Bret Taylor on applied AI, tokens, renting intelligence and owning the context

A year ago, Bret Taylor was fielding calls from board members spooked by a stat claiming 90% of AI projects fail. Bret says that panic is gone, replaced by the opposite problem. Companies are beginning to receive token bills nobody budgeted for. Bret, co-founder and CEO of Sierra, walks through why he thinks that flip is actually a good sign for applied AI, makes the case for outcomes-based pricing over per-seat software, and tells the story of an agent his team built that calls a specialist's office back, again and again, until a stuck patient referral finally gets booked. Watch more ICONIQ Frontier conversations:    • Frontier 2026   Key Moments: 00:00 Sierra now resolves for 40%+ of the Fortune 50 01:06 From "AI projects fail" to "what's my token bill" 03:22 Why Bret thinks every department needs its own AI vendor 04:29 An agent's real unit is a process, not a person 07:58 Why Sierra runs roughly 80% open-weight models 14:15 Three hard transitions for legacy software companies 19:46 Getting enterprise clients comfortable with outcomes pricing 23:20 Horizon, and the referral nobody could get scheduled 27:21 Rent the intelligence, own the context Stay connected: Follow us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3V8wH0b Follow us on X: https://bit.ly/4874SwQ Explore ICONIQ Insights: https://bit.ly/45Vj22R Disclaimer: iconiqcapital.com/outreach-disclaimer