Insights From Centric Consulting’s Joseph Ours: Navigating Artificial Intelligence

SLM or LLM Agents? The Trade-Offs, The Risks, and The Rewards

The AI industry is obsessed with scale—bigger models, more parameters, higher costs—the assumption being that more always equals better. Today, small language models (SLM) are turning that assumption on its head, proving that when it comes to AI performance, size isn’t everything. This article discusses trade-offs between large and small language models, and the real-world potential of SLM-powered agents. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Intellectual Workers Are Coming For Your Job: Here’s How To Become One

AI is as transformational as the Industrial Revolution, and as AI systems become more sophisticated, a new professional paradigm is emerging. It’s not about what you know anymore — it’s about how you think. Enter the intellectual worker, a professional who doesn’t just use AI as a tool, but leverages it as a collaborative partner to explore new possibilities and drive innovation and ROI. This article discusses what makes intellectual workers different from knowledge workers and how to become one. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

3 AI And Cybersecurity Conversations Business Leaders Aren’t Having

By 2028, businesses will allocate more than $30 billion to combat sophisticated information-based threats, analysts predict, drawing heavily from both cybersecurity and marketing budgets. Many — if not most — organizations remain unprepared for the evolving threat of AI-powered deception. This article discusses why you need to be talking about how AI and cybersecurity intertwine. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

A Business Leader’s Guide to Choosing Between Top Enterprise-Ready LLMs

This article discusses the four major large language models, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Llama 3, and their business use cases. As organizational leaders evaluate their operational needs, readiness for agentic workflows and potential ROI from these sophisticated tools, understanding the nuances between what may seem like identical tools is critical for making an informed decision. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

As Deepfake Dangers Evolve, Business Leaders Are the Top Line of Defense

This article discusses global concerns about deepfake technology and its malicious use in society. Deepfake attacks can be difficult to distinguish and lead to repercussions like financial fraud, loss of customers and revenue, reputational damage, legal liabilities, costly crisis control measures and more. How prevalent are they, and what can business leaders do to reduce the risk of a deepfake scam? READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Why Limiting AI Literacy Training to Your IT Team Is a Big Mistake

AI literacy is more than understanding terminology. At its core, it involves having the skills and competencies needed to use AI technologies and applications successfully. That means recognizing AI, understanding its underlying principles and impacts and knowing how to use it effectively and legally. Learn why this training is critical at all levels of your organization in this Forbes article. Read the full article

AI Is Everywhere: Strategies to Safeguard Your Company’s Innovation

Because of the absence of federal AI regulations, companies need to establish internal AI governance that ensures responsible use while also facilitating successful digital transformation. But how can businesses control company use of powerful, wide-reaching AI tools? Ours’ article in Crain’s Cleveland Business shares insights on how to approach AI management. Read the full article

Microsoft 365 Will Expose Who’s Ready for AI

Ours and Centric colleague Michael McNett penned an article for TechRadar. The article “Microsoft 365 Copilot Will Expose Who’s Ready for AI,” offers an insightful look at how to prepare to get the most out of the new and promising technology. Read the full article

Model Context Protocol servers: Build or buy?

MCP, the open standard for connecting AI assistants to data sources and external tools, has become indispensable in AI developer circles; however, many CIOs are only now becoming aware of it. Joe Ours chimes in on this InformationWeek article about whether to build, buy, or wait entirely on MCP servers, along with pros and cons. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

How AI Is Transforming Network Security And Optimization

In this Forbes article, Ours discusses how AI is being used for effective network management across industries.

“AI-powered zero-trust network verification is becoming essential. Rather than just monitoring perimeter security, AI continuously validates every device and user interaction in real time. This proactive approach catches threats that traditional methods miss, but success requires thoughtful implementation with human oversight to avoid false positives that disrupt business operations,” Ours said. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Top Tech Skills Still Thriving In A Down Job Market

In this Forbes article, Ours shares insights on tech skills that remain valuable despite a down job market.

