AI Knowhow Episode 95 Overview
- Budgeting season for 2026 is about to begin in earnest. How much should leaders allocate to AI spend (and is that even the right question)?
- One big shift that leaders of some companies should consider is thinking of data and infrastructure as CapEx investments instead of OpEx expenditures
- Alex Kelleher, CEO of Quantum Rise, joins us to share why the most successful AI initiatives are those built by teams that are thinking in terms of product, not project
AI Roundtable: Budgeting for AI in 2026
With Q4 right around the corner, the inevitable budgeting discussions for 2026 will also be upon us before we know it. How can leaders budget for AI spend in a space that’s changing every week, if not every day? And is that even the right question to ask? Courtney, David, and Mohan tackle these questions and more in our roundtable discussion on this week’s AI Knowhow.
Executives have an increased appetite for ROI on their AI spend, David says, so approaching this as a question of how much should be allocated to AI isn’t even the right question in the first place. Instead, leaders should be taking a holistic look at their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and only then should they identify where AI can be used as a lever in their business.
Ultimately, your AI spend has to go toward moving the right KPIs in the right direction, Mohan says. “That’s going to be the art of AI budgeting in 2026.”
One thing the whole team agrees on is that budgeting in 2026 will be a little more complicated than in, say, 2019 when you could just apply a blanket 10% increase across departmental budgets and essentially call it a day.
Expert Interview: Alex Kelleher of Quantum Rise
Alex Kelleher, CEO of Quantum Rise, talks with Pete Buer about why taking a product approach to AI rather than a project approach is one thing that will separate those who succeed from the rest of the pack. “In a world that moves this fast, the only way to stay on top of it is to be agile,” Alex says. Projects often lock you into a fixed outcome. And by the time you deliver, the world has already changed.
Instead of the project-based approach with pre-defined deliverables, Alex recommends:
- Agility over certainty. Products are built iteratively, allowing organizations to adjust as markets and technologies evolve.
- Measurable outcomes. Success depends on clear KPIs that tie directly to business value.
- Real-world applications. A media company Quantum Rise advises shifted to a product approach, iterating quickly and leveraging generative AI to improve ad targeting, something a traditional project model wouldn’t have delivered.
- Impact on consulting. It’s no secret that AI is disrupting professional services. Instead of billing for hours, firms will increasingly be compensated based on results. As Alex put it: “We can spend less time building PowerPoint decks and more time actually doing work for clients.”
For executives, Alex’s advice is straightforward: embrace the product mindset in AI adoption. It’s the best way to ensure investments stay relevant, deliver continuous improvement, and build lasting trust with stakeholders.
In the News: What’s your password (and why is it 123456)?!
For our In the News segment, Pete Buer and Courtney Baker kicked off this episode with a cautionary tale from McDonald’s. Their AI-powered hiring chatbot, McHire, was found to be running on the default administrator credentials: username and password “123456.” The result? Personal information for 64 million job seekers across dozens of countries was potentially exposed.
Pete’s takeaways for executives:
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Even with cutting-edge AI, cybersecurity still hinges on human discipline.
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Shadow AI—ungoverned, department-by-department use of tools—exacerbates risk.
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Brand trust can evaporate overnight: “You can destroy a brand that you’ve spent 70 years perfecting with one mistake and one horrible headline.”
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The good news: AI-powered cybersecurity solutions exist today, and leaders should make them a priority investment.
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Show Notes
- Connect with Quantum Rise CEO Alex Kelleher on LinkedIn
- Learn about Quantum Rise
- Connect with David DeWolf on LinkedIn
- Connect with Mohan Rao on LinkedIn
- Connect with Courtney Baker on LinkedIn
- Connect with Pete Buer on LinkedIn
- Get a guided Knownwell demo
- Follow Knownwell on LinkedIn
