What happens when AI stops being treated like a tool and starts being hired like an employee?

In this episode, we sit down with Gabe Larsen, Chief Revenue Officer at Atonom (formerly known as Signals), to explore a bold reframing of AI agents as “cloud employees” hired on salary to perform specific job roles.

Rather than selling software seats or charging per conversation, Atonom packages AI as role-based digital workers. You hire an AI SDR, a customer service rep, or a recruiter. You coach them and you measure their output. And if they do not perform, you let them go.

Gabe explains why the traditional SaaS model failed to deliver outcomes, how AI agents are shifting from tools to teammates, and why pricing AI like a human employee simplifies adoption. We dive into multi-channel AI employees, autonomous multi-agent systems, role-based templates and the realities of scaling AI across sales, customer service and recruiting.

Gabe also shares his views on the broader AI market, where Signals sits relative to other AI players and why he believes multi-channel autonomy is a key differentiator.

Find out more about Atonom: https://atonom.ai/

Follow Gabe Larsen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabelarsen

Follow Kane Simms on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms

Download our exclusive report on how AI agents keep CX stable when volume explodes: https://vux.la/scale

Take our updated AI Maturity Assessment: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/a26bf9Rr?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=audio&utm_campaign=vuxconsulting25

Subscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeW

Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimms

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Generative AI has changed how conversations are built and experienced. Georgios Tserdanelis, VP of Conversation Design at JPMorganChase, draws on 15 years of designing voice and chat systems to explain what still holds up, what breaks and why conversation design matters more than ever.

Georgios brings years of hands-on experience designing voice and chat experiences across startups and global enterprises, including JPMorganChase, Cigna and Walgreens. With a background in linguistics, he offers a grounded perspective on how human conversation actually works and why those fundamentals still matter in a world of generative AI.

We explore how conversational AI has evolved from scripted IVR and NLU systems to large language models and agentic experiences. Georgios explains why many current generative AI deployments struggle with basic conversational principles such as turn-taking, acknowledgement, and context management. Georgios shares practical insights on designing effective voice and chat experiences at a massive scale in highly regulated industries, where small error rates translate into real-world risk.

One of the key themes that emerges during our discussion is the changing role of the conversation designer, the balance between deterministic flows and generative systems, voice versus chat design constraints, and why silence, timing and modality choice matter as much as language itself.

We also cover fraud, voice cloning, brand identity in AI assistants and how customer expectations are shifting as people get used to talking to increasingly capable machines.

Follow Georgios on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tserdanelis/

Follow Kane Simms on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms

Download our exclusive report on how AI agents keep CX stable when volume explodes: https://vux.world/how-ai-agents-keep-cx-stable-when-volume-explodes/?utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=SurgeHappens

Take our updated AI Maturity Assessment: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/a26bf9Rr?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=audio&utm_campaign=vuxconsulting25

Subscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeW

Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimms

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HBX Group sits in the middle of one of the most complex customer service chains in travel. A single issue can span a traveller, a travel agent, a global booking platform and a hotel on the other side of the world.

In this episode, we explore how HBX Group is leveraging artificial intelligence to transform its global customer service operations with Xavier Godoy Moya, Customer Experience & Automation Director, and Adam Tinsley, Global Customer Service Director.

We break down how HBX uses AI-driven classification to triage hundreds of thousands of monthly cases across voice, chat, email and ticketing systems. The team explains how generative models replaced traditional intent-matching systems, enabling accurate routing across more than 70 case types while supporting deterministic safeguards required at operational scale.

Adam and Xavier share results across several key use cases, including an AI classification system that accurately categorises customer inquiries into 70 different intents, automated handling of common requests such as booking confirmations and cancellations, and an innovative workflow that can automatically communicate with hotels on behalf of agents. Their real-time translation solution has enabled 24/7 service across 13 languages, dramatically expanding their global support capabilities.

We also discuss their approach to agent training, which includes an AI simulation system that lets new staff practice handling customer conversations at varying levels of difficulty before taking real calls.

The episode closes with measured business outcomes, including faster case resolution, growing automation rates, operational insights unlocked through AI-native reporting and the next wave of experimentation around sentiment-aware routing and more adaptive voice experiences.

Find out more about HBX Group: https://www.hbxgroup.com

Follow Kane Simms on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms

Download our exclusive report on how AI agents keep CX stable when volume explodes: https://vux.world/how-ai-agents-keep-cx-stable-when-volume-explodes/?utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=SurgeHappens

Take our updated AI Maturity Assessment: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/a26bf9Rr?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=audio&utm_campaign=vuxconsulting25

Subscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeW

Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimms

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.