As AI continues to reshape industries at a staggering pace, many businesses find themselves facing a critical question: how do we stay competitive when the rules keep changing?
Today, everyone has access to emerging technologies. You can deploy a generative AI tool almost overnight. But true competitive advantage doesn’t come from simply adopting the latest tool. It comes from building strategic defensibility: making intentional choices today that keep you ahead tomorrow.
In a powerful episode of Data and AI Mastery, our host and founder, Raoul-Gabriel Urma, sat down with Daniel Hulme, Chief AI Officer at WPP and a globally recognised expert in artificial intelligence. Together, they explored what it really takes to build defensible AI systems and offered a refreshingly honest and insightful roadmap for leaders who want to harness AI with intention and impact.
Start Where It Matters: Use AI for Business Frictions
AI has incredible potential, but what will truly set your organisation apart isn’t just the technology itself; it’s how you build around it.
As AI for business becomes easier to access and implement, the organisations that thrive will be those that focus on solving real problems, not chasing hype.
As Daniel puts it, “List all of the frictions that you have in your business. Frictions from your front office, your supply chain, to back office frictions, to workforce frictions [... ] and then start knocking them off one by one.”
Look for inefficiencies. Where is time being wasted? Where are customers being let down? Where is value leaking through the cracks? These are your starting points. From there, apply the right solution, whether that’s automation, advanced analytics, or adaptive AI.
This is where defensibility begins: by building systems around the real, often overlooked problems that others haven’t yet solved.
The Three Pillars of Defensibility in the AI Era
While tools like generative AI have lowered the barrier to entry, sustainable advantage still requires depth. According to Daniel, defensibility in today’s landscape depends on three key pillars.
Proprietary Data
Data has now become much more than a resource. It’s a differentiator in a competitive market. “If you’ve got data that helps you understand how people perceive things, that’s more useful than your competitors, then you have an advantage,” Daniel explains.
At WPP, for example, this takes the form of Open Intelligence, a human behaviour model that draws on deep insights to help brands understand not just what people do but why they do it. That kind of proprietary intelligence is incredibly hard to replicate.
If your data is unique, high-quality, and tied directly to the real problems you’re solving, it becomes one of your most defensible assets.
Deep AI Talent
Another key pillar of defensibility is definitely having people on the team with real expertise and talent. Daniel sums it up perfectly: “If you want to build differentiated AI solutions, you need to have differentiated AI talent.”
That kind of capacity allows organisations to move beyond generic applications and toward tailored, high-impact systems that can evolve with the business. And in a competitive market, this expertise becomes one of your greatest assets.
Educated, Visionary Leadership Team
Finally, none of this matters if leadership isn’t aligned.
Daniels explains, “If leadership are kind of not placed in the right bets, if they don't understand about the transformational power of these technologies, if they're getting seduced by the hype, then they make the wrong decisions. And now is not the right time to be making wrong decisions.”
Great leadership in the AI space means more than greenlighting projects. It means cultivating a deep understanding of what AI can (and can’t) do and having the vision to invest in systems that create long-term value.
What You Should Do Next
We’re living through one of the most exciting shifts in technological history. If you want your organisation to move forward with clarity and purpose, here’s where to begin:
- Audit your business frictions - Look for real challenges, not just opportunities to experiment.
- Prioritise by impact - What would truly move the needle if solved?
- Solve with precision - Use the right tech for the right problem.
- Build proprietary intelligence - Data that’s unique to your business.
- Invest in real AI talent - People who understand both the tech and the context.
- Educate and align your leadership - Because strategic vision starts at the top.
And above all, stay grounded. Stay focused. AI for business will only get smarter, but so must we.
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