“Professionals who can carry out AI-powered penetration testing—where AI is amplifying what’s possible—are in demand. Skilled testers use AI to automate reconnaissance, generate attack vectors and analyze vast vulnerability datasets, but human judgment is essential for context. Organizations need experts who responsibly blend ethical hacking with AI tools—a rare combination that commands premium rates,” Ours said. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

How To Ensure Fair, Safe AI Through Thoughtful Data Design

In this Forbes article, Ours shares insights on data design strategies that can help create safer, more equitable AI systems that businesses and users can trust.

“Preserve annotator disagreements as valuable business intelligence. When human labelers disagree on edge cases, it pinpoints exactly where your AI will likely fail users unfairly. Instead of forcing consensus, build this uncertainty into your training data as an early warning system. This gives your AI the ability to recognize when it’s uncertain and avoid making confident, but biased, decisions,” Ours said. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

20 Strategies For Tackling Hidden Risks In The AI Model Supply Chain

In this Forbes article, Ours shares insights on blind spots in the AI model supply chain.

“When integrating third-party models, organizations face a provenance gap where they cannot trace model origins or training methods. This creates accountability blind spots that compromise governance frameworks. Organizations should implement vendor transparency requirements and establish cross-functional review processes for external AI components,” Ours said. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Seeking AI Talent? 19 Factors That Make Companies Attractive

In this Forbes article, Ours weighs in on AI features that attract AI talent in a competitive market, homing in on a company’s demonstrated commitment to AI.

“Top AI talent is drawn to companies that are deeply invested in AI and that demonstrate a clear commitment through extensive implementation and funding. They prefer environments where AI is already central to operations and innovation, rather than being asked to build something from scratch. In other words, they want to work for a company that is already in an AI future,” Ours said. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

AI in Entertainment: 19 Practical and Ethical Challenges

Ours is quoted in this Forbes article that discusses challenges the entertainment industry faces when adopting AI and how to balance incorporating the benefits without losing the human element.

“The entertainment industry is already grappling with AI-generated content displacing workers. While this creates challenges, focusing on how AI can generate new opportunities is key. Rather than resisting change, success lies in actively exploring innovative ways to leverage AI’s potential. Like any major transition, the path forward is through adaptation and embracing new possibilities,” Ours said. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

How to Optimize SEO in the AI Age

Ours is quoted in this Forbes article that discusses how businesses can balance the data-crunching strengths of AI with the instinct and understanding of humans.

“AI will change what SEO means and how it operates. Until then, AI is best used to interweave keywords aligned with intent into headings—in effect, to optimize content. Additionally, agentic workflows can evaluate existing sites and suggest improvements for content organization, identify broken links and optimize backlinks. Finally, AI can analyze a competitor’s website to help you make yours more competitive,” Ours said. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Centric Expert Talks Agentic AI Implementation with CIO Dot Com

Ours shares insights with CIO.com for an article discussing the transformative potential of agentic AI in business processes. The article, “AI Agents Will Transform Business Processes — and Magnify Risks,” explores the growing adoption of agentic AI across various industries and its potential to revolutionize business processes.

Ours also shares insights from a project Centric Consulting is undertaking with a midsized regional property and casualty insurance company that aims to replace an existing, costly system for processing customer emails related to insurance claims with a custom agentic AI solution. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

20 Sectors Missing Out on The Power Of AI

Ours is quoted in this Forbes article that discusses public and private sectors that don’t yet have widespread AI adoption and how they could benefit from jumping on the bandwagon.

“AI-powered preventative maintenance for city infrastructure could revolutionize urban management. Machine learning models could analyze data from sensors on roads, bridges and utilities infrastructure to predict maintenance needs before failures occur. AI could also be used to interact with constituents and provide analysis on zoning requests. There are many untapped opportunities within municipalities,” Ours said. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Specialized GenAI Platforms: Challenges And How To Address Them

As generative AI tools gain popularity across industries, some organizations are considering building their own specialized platforms to realize benefits like tailored solutions, better data control, and improved user experiences. However, this endeavor comes with significant challenges companies need to carefully consider before embarking on the process. Ours weighs in on the challenges in this Forbes article.

“There’s a common misconception that AI is a jack-of-all-trades rather than a specialized tool, which can lead to unrealistic expectations. Establishing clear, focused objectives and tasks will decrease the instances of hallucination and enhance the quality and effectiveness of the AI platform, ultimately leading to more successful outcomes.” READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Skills And Specialties Every Budding Tech Professional Should Master

Ours is quoted in this Forbes article that explores some skills and specialties all tech professionals should focus on acquiring and why organizations will value — or always have valued — them so highly.

