The state of AI in 2025: Reasoning, regulation, and rethinking scale

Intercom's Chief AI Officer Fergal Reid and VP of Design Emmet Connolly sit down to chart the current state of AI – why scaling pre-training hit limits, how reasoning models and reinforcement learning surged, and what the “DeepSeek moment” revealed about costs and competitiveness. They dig into massive CapEx and data centers, the shrinking gap between frontier and open-weight models, and why value is shifting up the stack from models to the AI layer and product UX. The conversation explores world models and representational convergence, where real breakthroughs may show up, evolving regulation and copyright, and practical implications for builders in a post-training-first world.Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8ISy0PswHvE?si=TBooKTEXH191DfIgFollow the peoplehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/fergalreid/https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmetconnolly/https://fin.ai/ideas/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the first episode of /ideas, Chief Product Officer Paul Adams talks with Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Des Traynor about how AI is reshaping everything: how we build products, structure teams, and go to market.Follow the peoplehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/destraynor/https://www.linkedin.com/in/pauladams/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/fin/X: https://x.com/intercomhttps://fin.ai/ideas/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As Intercom’s product scaled, we struggled to keep the navigation clear and user-friendly. So how do you redesign information architecture without disrupting users? Senior Product Designer Pranava Tandra breaks down the process, from balancing simplicity with depth to making AI features more discoverable. She chats with Senior Director of Product Management Michelle Fitzpatrick about the challenges, trade-offs, and lessons learned in structuring a fast-evolving product for clarity and ease of use.Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/R59AZsGDffY?si=if7eoqxIRinGiaOWRead Pranava's blog post: https://www.intercom.com/blog/designing-for-clarity-restructuring-intercoms-information-architecture/😁 Follow the people:https://www.linkedin.com/in/pranavatandra/https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellefitzpatrick/Follow our podcast:🍏 Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/intercom-on-product/id1462264923🎧 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6d9s4PBzvdESARqUadlCpo🎥 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlCIldMZCaFrcO10XuO7JtPpsZ7EyK0fg💻 RSS Feed https://rss.art19.com/intercom-on-productSign up for Intercom on Product: a monthly newsletter sharing our latest thinking on building and designing great products, and how that's changing in the age of AI.https://intercomonproduct.substack.com/Say hi on 👋LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intercom/X: https://x.com/intercomGet a free trial of Fin, our breakthrough AI chatbot, here: https://www.intercom.com/finwww.intercom.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

AI models are getting cheaper, faster, and more accessible – but what does that mean for businesses and product builders? Renowned tech analyst Benedict Evans joins us to unpack the latest AI shifts, from DeepSeek’s rapid rise to the ongoing debate between deterministic and probabilistic AI. He chats with our Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Des Traynor about the implications of falling compute costs, the race to refine AI agents, and how companies should think about building in an unpredictable landscape.Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/QkpqBCaUvS4😁 Follow the people:https://www.linkedin.com/in/destraynor/https://www.linkedin.com/in/benedictevans/Follow our podcast:🍏 Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/intercom-on-product/id1462264923🎧 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6d9s4PBzvdESARqUadlCpo🎥 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlCIldMZCaFrcO10XuO7JtPpsZ7EyK0fg💻 RSS Feed https://rss.art19.com/intercom-on-productSign up for Intercom on Product: a monthly newsletter sharing our latest thinking on building and designing great products, and how that's changing in the age of AI.https://intercomonproduct.substack.com/Say hi on 👋Twitter: https://twitter.com/intercomLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intercom/Get a free trial of Fin, our breakthrough AI chatbot, here: https://www.intercom.com/fin🏠 www.intercom.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How is AI changing the way we build product, the rituals we rely on to ship consistently innovative software, and our fundamental strategy as a customer service platform? In the latest episode of Intercom on Product, our Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Des Traynor and our Chief Product Officer Paul Adams discuss all the far-reaching ways we are rethinking the basics and reinventing the company to adapt to the era of AI.Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/etre_aw6_0o?si=fkWII4slHlsYnxpNNewsletters:Sign up for The Ticket: A twice-monthly newsletter bursting with all the insights, trends, tips, and assets your team needs to embrace the future of customer service. https://www.intercom.com/blog/newsletterSign up for Intercom on Product: a monthly newsletter sharing our latest thinking on building and designing great products, and how that's changing in the age of AI. https://inter.com/productpodcastSay hi on 👋X: https://twitter.com/intercomLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intercom/www.intercom.