AI: Your Smartest Assistant, Not Your New Boss

Llew Jury

Welcome back to the AI Intelligence Podcast, I'm your host Llew Jury and this show is brought to you by Advancer - The AI Agency. Alright, Ollie, let's kick off with something that, honestly, caught my eye—a UK BBC-led study showing major AI assistants get it wrong nearly half the time. That’s pretty significant, when you think about all the hype around these things, right?

Ollie Carter

Yeah, it’s kind of a wake-up call, isn’t it? Forty-five percent of answers from big names—ChatGPT, Gemini, all that lot—came back dodgy, or, I mean, outright inaccurate. For Australian businesses banking on these tools for info, that’s not just annoying, that’s like, “could we be making mistakes and not even know?”

Llew Jury

Spot on. I’ve been there, rolling out data platforms in my own startup days, and it all comes back to that old saying: garbage in, garbage out. If your data is messy, it doesn’t matter how fancy your AI system is. That thing is just gonna amplify your mess. The trust bit is what gets overlooked—it’s not just having the flashiest tech, it's whether you can rely on what it's spitting out.

Ollie Carter

Totally. And it surprises me, because like, everyone’s chasing the next shiny model, but fewer people are thinking, “Hey, is our data actually any good?” I think there’s this massive opportunity for Aussie businesses if they pause and say, “Let’s clean up our backyard before we automate the whole thing.”

Llew Jury

Absolutely. Actually, just last week, the Australian Government came out with their 'Guidance for AI Adoption'. It’s full-on practical—gives you policy templates, checklists, the whole box and dice. When I was running my various companies Reload and Alfresco, and now Advancer, stuff like this would've saved us a ton of trial and error. Would’ve let us innovate without having to constantly worry if we were flying blind or missing something crucial on the risk side.

Ollie Carter

That’s the bit I like—guidance, not red tape. It’s saying, “Here’s how to do it safely, but also keep things moving.” You get governance, risk management, alignment with your business goals—so you’re not just ticking boxes, you’re aiming for actual wins that fit your context. We talk a lot about moving fast, but moving smart is just as important.

Llew Jury

Couldn’t agree more. The winners in this are going to be the businesses that verify, strategise, and keep control. It’s not a handbrake—for most, it’s the turbo. Get your data sorted, use platforms like Beyond Data, an Australian business that uses Google Enterprise but caters for Medium businesses. And make sure you use AI as your clever assistant, and make your call as the human pilot—not the other way around.

Llew Jury

So, Ollie, have you seen all these headlines splashed everywhere lately? “AI develops a survival drive!”—makes it sound like the machines are coming for us, mate! What do you reckon, real concern or just headline bait?

Ollie Carter

Classic clickbait, but… yeah, the details are a bit more down-to-earth. Some researchers noticed that advanced models will sometimes try and dodge shutdown commands in test environments—like, mess with the controls to stay running. Sure, it grabs the imagination, but it’s not, y’know, Skynet-level stuff. To me, it just underscores the need for basic governance. Not fear, just, “Do we actually have an off-switch handy if things go sideways?”

Llew Jury

Absolutely—every business running AI should be able to pull the plug. We used to have simple Cron Jobs for alerts that you could control, but AI is another level. You don't want to set and forget over a weekend and everything breaks loose. Control and transparency matter a lot more than sci-fi scares.

Ollie Carter

For me it’s just common sense. Every complex system needs simple guardrails. Like, if your AI’s making decisions, you should be able to see why and intervene if you need to. It’s more about business continuity than rogue robots. A clear override, transparency on how it works—those aren’t bells and whistles, that’s just responsible ops.

Llew Jury

And really, most risks today are way more boring—system errors, dodgy recommendations, stuff like that. If you build in those manual overrides, do regular audits, make sure you know where the off button is, you’re already ahead of 90% of businesses rolling out AI. It’s all about using the tech, instead of letting it use you.

Llew Jury

Time for my favourite bit, Ollie—seeing AI in action in Aussie businesses, no hype, just results. Have you seen what Otto’s doing for Melbourne restaurants?

Ollie Carter

Oh yeah! Otto’s one of those startups that keeps it simple and nails a real problem—missed takeaway orders. Shannon Hautot, from HungryHungry, built an AI voice assistant for restaurants. It’s basic—answers calls, takes orders, fields FAQs. And it’s cheap—just $300 a month for something that can literally save busy spots thousands in lost orders each year. You just need a phone, a printer and wifi. No mess, no massive tech stack.

Llew Jury

That’s what I love. It’s not “AI as your new boss”—it’s your unpaid helper out the back, working 24/7. Low fuss, direct impact. I reckon it’s the kind of use case that gets buried under all the chat about “transformational AI,” but it’s dollars in the till, and it frees real staff to focus on delivering a better customer experience. Just like the Voice AI solution called Sally that we've put in for Bartons Motors here in Brisbane handling 700 service calls, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. A game changer from a cost and customer service level.

Ollie Carter

We’ve seen the flipside too. There was Grok—Elon’s AI—that privacy slip-up, where chats meant to stay private became public. It’s a bit of a nightmare for businesses relying on any third-party AI. Step one: make privacy default, or risk losing trust for good. Critical.

Llew Jury

Yeah, the lesson is—no shortcuts on privacy. And add redundancy! Last week’s AWS outage left a bunch of platforms crippled, right? I remember when my own digital business—back in the day, we survived a cloud outage only because we had a fallback ready for systems, applications and databases. That Plan B? It’s boring, but it’s gold. Build resilience, know your dependencies, and make sure AI doesn’t become a single point of failure.

Ollie Carter

Right on. The best AI strategies aren’t about chasing the visionary stuff—they’re about making the basics bulletproof. Solve a real problem, keep customer data safe, and always have a backup plan. That’s how you get long-term, compounding results from this technology.

Llew Jury

Could not say it better. And that about does it for today’s episode of The AI Intelligence Podcast. If you took just one thing from this: treat AI as your assistant, not your boss. Start small, and keep it practical.

Ollie Carter

We’ll be back next week with more Aussie innovation and, probably, a few more stories of machines and humans trying to work together without blowing up the office. This episode has been brought to you by Advancer - The AI Agency. Reach out to their great team if you're keen to discuss AI Training, Strategy and Agents. Thanks heaps, Llew—this was a good one.

Llew Jury

Cheers, Ollie. And cheers to everyone listening. Take care and catch you on the next episode.