June 22, 2025 • 27 mins
Welcome to episode 33 of the Designing with Love podcast! In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Naveen Krishnan, an expert in the AI technology and cloud computing field.
What does the future of work look like when AI becomes your daily assistant? Microsoft AI Solutions Architect Naveen Krishnan offers a compelling glimpse into this reality, sharing how artificial intelligence already handles 30-40% of his daily tasks—and why that percentage will likely reach 70-80% soon.
Naveen's 16-year journey from electronics engineering in India to his current specialized AI role at Microsoft provides valuable context for understanding how rapidly technology careers can evolve. After working with global companies like PepsiCo, JP Morgan Chase, and Capital One, he joined Microsoft in 2021, initially as a Cloud Architect before diving deep into artificial intelligence. His passion for continuous learning—encapsulated in his philosophy that "what I know is just 1% and what I don't know is 99%"—has driven him to write technical blogs, develop AI applications, and even author a comprehensive 350-page book on AI fundamentals and applications.
For instructional designers and educators, Naveen offers practical advice: experiment with AI tools across all aspects of your work now, while the technology is still evolving. He encourages approaching repetitive or time-consuming tasks with the question: "Is there an AI tool that could help me do this more efficiently?" This mindset, combined with staying current on industry developments, positions professionals to thrive in an increasingly AI-enhanced workplace.
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Naveen's Technical Blog on Medium
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jackie Pelegrin (00:01):
Hello and welcome to the Designing with
Love podcast.
I am your host, Jackie Pelegrin, where my goal is to bring you
information, tips and tricks asan instructional designer.
Hello, GCU students, alumni andeducators, welcome to episode
33 of the Designing with Lovepodcast.
Today, I have the pleasure ofinterviewing Naveen Krishnan, an
(00:21):
expert in the informationtechnology field at Microsoft.
Welcome.
I have the pleasure ofinterviewing Naveen Krishnan, an
expert in the informationtechnology field at Microsoft.
Welcome, Naveen.
Naveen Kirshnan (00:29):
Hey, jackie, nice meeting you and your team
of podcast, so I'm very glad tosee you all and your audience
and looking forward to see whatyou have for me.
Jackie Pelegrin (00:42):
Great, thank you, thank you.
So can you tell us a little bitabout yourself, maybe
personally and professionally,definitely.
Naveen Kirshnan (00:50):
So I started my career 15, 16 years back and I
started back in India and Iworked for a small.
I completed my engineering inelectronics and communication
and then I went into a one-yearrigorous course learning all IT
systems and programming skillsand things like that.
(01:15):
So after getting that knowledge, I joined a small startup
company back in India and Iworked there for a year.
We were developing some HRsystems and then I moved on to a
product-based company so that'san account payable process.
So I stayed there for aroundtwo, three years maybe, and
after that I joined a consultingfirm where my customers are
(01:40):
UK-based.
I worked for Ricoh and I workedfor PepsiCo, uk based.
I work for rico and I work forpepsico, and then I work for
jpmc, capitol one, morganshanley and delanco so many
other customers.
So that's where uh, that's whatmy journey with uh, that
consulting company.
I shared that for around nineyears and then in between I
(02:00):
moved to US in 2015.
Since 2015, I landed in Dallas,texas, and I'm here still, and
I joined Microsoft in 2021,maybe I'm here for the last
three years now.
Yeah, I do a lot of.
I joined as a cloud architectand then I got myself interested
(02:21):
into AI and now I'm here as asolutions architect specialized
in AI space.
Jackie Pelegrin (02:26):
Wow, that's great.
You've had quite a journey andnow you've been here in the
United States for 10 years, sothat's exciting.
Wow.
And so you've been at Microsoftthree years.
Wow, that's great.
So you're really seeing AI takeoff and things like that.
So how did you becomeinterested?
Did this position at Microsoftjust kind of did it land on your
(02:47):
lap in a sense, or were youlooking, or how did that?
Naveen Kirshnan (02:50):
come about.
