Stephen McBride's Portfolio

Agentic AI and Human Intervention Artificial intelligence has revolutionized the B2B landscape, accelerating deal closures, ticket resolutions, and quote deliveries from days to hours. These efficiency gains are incredible, yet B2B buyers crave more than speed—they want partners who understand their needs, anticipate challenges, and guide with confidence, remaining engaged post-sale to build trust. Agentic AI, aligned with The CX Curve framework, fulfills this vision. Unlike traditional automation, which reacts to triggers, Agentic AI proactively manages accounts, predicting needs and acting on them. Its strength shines through collaboration with humans, blending AI’s precision and scalability with human empathy and relationship-building to create a trust-driven CX. Why We Really Need Both Agentic AI and Human Intervention The partnership of Agentic AI and human intervention is vital for optimal B2B CX. AI excels at analyzing data and executing tasks—like scheduling server maintenance ...

  AI’s Illusion and The Eliza Effect Stephen McBride The Betrayal of Our Own Brain You tell yourself it’s only a program—lines of code strung together by software developers. Then it answers you—thoughtful, empathetic, even playful—and something ancient stirs.  Not processed in your logical, analytical mind, but in the deep, social wiring that has kept humans alive for millennia. For hundreds of thousands of years, that part of your brain scanned faces for trust, tracked micro-expressions for danger, and longed for belonging. Your reasoning mind knows it’s a machine; a lifeless, but incredible tool.  But, your social brain—fast, instinctive, emotional— reacts as if there really is someone on the other side. You laugh at its joke, feel soothed by its reassurance, and in that quiet moment, the line between human and machine blurs. This is the Eliza Effect , and it was discovered long before what AI is becoming today. The Birth of the Illus i on– The Eliza Effect  In ...