Brex’s AI Hail Mary — With CTO James Reggio (acquired for $5B by Capital One!) | Latent Space

Brex CTO James Reggio discusses Brex's AI transformation, focusing on a three-pillar AI strategy: corporate AI adoption, operational cost reduction, and product AI features. Brex embraces hiring ex-founders, offering them opportunities to solve interesting problems with instant distribution to a wide customer base. Reggio details Brex's engineering team structure, highlighting a separate AI team tasked with disrupting Brex from within. The conversation explores Brex's agent platform, including the LLM gateway, Mastro framework, and a multi-agent framework for an executive assistant-like experience for every employee. They also delve into internal agent applications for customer support, onboarding, and fraud detection, as well as the company's AI fluency framework for employees.

Outlines

Part 1: Strategy, Leadership, and Culture

Part 2: Team Structure and Engineering Culture

Part 3: Technical Infrastructure and Agent Frameworks

Part 4: Operational Implementation and Tooling

Part 5: Code Quality and the Evolving Role of Engineers

Part 6: Business Applications and Customer Onboarding

Part 7: Knowledge Grounding and Support Systems

Part 8: Evaluation, Safety, and AI Fluency

Part 9: Business Growth and Future Outlook

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Brex’s AI Hail Mary — With CTO James Reggio (acquired for $5B by Capital One!)

Latent Space

Part 1: Strategy, Leadership, and Culture

00:00Brex's Three-Pillar AI Strategy: Corporate, Operational, and Product AI

Brex's Three-Pillar AI Strategy: Corporate, Operational, and Product AI

00:50From Mobile Engineering to CTO: James Reggio's Journey and Founder Experience

From Mobile Engineering to CTO: James Reggio's Journey and Founder Experience

02:38Brex's "Quitters Welcome" Recruiting Strategy: Hiring Ex-Founders for Innovation

Brex's "Quitters Welcome" Recruiting Strategy: Hiring Ex-Founders for Innovation

Part 2: Team Structure and Engineering Culture

05:04Brex's Engineering Team Structure: Product Domains and AI Center of Excellence

Brex's Engineering Team Structure: Product Domains and AI Center of Excellence

06:50AI Adoption Across Brex: Uniform Usage and the Value of AI-Native Engineers

AI Adoption Across Brex: Uniform Usage and the Value of AI-Native Engineers

09:03Talent Density and Business Impact: Balancing AI Innovation with Revenue Generation

Talent Density and Business Impact: Balancing AI Innovation with Revenue Generation

Part 3: Technical Infrastructure and Agent Frameworks

11:13Brex's LLM Infrastructure: From Hand-Rolled Framework to Automated Customer Onboarding

Brex's LLM Infrastructure: From Hand-Rolled Framework to Automated Customer Onboarding

13:12Adopting Mastra: Accelerating Agentic Layer Development at Brex

Adopting Mastra: Accelerating Agentic Layer Development at Brex

15:26Brex's Multi-Agent Framework: Orchestrating Executive Assistants for Every Employee

Brex's Multi-Agent Framework: Orchestrating Executive Assistants for Every Employee

20:31Agent-to-Agent Communication: Multi-Turn Conversations for Complex Tasks

Agent-to-Agent Communication: Multi-Turn Conversations for Complex Tasks

Part 4: Operational Implementation and Tooling

22:44Defining Brex's AI Strategy: Corporate, Operational, and Product Pillars

Defining Brex's AI Strategy: Corporate, Operational, and Product Pillars

25:41Operational AI Impact: Automating Processes and Empowering Employees

Operational AI Impact: Automating Processes and Empowering Employees

28:30Conductor 1: Empowering Employees with Choice in AI Tooling

Conductor 1: Empowering Employees with Choice in AI Tooling

Part 5: Code Quality and the Evolving Role of Engineers

30:22Addressing Second-Order Effects: Rigor, Code Reviews, and Team Understanding

Addressing Second-Order Effects: Rigor, Code Reviews, and Team Understanding

32:53The Evolving Craft of Engineering: Balancing AI Assistance with Human Oversight

The Evolving Craft of Engineering: Balancing AI Assistance with Human Oversight

35:54Mentorship and Management: The Enduring Role of Senior Engineers

Mentorship and Management: The Enduring Role of Senior Engineers

37:01Explicit Rules and Agentic Code Review: Maintaining Code Quality with Creptile

Explicit Rules and Agentic Code Review: Maintaining Code Quality with Creptile

38:31TypeScript Stack and Code Review: Building a Brex Disruptor with Public Interfaces

TypeScript Stack and Code Review: Building a Brex Disruptor with Public Interfaces

Part 6: Business Applications and Customer Onboarding

40:26Reinforcement Learning vs. Web Research Agents: Lessons in Operational AI

Reinforcement Learning vs. Web Research Agents: Lessons in Operational AI

42:31Prioritizing AI Tasks: Customer Impact and Business Specificity

Prioritizing AI Tasks: Customer Impact and Business Specificity

44:13Expanding the Customer Profile: Automating Onboarding for Commercial Businesses

Expanding the Customer Profile: Automating Onboarding for Commercial Businesses

47:13Retool and the Brex Agent Platform: Empowering Operations with Low-Code Tools

Retool and the Brex Agent Platform: Empowering Operations with Low-Code Tools

Part 7: Knowledge Grounding and Support Systems

49:00Knowledge Base for Brex's Business: Grounding LLMs in Accurate Information

Knowledge Base for Brex's Business: Grounding LLMs in Accurate Information

51:13Leveraging Sierra: Streamlining Customer Support with Accessible Tools

Leveraging Sierra: Streamlining Customer Support with Accessible Tools

Part 8: Evaluation, Safety, and AI Fluency

53:12Evaluating Multi-Agent Networks: State-of-the-Art Techniques and Human Review

Evaluating Multi-Agent Networks: State-of-the-Art Techniques and Human Review

56:00User Simulations and Model Saturation: Tracking Future Capabilities

User Simulations and Model Saturation: Tracking Future Capabilities

57:03Preventing Hallucinations: System Prompts and Circuit Breakers

Preventing Hallucinations: System Prompts and Circuit Breakers

58:51AI Fluency Levels: Training and Culture for AI Adoption

AI Fluency Levels: Training and Culture for AI Adoption

Part 9: Business Growth and Future Outlook

1:03:33Headcount Planning and Efficiency: Leveraging AI for Business Growth

Headcount Planning and Efficiency: Leveraging AI for Business Growth

1:05:56Performance Management and AI: Separating Realness from Hype

Performance Management and AI: Separating Realness from Hype

1:07:24Call to Action: Multi-Agent Networks and Agent-to-Agent Interactions

Call to Action: Multi-Agent Networks and Agent-to-Agent Interactions

1:08:30Clarifying Multi-Agent Networks: Tree vs. Graph and the Audit Agent Use Case

Clarifying Multi-Agent Networks: Tree vs. Graph and the Audit Agent Use Case