113: Using AI Agents for Business: From Chatbots to Autonomous Workflows with Bryan McAnulty

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Summary

The biggest shift in AI may be moving from asking questions to assigning work. In this episode Chris sits down with Bryan McAnulty, founder and product director of Heights Platform and LatchLoop, to explore why leaders should approach AI as a worker assigned to tasks and projects rather than a chatbot producing one-time answers. Bryan explains how long-running agents can conduct research, analyze information, automate recurring work, and support teams without constant human supervision.

Chris and Bryan also unpack the operating model leaders need around context, permissions, approval gates, prompt injection, process ownership, and human judgment. Listen to learn how to begin with specialized agents, protect critical systems, and use expanded AI capacity to create better customer outcomes rather than simply reduce headcount.

Chapters

00:00 Episode Trailer
02:11 Meet Brian McAnulty: From Creator Platforms to AI Agents
06:36 New Chat vs. New Task: A Fundamental Shift in AI
12:08 Three Ways to Work with AI Agents
17:23 How AI Agents Actually Work Behind the Scenes
24:16 Security & Guardrails: Keeping AI Agents Safe
29:51 Will AI Agents Replace Jobs? A Better Question to Ask
33:30 Owning Your Processes: Why It Matters in the AI Era
38:06 What Is an Agent Harness? Explained
39:38 How Soon Is Too Soon to Deploy AI Agents?
43:24 Closing the Implementation Gap: Getting Started with Agents

🔎 Find Out More About Bryan McAnulty

Bryan McAnulty on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanmcanulty

LatchLoop: https://www.latchloop.com/

Heights Platform: https://www.heightsplatform.com/

The Creator’s Adventure Podcast: https://www.heightsplatform.com/the-creators-adventure

🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned:

ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/

ChatGPT Work: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001275/

OpenAI Codex: https://openai.com/codex/

OpenAI GPT-5.6: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001354-gpt-56-in-chatgpt

Claude: https://claude.ai/

Claude Code: https://www.anthropic.com/product/claude-code

Claude Cowork: https://www.anthropic.com/product/claude-cowork

Claude Tag: https://www.anthropic.com/news/introducing-claude-tag

Google Gemini: https://gemini.google.com/

OpenClaw: https://openclaw.ai/

Hermes Agent: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/

Model Context Protocol: https://modelcontextprotocol.io/

GitHub: https://github.com/

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