 day free trial of Alteryx desktop or the Analytics cloud platform at https://www.alteryx.com/AlterEverything

Subscribe to the Alter Everything podcast on your favorite podcast app:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alter-everything/id1356137854

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/17KLxb23QlvgcbvLiaPck1?si=FWmOQEITRFCQ42smFjOpfA

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/alteryx/alter-everything

0:00 Opening Question

2:01 Why 2026 Is a Building Year

7:59 The Value Ceiling

14:40 Measuring Real AI Progress

17:56 Why AI Governance Is Different

20:06 Governing Agentic Systems

27:34 Original Thought as Competitive Edge

32:09 Designing for Augmentation

35:36 Predictive Analytics and Agentic AI

38:54 Lightning Round

42:08 Moving Beyond Productivity Theater

44:17 Key Takeaways

Welcome back to Alter Everything! Explore the evolving landscape of AI and its increasing integration with human decision-making, collaboration, and societal impact. This episode features insights from Tiankai Feng, a thought leader in human-centered AI governance, discussing how organizations can responsibly deploy AI while maintaining accountability, authenticity, and social trust.

Panelists:

• Tiankai Feng, Data & AI Strategy Director @ Thoughtworks - LinkedIn
• Joshua Burkhow, Chief Evangelist @ Alteryx - @JoshuaB, LinkedIn

Resources and Links

• Humanizing Data Strategy - by Tiankai Feng
• Humanizing AI Strategy - by Tiankai Feng
• ThoughtWorks - Official website
• Books on AI ethics and governance
• YouTube - Data & AI Music Parodies

Start your 30 day free trial of Alteryx desktop or the Analytics cloud platform at https://www.alteryx.com/AlterEverything

Subscribe to the Alter Everything podcast on your favorite podcast app:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alter-everything/id1356137854

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/17KLxb23QlvgcbvLiaPck1?si=FWmOQEITRFCQ42smFjOpfA

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/alteryx/alter-everything

Episode Chapters

0:00 Opening teaser

2:09 Meet Tiankai Feng

3:41 Why AI failures are really human failures

8:55 Should humans adapt to AI or constrain it?

13:19 Defining your relationship with AI

16:02 Decision-making, prompting fatigue, and trust

19:27 AI, teams, and collaboration

27:37 The "they" layer and unseen stakeholders

32:18 Deepfakes, disinformation, and critical thinking

36:02 The environmental cost of AI

39:48 Why AI governance must evolve

42:14 A dual-track AI strategy for leaders

45:54 Lightning round

48:28 Where to find Tiankai Feng

In this episode of Alter Everything, we are joined by Dr. Ami Bhatt for a discussion around her multifaceted role in healthcare, emphasizing the integration of AI in clinical practice. She highlights the potential of AI to improve access to care, enhance clinical decision-making, and support drug development. Dr. Bhatt also addresses the challenges of implementing AI in healthcare and the importance of human expertise in leveraging technology effectively.

Start your 30 day free trial of Alteryx desktop or the Analytics cloud platform at https://www.alteryx.com/AlterEverything

Subscribe to the Alter Everything podcast on your favorite podcast app:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alter-everything/id1356137854

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/17KLxb23QlvgcbvLiaPck1?si=FWmOQEITRFCQ42smFjOpfA

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/alteryx/alter-everything

00:04 Opening: Why healthcare AI is different

01:39 Dr. Ami Bhatt's role across care, innovation, and policy

06:14 Three major areas where AI is shaping healthcare

12:41 Why AI on EKGs is especially promising

14:46 Collaborative intelligence vs. replacing humans

21:16 Ambient documentation and the doctor-patient connection

24:47 What "good enough" means when access is limited

31:41 Prevention, digital health, and patient agency

34:55 Self-diagnosis with AI and advice for clinicians

41:42 Lightning round

We’re back! In this episode of Alter Everything, Josh Burkhow sits down with Ari Kaplan, Head of Evangelism at Databricks and a pioneer of AI in sports. From building operating systems as a kid and studying at Caltech to transforming baseball analytics and now shaping enterprise AI strategy, Ari shares how physics-inspired thinking, relentless curiosity, and better data have driven his career. They explore the evolution from databases to generative AI, common mistakes organizations make with GenAI, why data engineering matters more than prompt engineering, and how true evangelism is about planting seeds and not pushing hype.

Panelists

• Ari Kaplan, Head of Evangelism @ Databricks – LinkedIn
• Joshua Burkhow, Chief Evangelist @ Alteryx – @JoshuaB, LinkedIn

Topics

• Databricks
• Major League Baseball analytics & the Moneyball era
• AI in sports, healthcare, and enterprise
• Generative AI & data engineering foundations
• Data + AI governance
• Raoul Wallenberg humanitarian investigation
• Alter Everything podcast

Alteryx CDAO, Alan Jacobson, had a chat with author and scientific journalist David Quammen about COVID-19 to discuss the origins of the virus, where we stand historically against other pandemics, and how we can use data to work together towards eradication.

Interested in sharing your feedback with the Alter Everything team? Take our feedback survey here!

This episode was produced by Cecilia Murray, Mike Cusic, and Matt Rotundo. Special thanks to Andy Uttley for the theme music.

For this episode of Alter Everything, we talked to some Alteryx originals - people who built Alteryx before it was even Alteryx. What was their proudest moment of the past decade? Predictions for the future? Creative Director Tara McCoy found out in her conversations with co-founder Libby Duane Adams and the first employee of Alteryx, Amy Holland.

Special thanks to Andy Uttley, one of our winners of the 2020 theme music competition, for the awesome theme music track for this episode. You can learn more about them on our show notes at community.alteryx.com/podcast.

Interested in sharing your feedback with the Alter Everything team? Take our feedback survey here!

This episode was produced by Cecilia Murray, Mike Cusic, and Matt Rotundo. Special thanks to Andy Uttley for the theme music.