No, so my initial days when Iwas with a consulting firm, I
worked for several customers andthen we did a lot of cloud
migration-related work and thathelped me get into Microsoft and
the main reason is I was at thecenter of excellence there and
the center of excellence teamand I managed a complete azure
(03:14):
and I was the first one to getcertified as a cloud solutions
architect at my consultingcompany and yeah that.
So customer sizes are like veryhuge.
So at some point we designmigration of 800 apps and we
design migrations or were-architect, re-factor.
(03:34):
I worked on all three or fourhours basically restructuring,
re-architecting, re-factoringand things like that.
So these things helped me getthrough Microsoft very quick.
So that was not easy.
A lot of preparation became thescenes and slowly I landed here.
And after getting into thisrole, I still continue to be as
(03:57):
a cloud engineer.
And after a year or two maybe,I got myself into AI.
That's when AI emerged.
I won't say AI emerged, butthat's when the generative AI
stuff came out, and then AIbecame a talk.
And I started learning a lot ofthings around AI.
(04:18):
I went back and then I did alot of courses around machine
learning and deep learning andwhatnot Right so?
And I got myself into data aswell.
So in parallel I worked on dataas well as AI, so that made me
very easy to land here safe, andso for the last one year I went
(04:39):
to AI completely.
So For the last one year I'vebeen doing AI completely
Designing AI applications,helping to build AI solutions,
identifying AI use cases andwhatnot Everything about AI.
I'm writing research papers onAI.
I write my own technical blogson AI completely AI.
(04:59):
I do AI podcasts.
Yeah, I almost think I'mcovering everything.
Jackie Pelegrin (05:07):
So you're immersed in the AI technology
generative AI and all of thatand the chatbots and how that
can help all the differentindustries.
Because as I read your profile,I was like, wow, this is
amazing.
So that's so cool.
So what's one of the mostexciting projects you've worked
on at Microsoft where you'veutilized AI technology to create
(05:28):
personalized learningexperiences, maybe for students
or for even learners in general?
Naveen Kirshnan (05:33):
Yeah, sure, so I can talk in general, basically
.
So there is one other goodexample which my colleague in UK
is working on, so maybe I'lltalk about that, so that will be
more interesting.
So, for example, what they aredoing is they are using agents
AI agents, basically tocompletely monitor their cloud
(05:56):
infrastructure.
So, for example, as we work onIT systems right, so these
systems are meant to run 24 per7.
So there is no risk for my appsor my data or whatever.
It is right.
So there are problems.
Sometimes you see issues atmidnight and sometimes your
application crashes or yourdatabase goes down or things
(06:19):
like that.
So you have to get into a callFirst, you have to troubleshoot
where the problem is and thentry to fix those things.
So that takes several hours,basically, and there is no
proactive approach yet.
So, with this help of AI agentimplementation, they are
automating these end-to-endsystems so agents can identify
proactively, based on theprevious knowledge or data,
(06:43):
whatever it has got.
So it identifies the problemand proactively senses it and
then it tries to remediate byitself with all the list of
instructions, what we haveprovided and the level of
control, what it can do,basically, and so once it fixes.
It keeps human in loop.
So it will just alert someone,like there is something happened
(07:06):
and then they fixed it.
And if it couldn't, then itwill give you the list of steps,
what you can perform, whichagent doesn't have control to,
and then pick you up in thenight and then it will just
consult with you whether shouldI take this recommendation and
what are the plus and minus if Ido this.
(07:26):
So, if you just agree, it'sgoing to perform this task for
you.
So that's the level ofautomation with agents, what
they are planning on.
It's a very interestingsolution.
It may be a very simple usecase, but if this gets succeeded
in one enterprise, then severalof those enterprises may even
follow this same thing.
(07:47):
So this is one interesting usecase, what I recently got from
my friend, and apart from that,you can use AI in any of these
wherever you can.
First, you can think ofincreasing it, increasing the
customer experience, maybe.
