AI Agents Are the Next Big Thing: How Businesses Are Using AI Now

Real AI Use Cases Business Owners Roundtable features hosts Elizabeth Gearhart and Richard Gearhart, Esq., with guest Matt Celia, discussing how businesses are moving beyond AI chatbots and generative AI toward intelligent AI agents that can automate tasks, conduct research, manage everyday activities, and become personal business assistants.

TL;DL – Too Long; Didn't Listen?

AI is evolving from generating content to actually getting work done. In this episode, Elizabeth Gearhart, Richard Gearhart, and Matt Celia explore the rise of AI ag...

How can businesses use artificial intelligence without exposing confidential company data or paying expensive monthly AI subscription and token fees? One increasingly powerful solution is private AI: running your own AI models locally on your company's hardware.

On this episode of Real AI Use Cases Business Owners Roundtable, hosts Elizabeth Gearhart and Richard Gearhart, Esq. talk with Matt Celia of LightSail VR about how he is using locally hosted AI systems to automate business operations, manage complex production schedules, protect sensitive information, and even simplify family life.

Matt explains how he built a private AI...

How are real businesses using artificial intelligence to save money, improve productivity, automate administrative work and communicate more effectively? In this episode of Real AI Use Cases Business Owners Roundtable, hosts Elizabeth Gearhart and Richard Gearhart are joined by entrepreneurs David Nussbaum, Jessica Marriott and David Johnson to share practical ways they are using ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and AI agents to solve everyday business challenges.

Discover how Richard Gearhart uses ChatGPT to communicate with French-speaking clients, how David Nussbaum uses AI to improve business communication and learn new skills, and how Jessica Marriott uses multiple AI assistants f...

Can AI write like you without sounding robotic, exposing confidential information, or running up a massive monthly bill? On this episode of Real AI Use Cases Business Owners Roundtable, hosts Elizabeth Gearhart, Ph.D., and Richard Gearhart talk with Arshavir Blackwell, founder of YourVoiceCraft, about local AI models, personalized AI writing, privacy, and the true cost of artificial intelligence.

Arshavir explains how local AI models can be trained on examples of your own writing to produce content that sounds more like you than generic AI-generated text. Unlike hosted AI models such as ChatGPT and Claude, locally run...

Can rogue AI agents destroy humanity? Will artificial intelligence ever become conscious? And how can business owners use AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity to save time and improve productivity?

On this episode of Real AI Use Cases Business Owners Roundtable, hosts Elizabeth Gearhart, Ph.D., and Richard Gearhart speak with AI expert Arshavir Blackwell about the reality behind AI doomsday predictions, the science of machine consciousness, and practical ways to get more value from today's AI tools.

Arshavir challenges sensational claims about rogue AI agents, explaining why human oversight, system safeguards, and...

How are businesses actually using artificial intelligence to save time, automate tasks, and improve decision-making—and are the results worth the cost? On this episode of Real AI Use Cases Business Owners Roundtable, hosts Elizabeth Gearhart, Ph.D., and Richard Gearhart bring together business owners and AI practitioners to discuss practical applications of AI, the growing role of AI agents, and the risks of relying too heavily on automated systems.

Todd Drowlette explains how AI transformed commercial real estate site selection, completing research that once took three full-time employees three weeks in just three and a half ho...

Why Businesses Can't Trust AI Without Human Oversight

Real AI Use Cases Business Owners Roundtable explores how businesses are using artificial intelligence today—and what happens when AI gets things wrong. Hosts Elizabeth Gearhart, Ph.D., and Richard Gearhart bring together Dr. Joseph A. Puma, Brian Fried, and John Schwind to discuss real-world AI applications, business automation, AI agents, healthcare, and the risks of trusting AI-generated answers.

How can businesses use AI effectively without giving up human judgment? In this episode, business owners share practical examples of AI in action, from automating patient phone calls an...

How are businesses using AI agents to improve sales, train employees, automate workflows, and drive business growth? On this episode of Real AI Use Cases Business Owners Roundtable, hosts Elizabeth Gearhart and Richard Gearhart welcome Paul Burani, Co-Founder & CRO at Atlas Primer to explore how companies can use artificial intelligence strategically to improve productivity while strengthening the uniquely human skills that drive business success.

Paul explains how AI agents can connect CRM systems, emails, and customer conversations to improve business development and personalized outreach. He also shares how AI-powered role-play and sales training help employees practice customer c...

