If you’re building your product on large language models, you are outsourcing control of your business—your data, your roadmap, and your long‑term defensibility—to companies whose incentives do not align with yours.

Ovetta Sampson is a tech industry leader who has spent more than a decade leading engineers, designers, and researchers across some of the most influential organizations in technology, including Google, Microsoft, IDEO, and Capital One. She has designed and delivered machine learning, artificial intelligence, and enterprise software systems across multiple industries, and in 2023 was named one of Business Insider’s Top 15 People in Enterprise Artificial Intelligence.

In 2025, Ovetta left her role as Director of AI and Compute Enablement at Google to found Right AI, a consultancy focused on helping organizations minimize the human, organizational, and strategic risks of building and deploying AI.

In this episode you'll learn about:

Why LLM‑first architectures undermine control and defensibility
How enterprise data is unintentionally exposed and reused
Where “responsible AI” breaks down in practice
When generative AI is the wrong tool
What safer, controllable AI systems look like instead

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For deeper, unfiltered thinking on AI strategy, governance, and product decisions, our Substack (https://designofai.substack.com) is the best place to follow our work. It’s where we go beyond the episodes—breaking down what’s actually changing, what’s overhyped, and what leaders should do next.

Ovetta’s work focuses on helping leaders, designers, and organizations reduce human and systemic risk in AI—without defaulting to hype-driven architectures or opaque models.

Follow Ovetta on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ovettasampson/
About Ovetta & her work: https://www.ovetta-sampson.com/
Join her mailing list: https://www.ovetta-sampson.com/mailing-list-qr-code
Right AI (consulting & advisory): https://www.rightainow.com/
Free Mindful AI Playbook (QR Code): https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Tzsr25r4o0g0Szz4oOSnUvrrrxAuXfhpqcB08KzdTyA/edit?usp=sharing

This is episode 49 and was hosted by Arpy Dragffy Guerrero. Follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/

The Design of AI podcast is brought to you by PH1, an AI strategy consultancy., PH1 has worked with the biggest corporations in tech to redefine CX in the era of AI through strategic research, prototyping, and aligning product to power.

49. AI Was Supposed to Help Humans. What Happened? [Ovetta Sampson]

Product Impact Podcast | Design of AI, UX, KPIs, Future of Work