At Levi9, we love getting beyond the hype and into what actually works. In our latest panel, leaders from Flutist, Bizzdesign, Weaviate, and Nationale-Nederlanden compared notes on AI-assisted coding, developer culture, and where AI truly moves the needle for customers. Here are the highlights, with our take on what to do next.
AI in Practice: From Assisted Coding to Real Customer Value
TL;DR
- AI is shifting from experiments to everyday product features.
- Teams are learning thereâs no single toolâinstead, they mix assistants like GitHub Copilot, Amazon Q, and chat models.
- Juniors can now ship more, but seniors matter more than ever for guiding, reviewing, and setting standards.
- Cost savings plateau. The real upside is in new experiences and revenue growth.
- Trust is non-negotiable. In regulated industries, humans remain in the loop and governance comes first.
AI that customers actually feel
The conversation opened with a real example of AI already in customersâ hands. Flutist has launched flights and hotels within just seven months, already serving ten clients. The secret wasnât hype, it was using AI to solve small but painful customer moments, like turning unreadable airline rules into something clear and mobile-friendly.
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Latency turned out to be a dealbreaker: nobody waits 15 seconds for a response. The team solved it by showing the original instantly and offering the AI-polished version with a single tap. Itâs a pattern worth noting. AI succeeds when it feels natural in the flow, not bolted on.
Tools as âmini-coworkersâ
When the panel shifted to AI-assisted coding, everyone agreed: there is no âone tool to rule them all.â Developers combine GitHub Copilot, Amazon Q, and chat assistants, often cross-checking results across multiple tools. The metaphor that stuck was âAI tools as mini-coworkers.â
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But coworkers cost money. Licenses can run $150 a month with annual lock-ins. A few years ago, budgets would have shut that down. Today, leaders argued that giving teams freedom to experiment is essential. The trade-off is culture: make sure people feel safe to try tools, but also guide juniors on choosing wisely.
Rethinking juniors and seniors
AI is changing team dynamics. Juniors can now build systems that were impossible a year agoâbut they donât always understand what the AI has created. Seniors are still vital, not for writing every line, but for teaching, reviewing, and defining what âgoodâ looks like.
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One striking point: seniority is no longer just about technical mastery. True senior engineers are the ones who can manage up, explaining why something should be built, not just how. AI may speed the coding, but it doesnât replace the human conversations about business value.
From cost savings to growth
Several examples showed how AI is boosting productivity. Nationale-Nederlanden now auto-transcribes and summarizes customer calls, cutting wrap-up time from around seven minutes to just two. With a human still in the loop, quality has gone up too.
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But as one panelist pointed out: cost savings only take you so far. The bigger opportunity is in new services and experiences customers will pay for. AI isnât just about doing things faster; itâs about doing things you couldnât do before.
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This shift echoed a theme from the âexperience economyâ: people will pay more for a better experience, not just a faster one. The Starbucks latte costs ten times more than coffee beans for a reason. The same applies to digital products: a smoother, more trusted, more delightful experience creates growth.
Trust as the foundation
Trust was the undercurrent throughout the panel. In financial services, you canât roll out every new tool overnight. Compliance, regulation, and risk management shape whatâs possible. That doesnât mean doing nothing, it means moving in controlled steps, starting with internal productivity wins and carefully introducing AI into customer-facing flows.
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Interestingly, the conversation also touched on generational trust. For Gen Z, AI is already a âfriend.â They donât hesitate to pour their life stories into ChatGPT. That shift will redefine how much friction customers expect, or accept in future interactions.
Closing thoughts
The panel ended with three simple but powerful pieces of advice:
- Thereâs no easier, better time to build than now.
- Dream big, start small, validate often.
- Donât let AI hype push you off a cliffâalways ask why and how
At Levi9, we see this every day with our clients: AI isnât just about acceleration. Itâs about creating trust, building better experiences, and unlocking new revenue. The companies that treat AI as part of the product, not a sticker, are the ones already pulling ahead.
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