The most important shift in AI isn't better chatbots. It's the arrival of agents that can work independently.

Give them a task before bed and they may finish it before you wake up. They can write code, access tools, analyze information and make decisions without a human in the loop. The productivity upside is enormous but so is the potential risk.

In this episode, NVIDIA's Dave Barry breaks down what enterprises are learning about autonomous agents, from secure runtimes and policy controls to observability, governance, and limiting blast radius when things go wrong.

The technology is getting more capable by the week.

The real challenge is making sure it stays pointed in the right direction.

Support for this episode provided by: CrowdStrike

The AI Proving Ground Podcast leverages the deep AI technical and business expertise from within World Wide Technology's one-of-a-kind AI Proving Ground, which provides unrivaled access to the world's leading AI technologies. This unique lab environment accelerates your ability to learn about, test, train and implement AI solutions.

Learn more about WWT's AI Proving Ground.

The AI Proving Ground is a composable lab environment that features the latest high-performance infrastructure and reference architectures from the world's leading AI companies, such as NVIDIA, Cisco, Dell, F5, AMD, Intel and others.

Developed within our Advanced Technology Center (ATC), this one-of-a-kind lab environment empowers IT teams to evaluate and test AI infrastructure, software and solutions for efficacy, scalability and flexibility — all under one roof. The AI Proving Ground provides visibility into data flows across the entire development pipeline, enabling more informed decision-making while safeguarding production environments.

The most interesting thing at Cisco Live! 2026 wasn't a product announcement.

It was a shift in tone.

For years, technology leaders have had the luxury of studying change before responding to it. They could build a roadmap, socialize a strategy, secure a budget, and move forward on their own timeline.

AI is taking that luxury away.

Across nearly every conversation this week, the same tension kept surfacing. The technology is improving faster than organizations are adapting to it. Security teams are watching the window between vulnerability and exploit shrink dramatically. Infrastructure teams are preparing for a world where software doesn't just serve users, but acts on their behalf. And leaders are being forced to rethink operating models that were designed for a much slower era.

In this episode, WWT leaders and industry experts explore what that shift means in practice. From AI-driven security threats and agentic operations to token economics and infrastructure modernization, the conversation focuses less on the technology itself and more on the consequences of its success.

Because the question is no longer whether AI will change the enterprise.

The question is how quickly the enterprise can change itself.

Support for this episode provided by: Cohesity

The AI Proving Ground Podcast leverages the deep AI technical and business expertise from within World Wide Technology's one-of-a-kind AI Proving Ground, which provides unrivaled access to the world's leading AI technologies. This unique lab environment accelerates your ability to learn about, test, train and implement AI solutions.

Learn more about WWT's AI Proving Ground.

The AI Proving Ground is a composable lab environment that features the latest high-performance infrastructure and reference architectures from the world's leading AI companies, such as NVIDIA, Cisco, Dell, F5, AMD, Intel and others.

Developed within our Advanced Technology Center (ATC), this one-of-a-kind lab environment empowers IT teams to evaluate and test AI infrastructure, software and solutions for efficacy, scalability and flexibility — all under one roof. The AI Proving Ground provides visibility into data flows across the entire development pipeline, enabling more informed decision-making while safeguarding production environments.

Remember when employees started using Dropbox before IT approved it?

AI agents feel a lot like that moment.

People are building them because they're useful. Not because they were told to. The surprise isn't that agents are showing up across the enterprise, it's how quickly they're multiplying.

In this episode of the AI Proving Ground Podcast, Softchoice's Craig McQueen and Stephanie Donahue discuss Microsoft's answer to a problem many organizations are only beginning to see: AI adoption is outpacing governance.

We explore Microsoft 365 E7, the rise of shadow AI and why organizations are starting to think differently about identity, visibility and accountability in a world where agents can take action on their own.

The challenge isn't getting employees to use AI, it's figuring out what they've already built.

Support for this episode provided by: HP Poly

More about this week's guests:

Craig McQueen is Vice President of Digital Acceleration at Softchoice, where he helps shape the company's technology strategy and go-to-market vision. He leads the development of customer-focused services and solutions that help organizations securely adopt and scale emerging technologies across cloud, data center, collaboration and the digital workplace. Working closely with customers and partners, Craig focuses on turning technology innovation into measurable business outcomes.

Stephanie Donahue is Director of AI Business Solutions at Softchoice, where she helps organizations adopt and scale AI-powered ways of working. Her focus includes Microsoft 365, Copilot, agents and the broader technologies shaping the future of work. A Microsoft Regional Director and MVP, Stephanie works closely with customers to turn emerging technologies into practical business outcomes while helping organizations navigate AI adoption, governance and workforce transformation.

The AI Proving Ground Podcast leverages the deep AI technical and business expertise from within World Wide Technology's one-of-a-kind AI Proving Ground, which provides unrivaled access to the world's leading AI technologies. This unique lab environment accelerates your ability to learn about, test, train and implement AI solutions.

Learn more about WWT's AI Proving Ground.

The AI Proving Ground is a composable lab environment that features the latest high-performance infrastructure and reference architectures from the world's leading AI companies, such as NVIDIA, Cisco, Dell, F5, AMD, Intel and others.

Developed within our Advanced Technology Center (ATC), this one-of-a-kind lab environment empowers IT teams to evaluate and test AI infrastructure, software and solutions for efficacy, scalability and flexibility — all under one roof. The AI Proving Ground provides visibility into data flows across the entire development pipeline, enabling more informed decision-making while safeguarding production environments.