“The technology workers of tomorrow must blend futuristic visioning with skepticism to balance AI’s great potential with its hype and the impact of potential bad actors. Therefore, critical thinking is the most important skill in an AI-powered world. It involves not just understanding and using technology, but also questioning its implications, assessing its impacts and ensuring its ethical application.” READ THE FULL ARTICLE

What Should You Do If Your Gen AI Is Hallucinating?

Ethical considerations when implementing AI include making sure data the models are built on is clean, standardized and tested. Ours weighs in on how to handle hallucinations in this Digital Insurance article. Read the full article

How Intelligent Applications Can Boost Sales

In this InformationWeek article, “How Intelligent Applications Can Boost Sales,” Ours discusses how organizations can use these applications to cultivate personalized user experiences, prioritize leads, sales forecasting, and data analytics. Read the full article

Ours Talks ‘The Future of AI’ as One Mic Stand Podcast Guest

Ours was a guest on TEQ Magazine’s One Mic Stand Podcast, produced by the Pittsburgh Technology Council, to discuss the future of artificial intelligence (AI) with host Jonathan Kersting. The two dive into why AI is making a splash across every sector of the workforce and what it means for both people and industry, including how it can spark creativity, drive efficiencies, and help create a “plus two effect.” Listen to the podcast

AI Everywhere: Salesforce Unveils Its Vision of the AI-First Enterprise

Ours is quoted in this Forbes article that discusses Salesforce’s AI Cloud. He shares what companies risk if they don’t adopt innovative new technologies. Read the full article

16 Surprising Ways AI Enhances Healthcare Diagnostics and Delivery

Ours discusses one surprising way AI is enhancing healthcare diagnostics and delivery by optimizing medical coding:

“Missed medical coding creates a hassle for patients and delays payments to providers. Smart providers are using AI to improve medical coding and get paid faster. Sophisticated providers are already using AI to optimize medical coding to increase approval rates on submissions to healthcare payers. Next-level providers will start using AI to optimize medical coding for higher reimbursement.” READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Key C-Suite Discussions That Would Benefit From Tech Leaders’ Takes 

Ours weighs in on critical processes for which the C-suite needs the expertise of its tech leaders:  

“I’d champion AI across all value streams in the organization. AI is shaping up to be more transformational than the Industrial Revolution. By bringing a blend of visionary and pragmatic expertise, I’d help the C-suite strategically implement AI to enhance efficiency, decision-making and innovation. Understanding AI’s capabilities and ethical considerations is crucial to leading your industry in an AI-powered, sustainable fashion.” View the full article

Beyond Content Creation: 16 Innovative AI Applications 

Ours suggests AI applications businesses and the public should explore.

“Small-scale data analysis: There are AI tools that make it easy for laypeople to perform analysis of small-scale datasets. These tools allow leaders to capitalize on their ‘hunches.’ By running these AI tools on their laptops, leaders can quickly confirm or disprove their hunches without the need to send in special requests to their IT team.”  Read the full article

Using GenAI for Coding? How to Leverage It Wisely and Well 

Ours shares advice to help dev teams ensure they’re using generative AI safely and effectively under the section, “Know That Gaps in Knowledge or Contextual Understanding May Need to Be Addressed.”

“Developers tapping into GenAI’s potential for code creation must adhere to modern software craftsmanship principles. They should run code analysis tools on it to avoid security issues creeping in. It should not be blindly inserted without proper human review. Carefully go through the code with the mindset that gaps in knowledge or contextual understanding may need to be addressed before use.” View the full article

20 Tools and Strategies for Safe and Efficient AI System Data Sharing

Ours shares how data abstraction can help manage data sharing among AI systems:

“One effective strategy for secure and efficient data sharing across AI systems is data abstraction. By abstracting data into well-defined interfaces, companies can avoid creating a “data swamp” (as often happens with data lakes) and enable clean, controlled data flow between systems. This should be combined with a strong data management group to ensure data quality, governance and security.” View the full article