So, for example, I call my cellphone provider, or there is an
(08:07):
effort provider, my entrant isdown and I call them and I have
to wait for like around 30minutes to get a technician on
my call, because the technicianis working on the things that
are like a Q&A type of questions.
For example, they are loadedwith 300 calls at a time and
there are only 80 techniciansout there and out of 300 calls
(08:32):
maybe 200 are just FAQs.
So you can just repeat based onthe knowledge base.
So those types of things heavylifting can be handled by AI so
that other cases, other problemswhich are really valid, so that
can be put into a techniciandirectly.
So these types of things whereyou can start with basically we
(08:53):
call it as the AI bot or AI chatbot, anything like that where
you can chat with AI and thensee if this is an existing
problem or a known solution,then AI can fix it for you and
if not, it will escalate it to anext level.
So you can start there.
And with agents, you haveautomated tasks so we can
automate your task basically.
(09:14):
So day-to-day tasks for example, I come in and then I read my
emails and I, I I kind of figureout how my day is going to be
and then I do a lot of analysison my meetings and what to talk
and whatnot.
So those types of preparations,they can help them, they can
help you and apart from that, itcan help write your emails and
if you have office respect, uh,all your office 365 is now
(09:37):
embedded with Copilot and if youhave those capabilities, then
it can draft your emails as well.
So you don't have to wait, sit,spend an hour to draft those
notes.
So these are the capabilities,or what I am seeing, and if you
are a hard core developer, youcan make yourself hit up Copilot
.
So at least in a IT day to daywork, in 30 to 40 percent of my
(10:02):
work is now closely with AI.
So basically, this 30-40% of mywork, ai is my assistant.
So that is sitting next to meand then it is assisting for
framing emails.
If I miss a meeting, it gets mysummarization and whatnot.
So it's going to evolve soonand then close to 70, 80% of
(10:25):
your day on what you do, a isgoing to be your assistant for
those tasks.
So this is what I see basically.
Maybe it's a lengthy answer,but I think I covered all the
pieces.
Jackie Pelegrin (10:36):
Yeah, that's great.
So you're really seeing that AIis becoming that assistant and
coming alongside people, right,so that they can take those, as
some people call them, mundanetasks, those everyday tasks like
writing an email and making itto where it's simpler.
And there can be thoseautomated tasks, right, that AI
can do.
(10:56):
So I love that.
I like that idea, too, of thechat bot.
I know I've interacted withsome chat bots on some websites
where it'll help you to see,okay, is this something that's
more general that the AI chatbot can help you solve?
And then, like you said, if itis something more complicated,
then it can go to a live agentand they can help them with it.
(11:17):
So it helps to eliminate that alot of that busy work for them.
Probably, so that it it helpsto eliminate that, uh, a lot of
that uh busy work for them,probably so that they don't have
to take calls that they don'tnecessarily need to take, and
then it frees up some of thattime as well.
Wow, that's amazing.
I love that, yeah, cause I usedto work in a call.
I used to work in a couple ofcall centers before I worked at
(11:37):
um, at Discover Card, which ispart of Morgan Stanley and I
worked in a call center there inthe early 2000s and then that
was when we were migratingcomputer systems.
So I just think of wow, if AIwas around, then it would have
been amazing to have all of that.
And then I also worked forVanguard, which is a financial
(11:58):
institution, so it would havebeen pretty amazing to have all
of that, instead of having allthese calls come in of general
questions where they could havegone to the website right and
found that information.
So that's great.
Wow.
So you're really seeing thefuture of AI, it's really
expanding, and that's amazing.
(12:20):
Wow, that's wonderful.
So it sounds like you're evenin a leadership role and what
you do too, because you'rehelping to lead these projects,
and so there are different typesof styles and skills that you
find helpful in your daily workthere at Microsoft that you
think are really helpful,especially in this type of work
you do.
Naveen Kirshnan (12:39):
Yeah, so usually I don't follow something
standard or a specific style,but what I do is I kind of take
every opportunity and see how wecan be better or good at it.
