Bring AI into your company without losing what makes it yours.
Practical, honest sessions on using AI well — the ethics your clients expect and the culture your people want to keep. Delivered in person anywhere in the U.S., or live online.
One tailored session · No software pitch · Leadership teams or the whole company
Your company is already using AI. The only question is how.
The unwritten rules
Your people are already pasting work into chatbots and shipping AI-assisted output — quietly, without guidance, because no one has said out loud what's okay and what isn't.
Hidden use, real penalty
Microsoft and LinkedIn found employees widely use AI but often hide it on important work, afraid of looking replaceable — and Duke researchers found colleagues really do judge visible AI users as lazier and less competent. That tension doesn't resolve itself.
Sincerity is measurable
A University of Florida study found barely half of employees saw their manager as sincere when a message leaned heavily on AI — versus 83% when the words were mostly human. Trust erodes one AI-written message at a time.
Working Smarter with AI: Practical, Responsible, Real.
One talk, three words — written for and first delivered to my own coworkers, not the conference circuit. No hype, no doom, no vendor slides. Four movements, tailored to your industry and the tools your teams actually use.
Real
What AI actually is — and where it breaks
AI is a super-powered autocomplete: it predicts, it doesn't know. Through real stories — the lawyer who filed AI-invented court citations, the home-pricing model that missed by hundreds of millions — your team sees why confident answers can be completely made up, and the three biases that make AI wrong in ways people don't expect.
Responsible
A culture where AI reflects effort, not replaces it
AI doesn't hide low effort — it amplifies it. We get honest about AI slop, the difference between acting like an owner and going through the motions, and why the fix is calibration, not shame: being clear about when AI was used, drafting first, and never outsourcing the messages people need to feel.
Real
Keeping your people valuable
AI doesn't make you know what you don't know. We walk the Dunning-Kruger curve and why offloading your learning to AI parks you at the peak of “Mt. Stupid” — while the people who keep growing stay able to validate AI's answers and remain the ones everyone turns to.
Practical
Using it tomorrow morning — safely
Three ways to use AI well: sharpen your own thinking, pressure-test your questions before bringing them to a person, and clear the mind-numbing work. Plus hard guardrails — what never to paste into public AI tools, and the short list of decisions you should never hand to AI alone.
In person or online — whatever fits your team.
The all-hands talk
45–60 minutes + open Q&A
The whole company in one room or on one call. Best for building a shared, honest vocabulary about AI and resetting the conversation across teams.
In person or online
The leadership workshop
Half day, leadership team
Your real workflows, your real risks, and honest debate — with the first draft of your company's AI guardrails on the whiteboard by the end.
Best in person
The lunch-and-learn
60 minutes, online
A relaxed hour over Zoom, Teams, or Meet — live demonstrations, straight answers, and open Q&A. The lightest way to start the conversation.
Online
Every session is built for your company — before I speak, we'll have a short call about your industry, your tools, and what's on leadership's mind. I come to you anywhere in the U.S., or run it live on Zoom, Teams, or Meet.
A technologist who ships AI — and a speaker who cares about people.
I'm Elijah Desent. I build with AI for a living — production systems real organizations rely on every day: AI assistants that let non-technical people safely edit live websites, AI-powered auditing tools, and integrations published on the official Model Context Protocol registry. I know what this technology can do because I ship it, not because I read about it.
But the technology is only half of it. I've spent years teaching and leading rooms of very different people — helping them stay honest with each other and navigate change without losing what holds them together. Which, it turns out, is the actual problem inside AI adoption — it was never just a technology problem.
That combination is why companies bring me in: someone technical enough to demo the real thing and take hard questions, and human enough to talk about fear, trust, and culture without the corporate-training script.
- A shared, honest vocabulary about AI across your whole team
- The working draft of AI guardrails fitted to your company
- Straight answers to your team's hardest questions, live
- An open line for the questions that come up after I leave
The things companies ask first.
What does a session cost?
A flat rate quoted up front, based on the format and travel. No packages, no retainers, no upsells — you'll know the full number before you commit to anything.
Do you do this in person or online?
Both. I travel to you for keynotes and workshops, and I run the same sessions live over Zoom, Teams, or Meet when a distributed team or a tight timeline makes that easier.
Do our people need to be technical?
No. Every session is built for a mixed room — engineers to the front office. Technical folks get depth in the Q&A; everyone else gets clarity without jargon.
Is this a sales pitch for AI software?
No. I don't sell software, implementation services, or a consulting retainer. The session is the product — your team leaves with judgment and guardrails, not a vendor relationship.
Which industries do you work with?
Any company where trust matters — professional services, agencies, manufacturing, healthcare, nonprofits. The principles hold everywhere; the examples and live demos are tailored to your work on our intake call.
How is the session tailored to us?
Before I speak, we have a short call about your industry, the tools your teams already use, and what's worrying leadership. The talk your people hear is about your company, not a generic deck.
We handle sensitive data. Can you cover that?
Yes — data safety is a core segment of the talk: what should never be pasted into public AI tools, how to lean on company-approved AI instead, and the habit that prevents most incidents — when in doubt, ask before you paste. Examples are fitted to your compliance reality, whether that's HIPAA, client confidentiality, or trade secrets.
How big can the audience be?
A leadership table of eight or an all-hands of hundreds — the talk flexes. For workshops I keep the room small enough for real debate.
Give your team clarity before the confusion gets expensive.
Tell me a little about your company and I'll reply within a day. We'll start with a short call — no commitment — and I'll quote a flat rate for the format that fits.