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FT | The Next Five
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THE NEXT FIVE - EPISODE 45

Code and Conscience: Freedom to Invent

Does the permission to fail give freedom to invent?

The Next Five is the FT’s partner-supported podcast, exploring the future of industries through expert insights and thought-provoking discussions with host, Tom Parker. Each episode brings together leading voices to analyse the trends, innovations, challenges and opportunities shaping the next five years in business, geo politics, technology, health and lifestyle.

We’re at the start of Q3 2026. Every day that passes, individuals, managers, executives and boards are crunching their internal numbers.

They’re working out if the millions of dollars spent on cutting edge agentic AI deployment over the previous 2 years is showing signs of meaningful ROI. If figures from the first half of 2025 were anything to go on, the juice was not worth the squeeze. MIT’s Gen AI Divide Report 2025 showed that ninety-five percent of generative AI projects in H1 last year failed to deliver demonstrable ROI. Ninety-five percent. But, what happened to that remaining five percent? What secret engine were those elite organisations running that the rest of the market is completely missed? Is it really a gap in technical horsepower? Did they structure innovation better? Manage risk more competently? Or did they grant their teams the power to experiment more freely than the rest?

Joining host Tom Parker is Steve Tarcza, Director of AI & Developer Acceleration for Stores at Amazon, alongside Jim Rowan, US Head of AI at Deloitte and Seth Fox, Chief Technology Officer at S&P Global.

Sources: FT Resources, MIT

This content is paid for by AWS and is produced in partnership with the Financial Times' Commercial Department. The views and claims expressed are those of the guests alone and have not been independently verified by The Financial Times.


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