Denise Heidel and Tim Beeman sit down with Denise’s personal friend, John Richardson, to discuss the upcoming AI workshops at the Lewisville-Clemmons Chamber of Commerce. Despite Denise’s admitted reluctance about AI technology, she trusts John to present a balanced perspective on this rapidly evolving topic, thanks to his 27 years in the IT industry. The conversation opens with honest skepticism about AI’s impact on creative industries, from voiceovers to music composition, while acknowledging the undeniable reality that AI is here to stay and businesses need to understand how to navigate it responsibly.

John shares fascinating insights into how AI actually works, explaining the difference between AI-generated responses and traditional search engines. He demonstrates AI’s practical applications through his own experience building an iOS and Android app using technologies he’d never worked with before, leveraging AI to accelerate development while still applying human expertise to verify and refine the results. The discussion touches on critical concerns like copyright protection, plagiarism, and the importance of maintaining human creativity and critical thinking in an AI-driven world. John even reveals his late-night “virtual battles” with AI agents, as well as his sometimes strong, colorful words at them, to get accurate results.

The episode previews two chamber workshops scheduled for 2026: “An Introduction to AI” on February 17th and “Next Steps in AI” on November 17th. John emphasizes the importance of understanding how to use AI safely in business contexts, particularly around data security and protecting sensitive information from potential threats. While AI offers tremendous efficiency gains for those who know how to use it properly, John stresses that you can’t remove the human element, and users must be able to discern good information from bad and verify AI-generated content against their own expertise.

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Produced by our Partner, Tim Beeman of Such-N-Such Media.
Recorded in the Such-N-Such Media Studios at Liberty Plaza.

The post All About AI with John Richardson first appeared on Lewisville-Clemmons Chamber Podcast.