S3: Ep 3 | When AI Slop Reaches The Boardroom

AI usage is ballooning in every function of every organisation. According to Chris O’Brien, CTO of Advania UK, we’ve also entered a phase of unintentional misuse — and the consequences are starting to show up in real business decisions. Chris joins David Bowman and Jarbas Horst to continue Season 3’s theme of ownership, and his argument is direct: AI is a phenomenal accelerant, but too many people are letting it into the driver’s seat and then declining to own what comes out. You see it in pitch decks, vendor proposals, strategy documents and competitor analysis. And when it goes wrong, “that was AI” gets used as a defence. The conversation covers what vibe coding has and hasn’t solved, why the same pattern is now showing up in strategy and RFP responses, how to spot opinion stated as fact in a polished deck, and why counting AI agents tells you nothing useful about whether AI is helping your business. Key topics covered: [00:00] Intro [00:47] What a CTO actually owns [01:56] Transformation, AI and getting it right [02:56] Nineteen years as a Microsoft MVP [03:39] The pro AI, anti misuse post [04:29] A phase of unintentional misuse [05:15] Letting AI into the driver’s seat [06:15] Vibe coding and what buyers should ask [07:18] Performant, scalable, secure, tested? [08:35] Vibe strategising and vibe roadmapping [08:59] When hallucinations go out with your name on [10:30] How do you know which side of the line you’re on? [11:38] Being directive, then combing the output [12:14] Owning every last bullet point [12:58] Subtraction as a test [13:27] You own the outcome [14:12] “It should almost be a firing offence” [15:26] AI cat videos and accepting good AI content [16:56] The LinkedIn thread that’s 60% bots [18:31] Dead internet theory [19:44] Harmless AI tics versus harmful ones [20:23] Opinion stated as fact [21:24] Citations that don’t hold up [23:46] Token maxing and prompt volume [25:37] Why counting agents is a gameable metric [28:23] Crossing the streams [30:43] Is it career limiting to say no? [33:12] One decision he wishes were his Subscribe for more on AI, the digital workplace and enterprise technology. Fresh Perspectives is brought to you by Fresh — making SharePoint work harder for your organisation.