Episode 106: [Value Boost] When AI Isn't the Answer

More from Value Driven Data Science All episodes →

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   E111 · 24 Jun 2026 · 27 min

   Episode 111: Building Your Defences Against AI Misinformation

   AI doesn't lie - at least, not intentionally. It just sounds completely confident while filling in the gaps with whatever seems most plausible. And in a world where AI outputs are increasingly being used to inform high-stakes decisions, the ability to spot what's wrong, before it reaches a stakeholder, is becoming one of the most important skills a data professional can have. In this episode, Derek Gibson joins Dr Genevieve Hayes to share practical strategies for identifying unreliable AI outputs and building the defences necessary to keep AI-generated misinformation from reaching your…

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   E110 · 17 Jun 2026 · 17 min

   Episode 110: [Value Boost] Why You Need Less Data Than You Think

   In high-stakes decision-making, waiting for more data is often not an option. Yet many data scientists assume that without a large dataset, meaningful analysis is impossible. The good news is that rigorous, quantitative analysis is possible with far less data than most data scientists realise - in some cases with just a single datapoint. In this Value Boost episode, Douglas Hubbard joins Dr Genevieve Hayes to share practical techniques from How to Measure Anything that data scientists can start using right now to support high-stakes decisions when observations are scarce and every data point…

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   E109 · 10 Jun 2026 · 30 min

   Episode 109: How to Measure Anything and Make Better Decisions

   Data scientists are trained to work with large datasets. But the decisions that truly make or break an organisation are rarely the ones with large datasets behind them. They are the high-stakes, one-off decisions made under significant uncertainty - and most data scientists have no framework for handling them. In this episode, Douglas Hubbard joins Dr Genevieve Hayes to share how combining techniques from statistics, economics and decision theory can help data scientists tackle the problems that matter most. In this episode, you'll discover: What Applied Information Economics is and how it…

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   E108 · 3 Jun 2026 · 10 min

   Episode 108: [Value Boost] How to Use AI Without Losing Your Edge

   AI has the potential to dramatically expand what data scientists can do. But used without care, it also has the potential to quietly erode the expertise that makes them valuable in the first place. In this Value Boost episode, Tim Dietrich joins Dr Genevieve Hayes to explore how to stay on the right side of that line and what mindful AI use actually looks like in practice. In this episode, you'll discover: Why looking for problems to solve with AI is a warning sign [02:05] What happens when you use AI before you have the expertise to direct it [05:51] Why your AI interactions should be…

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   E107 · 27 May 2026 · 29 min

   Episode 107: Building a Virtual Empire of AI Specialists

   The question haunting every data scientist right now isn't whether AI will change their work, it's whether there will still be a place for them when it does. The answer, according to Tim Dietrich, isn't to compete with AI but to do something far more interesting with it - in his case, building a virtual team of over 100 AI specialists to dramatically expand what he is able to achieve. In this episode, Tim joins Dr Genevieve Hayes to share the principles and practicalities behind building a virtual AI team, and what data scientists can learn from his experience. In this episode, you'll…

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   E105 · 13 May 2026 · 29 min

   Episode 105: From AI Idea to Production Reality

   Organisations today have no shortage of AI ideas. What they lack is the ability to turn those ideas into production-ready systems that deliver real business value. For data scientists trying to get AI projects off the ground, understanding why that gap exists is as important as the technical work itself. In this episode, Santosh Kaveti joins Dr Genevieve Hayes to share what organisations consistently get wrong when embarking on AI initiatives, and what data scientists can do to help get it right. In this episode, you'll discover: Why organisations with great AI ideas still fail to deploy…

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   E104 · 6 May 2026 · 14 min

   Episode 104: [Value Boost] The Four Zones of AI Productivity for Data Scientists

   AI can get you to 60% of a finished output in minutes. But getting from 60% to 100% - the part where real insight lives - is where human expertise becomes the deciding factor. And the more expertise you bring, the further AI can take you. In this Value Boost episode, Brent Dykes joins Dr Genevieve Hayes to apply his Four Zones of AI Productivity framework to the insight generation process and explore what it means for data professionals who want to position themselves as strategic advisors. In this episode, you'll discover: The Four Zones of AI Productivity and how they apply to insight…

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   E103 · 29 Apr 2026 · 31 min

   Episode 103: The Art of the Actionable Insight

   Most data scientists have been in this situation: you spend hours analysing a dataset, return to your stakeholder with your findings, and are met with a polite "that's interesting" - before your work disappears into a drawer, never to be seen again. The problem usually isn't the analysis. It's that interesting observations and genuine insights are not the same thing. In this episode, Brent Dykes joins Dr Genevieve Hayes to share the frameworks behind identifying and communicating insights that actually move organisations to act. In this episode, you'll discover: What makes an insight an…

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   E102 · 22 Apr 2026 · 12 min

   Episode 102: [Value Boost] How Giving Away Your Work for Free Can Build Your Authority as a Data Scientist

   Building authority as a data professional doesn't require a large budget, a publisher, or even a large audience. But it does require a deliberate decision to share your thinking with the world and the patience to let that compound over time. In this Value Boost episode, Prof. Rob Hyndman joins Dr. Genevieve Hayes to share how selectively giving away his work for free helped him become one of the most cited and influential statisticians in the world, and what data professionals at any stage of their career can learn from that approach. In this episode, you'll discover: Why Rob decided to give…

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    E101 · 15 Apr 2026 · 28 min

    Episode 101: Why Traditional Statistics Still Matters in the Age of AI

    Data scientists today are under pressure to adopt the latest tools - machine learning, LLMs, generative AI. But in the rush to embrace what's new, many are leaving some of the most powerful analytical tools sitting on the shelf. Tools that handle something modern AI largely can't: uncertainty. In this episode, Prof. Rob Hyndman joins Dr. Genevieve Hayes to make the case for why rigorous statistical thinking remains indispensable in the age of AI, and what data scientists are giving up when they abandon it. In this episode, you'll discover: Why throwing data at an LLM is no substitute for…