So every chance what you get islearning.
So I always have this mindsetof what I know is just 1% and
(13:04):
what I don't know is 99%.
So that always keeps youlearning and I don't myself.
I don't think that I knoweverything, so I still don't
know anything.
So I will keep on hunting andthen spend most of my time
learning and helping others whoare learning, basically so
writing some technical blogs andI'm in fact, writing a book on
(13:28):
AI.
So it is just covers everything,basically so who is just from a
different field and then wantedto jump into this and wanted to
know more about AI and how itevolved and what is machine
learning, what is deep learningand what is neural networks and
what is this right?
So it kind of covers everythingand what is agent and what is
(13:51):
the multi-agent system and howdo you design that.
So it covers end to end.
So that book is around.
It's getting what you say.
The publisher is actuallyworking on it.
Once it is out, maybe that willhelp you land in English.
I took that opportunity andafter I wrote around 30-40
(14:12):
blocks then I kind of thought,okay, what's next?
Then I jumped into it and Istarted writing my own book.
Jackie Pelegrin (14:19):
Wow, that's wonderful.
Naveen Kirshnan (14:21):
This is of making every opportunity for you
to grow and evolve.
So that's what I do.
Jackie Pelegrin (14:34):
It's like a continuous learning culture.
Right, you're constantlylearning because technology is
always changing.
I was talking to someoneearlier about that and we yeah,
those emerging technologies areyeah it's amazing that interest.
Naveen Kirshnan (14:48):
So as soon as you see something new out there,
I would say you go try it andthen see what's what's in there
and then what it can do, so thathaving that knowledge will
definitely help you, help you aswell as help others when you
share those learnings.
So that's one thing, what I do,and apart from that I do a lot
(15:12):
of hands on work.
So I develop applications, Idevelop code, and then if there
is something which I canautomate physically, then I'll
try to.
I even try to create some games.
Is something which I canautomate physically, then I'll
try to.
I even try to create some gamesfor me which I am interested on
.
So it keeps going.
So, yeah, that's how.
If you, if you are interestedand then if you are eager to do
more, then don't hesitate.
(15:34):
So this is the right time foryou to, because it's just
evolved right.
So we just crossed only twoyears of this uh a channel.
So if, if you start uh gettinguh the grasp of it, then it's
like computer, like how you getit got into a computer before
when it started, right.
So those who don't know how touse computers, so they are now
(15:57):
struggling to get into it andstart using all their apps and
everything.
It's a similar thing.
So if you try to stay out of it, then you are not going to be
part of this and then enjoy thedevelopments, for what will be
happening around you.
Jackie Pelegrin (16:18):
Wow, that's exciting.
So when are you planning to?
Naveen Kirshnan (16:31):
release your book.
Is it going to be coming outsoon?
Got pulled into several otherthings and then I tried to
complete it in spring and it'snot possible.
And finally, for this summer Ihave completed and now it's
waiting for this peer review andthings like that.
So once it's all complete,maybe it will be out in two
(16:52):
months, maybe.
Jackie Pelegrin (16:53):
That's good.
Wow, so you got it to where youneed it.
Now it's going through peerreview.
That's great, wonderful.
Naveen Kirshnan (16:59):
Yeah, it's a 300-page book, so 350-page book.
So it's not easy to get it to agood place and then take it to
market.
It takes its own time to.
Jackie Pelegrin (17:11):
That's exciting , wow.
Maybe once you get it releasedyou can come back on the podcast
and kind of talk a little bitthrough some of the elements,
yeah, and then we can focus onthe AI technology and by then,
you know, it'll be kind of neatto see how things like you know,
because you know most companieshave Microsoft already built in
, microsoft already built in.
So we're at first, when we hadMicrosoft and where I work at
(17:34):
our company, the copilot wasdisabled.
But now they've got copilotenabled and I'm seeing it
embedded in everything.
So it's really neat to see thatit's in Outlook and it's in
Word and all of that.
