# AI in Production <small>Ashwin Bilgi</small> <small>*NEC Software Solutions — May 2026*</small> --- <small> **46%** of AI proof-of-concepts scrapped before production. <small>— S&P Global, 2025</small> <br> **6%** of companies fully trust AI agents for core processes. <small>— HBR, 2025</small> <br> **89%** observe. **32%** still blocked on quality. <small>— LangChain, 2026</small> </small> --- ## A letter <svg viewBox="0 0 900 140" style="width: 95%; max-width: 1000px; margin: 40px auto; display: block; color: currentColor;" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <g font-family="Source Sans Pro, Helvetica, sans-serif" font-size="32" fill="currentColor" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2"> <rect x="20" y="40" width="100" height="60" rx="8" fill="none"/> <text x="70" y="80" text-anchor="middle" stroke="none">A</text> <line x1="130" y1="70" x2="195" y2="70"/> <polygon points="195,64 207,70 195,76" stroke="none"/> <rect x="220" y="40" width="100" height="60" rx="8" fill="none"/> <text x="270" y="80" text-anchor="middle" stroke="none">B</text> <line x1="330" y1="70" x2="395" y2="70"/> <polygon points="395,64 407,70 395,76" stroke="none"/> <rect x="420" y="40" width="100" height="60" rx="8" fill="none"/> <text x="470" y="80" text-anchor="middle" stroke="none">C</text> <line x1="530" y1="70" x2="595" y2="70"/> <polygon points="595,64 607,70 595,76" stroke="none"/> <rect x="620" y="40" width="100" height="60" rx="8" fill="none"/> <text x="670" y="80" text-anchor="middle" stroke="none">D</text> <line x1="730" y1="70" x2="795" y2="70"/> <polygon points="795,64 807,70 795,76" stroke="none"/> <rect x="820" y="40" width="100" height="60" rx="8" fill="none"/> <text x="870" y="80" text-anchor="middle" stroke="none">E</text> </g> </svg> --- ## Lost <svg viewBox="0 0 900 140" style="width: 95%; max-width: 1000px; margin: 40px auto; display: block; color: currentColor;" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <g font-family="Source Sans Pro, Helvetica, sans-serif" font-size="32" fill="currentColor" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2"> <rect x="20" y="40" width="100" height="60" rx="8" fill="none"/> <text x="70" y="80" text-anchor="middle" stroke="none">A</text> <line x1="130" y1="70" x2="185" y2="70"/> <polygon points="185,64 197,70 185,76" stroke="none"/> <rect x="200" y="40" width="100" height="60" rx="8" fill="none"/> <text x="250" y="80" text-anchor="middle" stroke="none">B</text> <line x1="310" y1="70" x2="365" y2="70"/> <polygon points="365,64 377,70 365,76" stroke="none"/> <rect x="380" y="40" width="100" height="60" rx="8" fill="none"/> <text x="430" y="80" text-anchor="middle" stroke="none">C</text> <text x="515" y="82" text-anchor="middle" stroke="none" font-size="42">✗</text> <g opacity="0.25"> <rect x="555" y="40" width="100" height="60" rx="8" fill="none"/> <text x="605" y="80" text-anchor="middle" stroke="none">D</text> <line x1="665" y1="70" x2="720" y2="70"/> <polygon points="720,64 732,70 720,76" stroke="none"/> <rect x="735" y="40" width="100" height="60" rx="8" fill="none"/> <text x="785" y="80" text-anchor="middle" stroke="none">E</text> </g> </g> </svg> --- ## A copy at every hop <svg viewBox="0 0 900 200" style="width: 95%; max-width: 1000px; margin: 30px auto; display: block; color: currentColor;" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <g font-family="Source Sans Pro, Helvetica, sans-serif" font-size="32" fill="currentColor" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2"> <rect x="20" y="30" width="100" height="60" rx="8" fill="none"/> <text x="70" y="70" text-anchor="middle" stroke="none">A</text> <g opacity="0.6" stroke-width="1.5"> <rect x="45" y="115" width="50" height="60" rx="3" fill="none"/> <line x1="53" y1="128" x2="87" y2="128"/> <line x1="53" y1="142" x2="87" y2="142"/> <line x1="53" y1="156" x2="87" y2="156"/> </g> <line x1="130" y1="60" x2="185" y2="60"/> <polygon points="185,54 197,60 185,66" stroke="none"/> <rect x="200" y="30" width="100" height="60" rx="8" fill="none"/> <text x="250" y="70" text-anchor="middle" stroke="none">B</text> <g opacity="0.6" stroke-width="1.5"> <rect x="225" y="115" width="50" height="60" rx="3" fill="none"/> <line x1="233" y1="128" x2="267" y2="128"/> <line x1="233" y1="142" x2="267" y2="142"/> <line x1="233" y1="156" x2="267" y2="156"/> </g> <line x1="310" y1="60" x2="365" y2="60"/> <polygon points="365,54 377,60 365,66" stroke="none"/> <rect x="380" y="30" width="100" height="60" rx="8" fill="none"/> <text x="430" y="70" text-anchor="middle" stroke="none">C</text> <g opacity="0.6" stroke-width="1.5"> <rect x="405" y="115" width="50" height="60" rx="3" fill="none"/> <line x1="413" y1="128" x2="447" y2="128"/> <line x1="413" y1="142" x2="447" y2="142"/> <line x1="413" y1="156" x2="447" y2="156"/> </g> <line x1="490" y1="60" x2="545" y2="60"/> <polygon points="545,54 557,60 545,66" stroke="none"/> <rect x="560" y="30" width="100" height="60" rx="8" fill="none"/> <text x="610" y="70" text-anchor="middle" stroke="none">D</text> <g opacity="0.6" stroke-width="1.5"> <rect x="585" y="115" width="50" height="60" rx="3" fill="none"/> <line x1="593" y1="128" x2="627" y2="128"/> <line x1="593" y1="142" x2="627" y2="142"/> <line x1="593" y1="156" x2="627" y2="156"/> </g> <line x1="670" y1="60" x2="725" y2="60"/> <polygon points="725,54 737,60 725,66" stroke="none"/> <rect x="740" y="30" width="100" height="60" rx="8" fill="none"/> <text x="790" y="70" text-anchor="middle" stroke="none">E</text> <g opacity="0.6" stroke-width="1.5"> <rect x="765" y="115" width="50" height="60" rx="3" fill="none"/> <line x1="773" y1="128" x2="807" y2="128"/> <line x1="773" y1="142" x2="807" y2="142"/> <line x1="773" y1="156" x2="807" y2="156"/> </g> </g> </svg> --- ## Traditional code Gets **more predictable** in production. --- ## AI Gets **less predictable** in production. --- ## Our tools <small> Aggregates. Percentiles. Long-tail latencies. <br> Built for the first kind of system. </small> --- ## AI inverts it <small> One wrong answer can be the whole story. <br> Aggregates hide it. </small> --- ## And the input is lossy <small> Customers don't write prompts the way developers do. Especially on mobile. Especially on WhatsApp. </small> --- ## The one place AI works <small> Developers with coding agents. <br> The developer steers, retries, wants it to work. <br> Your customers won't. </small> --- ## Where the work is <small> Context engineering. Long-running agents. Tool curation. Human-in-the-loop, by design. </small> --- ## An infrastructure problem <small> The right context for the AI. The right moment for the human. Without overwhelming them. </small>