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Bobby Pinero, the co-founder and CEO of Equals, sits down with Mark Iafrate, Principal of Integrated Marketing at Intercom, to discuss the challenges of navigating product-market fit, the importance of understanding key metrics in the SaaS industry, common mistakes founders make in evaluating metrics, and the significance of storytelling in presenting data.Watch Start Good trouble on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlCIldMZCaFpAwM39seMpQCUyexY98tUFNewsletters:Sign up for The Ticket: A twice-monthly newsletter bursting with all the insights, trends, tips, and assets your team needs to embrace the future of customer service. https://www.intercom.com/blog/newsletterSign up for Intercom on Product: a monthly newsletter sharing our latest thinking on building and designing great products, and how that's changing in the age of AI. https://inter.com/productpodcastSay hi on 👋X: https://twitter.com/intercomLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intercom/www.intercom.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Is the AI hype justified, or is there more to the story? Hear renowned industry analyst Benedict Evans as he cuts through the noise and reveals what AI really means for industries like customer service.Watch this episode here: https://events.intercom.com/on-demand/69b135d5-09ad-4023-a52e-b8a4ea0ee939/?referrer_page=de35aee1-a86c-48bb-8967-f5620d766eabTo check out all the sessions in full, check out: https://pioneer.intercom.com/Newsletters:Sign up for The Ticket: A twice-monthly newsletter bursting with all the insights, trends, tips, and assets your team needs to embrace the future of customer service. https://www.intercom.com/blog/newsletterSign up for Intercom on Product: a monthly newsletter sharing our latest thinking on building and designing great products, and how that's changing in the age of AI.https://inter.com/productpodcastSay hi on 👋X: https://twitter.com/intercomLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intercom/www.intercom.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Intercom CEO Eoghan McCabe breaks down how AI is about to disrupt customer service on a scale we’ve never seen before. From bots talking to bots to AI surpassing human expertise—this is just the beginning. The race to build and ship the future is on.Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/WIBibfv3SKkFollow the people:https://www.linkedin.com/in/eoghanmccabe/https://x.com/eoghanFollow Intercom:Twitter: https://x.com/intercomLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intercom/Sign up for Intercom on Product: a monthly newsletter sharing our latest thinking on building and designing great products, and how that's changing in the age of AI. www.inter.com/productpodcastwww.intercom.com#customerservice #Customersupport #aiinsightsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The open questions raised by the rise of generative AI are now gradually getting answers. Intercom’s Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Des Traynor walks us through how AI went from just about possible to seemingly inevitable over the course of two years. People speculate that AI will be as big as the internet or cloud or mobile, but as Des puts it, perhaps we should be thinking of this moment as a modern version of the dawn of electricity.Watch this episode here: https://events.intercom.com/on-demand/509d896b-f6c6-4139-975d-d55c689a2ff8/?referrer_page=de35aee1-a86c-48bb-8967-f5620d766eabTo check out all the sessions in full, check out: https://events.intercom.com/pioneer-2024/Newsletters:Sign up for The Ticket: A twice-monthly newsletter bursting with all the insights, trends, tips, and assets your team needs to embrace the future of customer service. https://www.intercom.com/blog/newsletterSign up for Intercom on Product: a monthly newsletter sharing our latest thinking on building and designing great products, and how that's changing in the age of AI.https://inter.com/productpodcastSay hi on 👋X: https://twitter.com/intercomLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intercom/www.intercom.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of Intercom on Product, we talk with Enzo Avigo, co-founder and CEO of June, a next-generation analytics platform dedicated to B2B SaaS. He shares his key learnings from his entrepreneurial journey so far, including the importance of product-market fit (PMF), the real value of getting into Y Combinator, and the growing significance of founder-led marketing. Leading the conversation is Mark Iafrate, GTM Lead, Webinars & Partner Marketing, Intercom.Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qha95Ig4gWw😁 Follow the people:https://www.linkedin.com/in/enzoa/https://www.linkedin.com/in/markiafrate/Newsletters:Sign up for The Ticket: A twice-monthly newsletter bursting with all the insights, trends, tips, and assets your team needs to embrace the future of customer service. https://www.intercom.com/blog/newsletterSign up for Intercom on Product: a monthly newsletter sharing our latest thinking on building and designing great products, and how that's changing in the age of AI.https://inter.com/productpodcastSay hi on 👋Twitter: https://twitter.com/intercomLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intercom/Learn more about Fin AI Copilot: https://www.intercom.com/support-for-agents/ai-copilotwww.intercom.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.