How are businesses actually using AI—and when does it create more problems than it solves? On Real AI Use Cases Business Owners Roundtable, hosts Elizabeth Gearhart, Ph.D., and Richard Gearhart join entrepreneurs and business experts for a candid discussion about practical AI applications, data confidentiality, intellectual property risks, productivity, and the real return on investment of AI tools.

From using AI to research questions and verify sources to creating branded marketing materials, automating purchase-order processing, editing podcasts, and generating content, the panel shares real-world examples of how AI is changing everyday business operations. But the co...

How are businesses actually using AI right now—and where do humans still need to stay involved? On this episode of Real AI Use Cases Business Owners Roundtable, Elizabeth Gearhart and Richard Gearhart talk with business leaders about practical, real-world ways they are using AI for work, productivity, research, content creation, learning, automation and decision-making.

TL;DR: AI can save businesses significant time, help employees learn new skills, improve writing and readability, assist with research, plan travel and even help manage complex business processes. But the conversation also highlights an important limitation: AI should not be trusted bl...

How does AI get reliable information—and how can businesses use AI to automate work, build products faster, and even create new revenue from their data?

On this episode of Real AI Use Cases Business Owners Roundtable hosted by Elizabeth and Richard Gearhart, Andrew Lebbos, SVP of Licensing at Benzinga explains how a financial data company is using AI throughout its business while also supplying trusted financial data to AI platforms. Benzinga provides data to platforms including Perplexity, helping AI systems answer financial questions with structured, verified information.

Andrew explains why data accuracy and quality as...

Stop Just Chatting With AI—Put It to Work

TL;DL

AI can do much more than answer questions. In this episode of Real AI Use Cases: Business Owners’ Roundtable, business owners share how they are putting AI to work to make phone calls, research software, personalize customer experiences, check the work of other AI models, draft emails, analyze business decisions, and even act like a specialized member of the team.

Dima Negodiuk shares one of the most striking examples: instead of personally calling dentists to find one that accepted his insurance and had...

AI: What’s Actually Working Right Now?

What are business owners actually using AI for right now—and which tools are delivering real results?

In this episode of Real AI Use Cases: Business Owners’ Roundtable, Elizabeth Gearhart and Richard Gearhart are joined by Sonia Satra, Lisa Lane, and Lauren Lane for a candid conversation about how they’re using AI in their businesses today.

The discussion goes well beyond theory. The group shares practical AI use cases involving content creation, e-commerce, business research, marketing, AI visibility, regulatory monitoring, brainstorming, analytics, and automation.

Lauren...

How are real businesses using AI right now? In this episode of Real AI Use Cases Business Owners Roundtable, Elizabeth Gearhart and Richard Gearhart are joined by Michael Housman of AI Performance Lab and Chris Fabregas of Chris Fabregas Fine Art Prints for a candid discussion about practical AI applications, AI agents, automation, creativity, marketing, copyright, AI tools, jobs, and the rapidly changing business landscape.

Michael Housman explains how AI agents automate his speaking engagement process, saving him two to three hours every day by tracking inquiries, contracts, travel, follow-ups and preparation. He also shares how businesses...

Real AI Use Cases That Are Working - What Can AI Really Do for Your Business? 

What can AI actually do for a business today?

In this episode of Real AI Use Cases: Business Owners Roundtable, Elizabeth Gearhart and Richard Gearhart are joined by Leah Solivan, Nate Amidon, and Lauren Hidalgo for a practical conversation about how they are using AI in real businesses right now.

The discussion moves well beyond simple prompting. Leah shares how an AI assistant has automated work equivalent to roughly two and a half full-time employees, helping with r...

Is AI Making Us Smarter—or Dumbing Us Down?

AI can help us work faster, analyze information, generate ideas, create images, write code, and streamline business operations. But what happens when we start relying on it too much?

In this episode of Real AI Use Cases: Business Owners Roundtable, Elizabeth and Richard Gearhart sit down with Ryan Stana, Joey Stiver, and Ron Platt for a candid conversation about how business owners are actually using AI—and where they’re drawing the line.

Ryan explains why his creative business uses AI to enhance human creati...

How are actual business owners leveraging artificial intelligence right now—and where is it still falling short? In this dynamic roundtable recorded at iHeart Studios in Manhattan, hosts Elizabeth and Richard Gearhart are joined by entrepreneurs Craig Smith, Chris Ryan, and Jeff Sibel to break down the real-world applications, surprising shortcuts, and frustrating pitfalls of integrating AI into day-to-day business operations.

From creating high-converting presentation slides and cross-industry content to detecting candidate work product and managing internal knowledge bases, our panel shares practical, no-fluff ways AI acts as a force multiplier for modern businesses.

TL...