The FORT Podcast – Jason Baxter – Launching FostrAI – The Right Way to Use AI at Work

Listen on:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
YouTube

Topics

Episode Summary

Jason Baxter, CEO of Fostr AI, and co-founder of Fort joins Fort’s CEO Chris Powers for a wide-ranging conversation centered on the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence and its real-world impact on businesses, leadership, and operational models. With a deep understanding of organizational scale and strategic execution, Baxter provides perspective on how AI is influencing decision-making, efficiency, and long-term business sustainability. The discussion focuses on how leaders and companies should think about integrating AI into workflows to stay competitive in an environment that is changing faster than ever before.

The conversation begins by acknowledging the sheer speed of technological change driven by AI. Baxter emphasizes that the pace at which tools are improving is unlike any other technological advancement he has seen. This creates an environment where leaders must stay informed or risk becoming obsolete. He points out that the difference between companies who lean into AI and those who ignore it will continue to widen, with early adopters gaining a significant advantage. Baxter explains that AI is not just about replacing jobs but about enhancing human productivity and making better use of internal knowledge at scale.

Chris and Jason discuss how AI is starting to impact knowledge work, making it easier to extract value from massive amounts of information. Baxter explains that AI allows companies to operationalize institutional knowledge that previously existed in silos or in employees’ heads. This shift means that knowledge can now be accessed, queried, and built into repeatable systems, giving organizations a huge edge in consistency, training, and performance. He draws a distinction between companies that document and organize their internal systems and those that do not, arguing that the former are far more likely to benefit from AI tools.

One of the main takeaways is the idea that the future of work will increasingly revolve around prompt engineering and the ability to interface with AI tools effectively. Baxter explains that writing effective prompts is becoming a core skill and compares it to the early days of search engine optimization, where those who understood how to ask the right questions gained better results. He sees AI as a layer of leverage across every function in a business—whether it’s summarizing internal documents, analyzing large datasets, or accelerating content creation. The key, according to Baxter, is that leaders must be willing to reallocate time and resources around what AI can do versus what people used to do manually.

The conversation highlights the importance of speed in adoption. Baxter believes that early adopters of AI will be rewarded, while late movers may not be able to catch up. He emphasizes that many AI tools are already free or low-cost, removing any excuse not to try them. He mentions examples such as using AI to summarize meetings, generate documentation, or automate customer communication. These small efficiencies, when compounded across an organization, create a major strategic advantage. Baxter’s view is that the companies best positioned to succeed will be those who approach AI with curiosity, not fear.

Chris and Jason also examine the challenges of managing change inside organizations. Baxter discusses how leaders must both push innovation and give their teams the freedom to experiment. He points out that fear of getting left behind is motivating a lot of teams to take AI seriously, but that fear alone won’t build long-term capability. Instead, companies need structured approaches to experimentation, where team members are encouraged to test tools, share learnings, and develop playbooks that can scale across departments.

Another core part of the discussion is around decision-making in an AI-enhanced environment. Baxter argues that AI should be treated as an advisor—not a final decision-maker—but that it will increasingly reduce the time needed to get to a strong decision. By surfacing relevant data, summarizing insights, and suggesting alternatives, AI can dramatically improve the strategic quality of day-to-day decisions. He warns, however, that the technology is only as effective as the person using it. Poor prompts, lack of context, and bad data will lead to poor outputs, so education and ongoing training are critical.

The role of leadership is also explored in the context of AI integration. Baxter explains that executives must lead by example, actively using tools and showing teams that AI is a core part of how the business operates. Passive endorsement is not enough—leaders must create internal momentum and carve out space for experimentation. They also need to be clear about what success looks like and avoid overhyping capabilities. While AI is powerful, it is not magic, and getting long-term results requires structure, iteration, and discipline.

The conversation ends with reflections on how businesses can future-proof themselves. Baxter stresses the importance of building internal systems that are well-documented, repeatable, and digital-first. Companies that invest in infrastructure now—whether it’s content libraries, APIs, or databases—will be much more capable of plugging into whatever AI tools come next. He sees the future as one where most organizations operate in blended environments, where AI handles the heavy lifting and humans focus on context, creativity, and critical thinking.

Throughout the episode, the recurring message is that AI is not a trend—it’s a foundational shift. Companies that embrace this shift with urgency and clarity will unlock significant competitive advantages, while those that ignore it will fall behind. Baxter makes it clear that success in the AI era will depend less on what tools a company chooses and more on how fast and consistently they integrate those tools into everyday processes. For leaders, this means rethinking roles, retraining teams, and reimagining what productivity looks like in a world where AI is part of every workflow.

The FORT is produced by Johnny Podcasts