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Chatbots Aren’t a Competitive Strategy — Alvarez & Marsal’s Dr. Michael Eiden on How Causal AI Unlocks ROI
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In this episode of Advising the Advisors: AI in Consulting Unlocked, host Bolu Ben-Adeola sits down with Dr. Michael Eiden, Managing Director at Alvarez & Marsal, to explore how consulting firms are evolving their AI practices beyond basic automation to deliver transformative value through sophisticated AI implementations and causal reasoning technologies.
What You’ll Learn:
- How to move beyond basic chatbots to create domain-specific AI solutions that deliver measurable business value
- Why traditional data architectures are limiting AI adoption
- The strategic advantage of coupling language models with knowledge graphs for domain-specific applications
- How causal AI models enable superior decision-making compared to traditional machine learning approaches
- Why data sovereignty and infrastructure modernization are critical for successful enterprise AI implementation
Dr. Michael Eiden is Managing Director at Alvarez & Marsal, where he leads their Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning practice. With vast experience in AI implementation and corporate transformation, he specializes in helping organizations adopt AI technologies effectively across their operations. As a leader of a 100-person digital team that has grown from inception over just three years, Dr. Eiden brings both technical expertise and practical operational experience to digital transformation initiatives. His work spans from advising major household brands to private equity portfolio companies, focusing on outcome-driven AI adoption and causal AI technologies.
Episode Highlights:
- [00:50] From Turnarounds to AI Transformation
To unlock real business value from AI, organizations must rethink their foundations, not just add new tools. Most companies still operate with fragmented data systems not built for an AI-first world. True transformation requires a shift to unified, governance-ready data architectures that break down silos and allow real-time insights across the business.
- [16:46] Why Causal AI Beats ChatGPT in Critical Decisions
Instead of relying on large language models, Dr. Eiden explains how casual models, built using expert insights and causal graphs, help teams map out complex problems before writing a single line of code. These models prioritize real-world domain knowledge, handle incomplete data more gracefully, and don't require massive computing power. While still a niche approach, they offer clear advantages in high-stakes scenarios where traceability, reasoning, and human decision-making matter most.
More Highlights from this Episode:
- [10:25] Beyond Generic Chatbots
- [19:42] Argumentative AI
If your business is investing in AI but struggling to see real impact, this episode is for you. Discover the hard lessons, the breakthroughs, and the strategies that separate AI success from failure.
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Episode Resources:
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