So it's pretty neat to see thatit's there and it's a good
assistant, because we do have aninternal tool.
(17:55):
But they say that Copilot issafe to use within the
organization as well.
So it's nice to know that wehave options and that we don't
have to use an external toolthat potentially could have
proprietary information thatcould get out there, because we
don't want that.
So it's great to have Copilotembedded into all of Microsoft
now.
So it's great.
Naveen Kirshnan (18:16):
You can also do it in the work mode, so that if
you need to know about anypolicy information whether what
is my insurance plan and thingslike that you can ask it.
So it will be within yourcompany.
So instead of waiting for HR torespond back and that takes a
day and instead of that I use itif I need to know some policy
information of whether I canshare this or not and what, so
(18:39):
you can get all this from thework mode.
Jackie Pelegrin (18:43):
Oh, wow, that's good to know.
Wow, I love that it's.
Naveen Kirshnan (18:46):
M365 for pilots and we can just install it and
make this office so that isintegrated with your complete
Office 365 ecosystem.
So spreadsheets, sharepoints,excel, word.
Solve it and make this so thatis integrated with your complete
office system.
So spreadsheets, sharepoints,excel, words and your enterprise
data which you have access to.
Basically, what it uses is onbehalf of access, so, which
(19:10):
means whatever access you have,it takes that level of access
and then it go find data whichis related to you and which is
accessible.
Jackie Pelegrin (19:18):
Oh, wow, that's one thing.
That's amazing.
I love that.
Wow, I'll have to pass that onbecause I know our IT.
They check, you know, all thedifferent systems and internally
and as things get released out.
So yeah, so I'll have to lookinto that.
And Microsoft recently wentthrough an update I think it was
Friday, so yesterday.
(19:40):
So I'll have to check into that, yeah definitely.
Yeah, that's great.
So, as you know, my studentsare mostly instructional design
students, but I also have noviceinstructional designers.
I have listeners from all overthe world, which I never
expected with this podcast, butso there's.
Are there any tips and adviceyou can share with those who are
(20:00):
currently in the master'sprogram and instructional design
at Grand Canyon University thatmaybe are thinking of utilizing
AI technology or they're notsure where to start when it
comes to learning and and andthose types of areas?
Naveen Kirshnan (20:14):
Yeah, sure.
So what I would say is it'sbetter to try AI in all aspects
of what you are doing.
So because the future for nexttwo, three years it's completely
going to be AI and you will seea lot of developments around AI
, a lot of things happeningaround AI, and so this is the
right time for you to grasp andthen learn stuff, what's out
(20:38):
there, and make use of all thetools.
There are plenty of tools that'savailable out there.
So make use of all the toolsfor whatever you're doing and if
you're making designing right.
So, for example, I see I don'tremember the name so there's a
website called Napkin AI, Ithink so.
So you just fill in your textcontent, it can update an image
(21:01):
for you, design for you, whatnot?
So there are several tools andthings that's available.
Make use of all the tools.
So, whenever you get stucksomewhere and then you're doing
some tedious job like it takesfive days or ten days then first
thing that comes to my mindcomes to your mind is whether
can I leverage it?
Is there any tools that'sreadily available which can do
(21:22):
all this instead of me doing itmanually?
So ask this question every timewhen you get into such a
difficult task or anything.
So there are plenty of toolsavailable.
Only thing is you want toexplore something and then
figure out which tool fits bestfor you for all your needs.
Make use of those tools,liberate them as and when needed
(21:44):
and keep yourself updated onall the trends that's happening
and new innovation that's comingout.
Just watch and eye on it andfollow people who are at C
levels on all these bigcompanies so that you know what
is coming out, so which featureor what development is happening
(22:08):
around there.
So follow them and then readthem, read what they have been,
so keep yourself updated.
So keep yourself updated.
So that's a recommendation,what I would say at this time.
Jackie Pelegrin (22:18):
Right, that's great.
Yeah, just keeping yourself upto date on the technology and
knowing what's out there, right,that's that's great.
Yeah, because there aredefinitely, I agree, a lot of
tools out there and it's hardsometimes for us to know what's,
what's going to be a good tooland not, um, but you know, even
maybe, like you were kind ofmentioning, kind of
experimenting right with thosetools and seeing will it work or
(22:40):
will it not, because you don'tknow right until you try it and
see how it's going to work and Iyeah, I've done that before,
I've tried something, and I'mlike I don't know, but it seems
like the text to image isgetting better than what it used
to be.
It used to be where I had somestudents do that and it was so
obvious that it was an AI image.
I was like, wow, the handsdon't look right on the person
(23:01):
and the eyes look off.
But now it seems like it's muchbetter.
Naveen Kirshnan (23:05):
I had another student that did that.
Yeah, it's far better now.
Yeah, it's good, I love it.
Jackie Pelegrin (23:16):
So I use that for my book session.
So okay, so check that out,that's cool.
Yeah, I had a student that usedum, adobe um for hers and she
did a presentation and all ofthe images were ai generated
images and I was like, wow, theylook so realistic.
I'm like that's, that's amazing, it's come.
It's come a long way.
I think they keep improving thetechnology and even with the
machine learning right and theAI generation and how it's able
(23:38):
to kind of pick up on your toneand your style of how you're
doing things I've noticed thatwith chat, gpt it's gotten
better Copilot's gotten betterwith that and recognizing that,
okay, this is the tone that youwant and I can kind of pick up
on that.
And then you don't have to tellit so many things or ask it so
many things, that what you need,it can really pick up on that
(23:58):
tone and that that voice thatyou're looking for as well.
So it's really great and havingthat conversation with the AI
and no, this isn't quite right,this is where I wanted to go.
And then it can shift and itcan say, okay, I'm sorry, I was
wrong, let me change it.
So it's kind of neat how it cando that.
Yeah that's great, wonderful.
Thank you, naveen.
(24:19):
Is there any other thoughts orideas you'd like to share before
we wrap up?
Naveen Kirshnan (24:24):
So what I would say is follow me on LinkedIn,
so it's N-A-V-I-N-T-K-R, sothat's my LinkedIn handle, and
so that's my LinkedIn handle,and that's my GitHub handle as
well.
And if you wanted to read myblogs, then I would say AI with
Navin Krishnan.
I write on mediumcom, and ifyou wanted just one spot that
(24:44):
you wanted to know all about meand what I'm doing is my website
, so it's navinkrishnanai.
So I have all my podcasts there, all my blogs there.
I have wherever.
If there is a, if there is atalk which I'm being one of my
presenter or anything, I'llupdate it so you can always
(25:09):
follow me there as well.
Jackie Pelegrin (25:10):
Great, wonderful.
I'll make sure to put thoselinks in the show notes for
everybody so that way all of mylisteners can can go there.
It's really nice to have thoseshow notes there, so I'll make
sure to link that in there andthen when this podcast gets
released, then I'll give you thelink to that and then that way
you can have that as part ofyour your library and your
collection as well.
So it's always good to sharethat knowledge across the board.
(25:32):
So that's great.
I'll make sure to do that aswell.
Great, well, thank you so much,naveen.
I appreciate all your expertiseand your insight into AI
technology and how it's changingacross all industries in
healthcare, education, finance,everything.
It's touching all industries,so it's great to have you on and
(25:53):
to talk about how things areevolving and changing.
Naveen Kirshnan (25:56):
I appreciate it Same here, Chakri.
Thank you very much.
Thank you Glad to meet you andyour audience.
We'll stay in touch, thank you.
Jackie Pelegrin (26:03):
Thank you Appreciate it.
Thank you for taking some timeto listen to this podcast
episode today.
Your support means the world tome.
If you'd like to help keep thepodcast going, you can share it
with a friend or colleague,leave a heartfelt review or
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Every act of support, big orsmall, makes a difference and
(26:25):
I'm truly thankful for you.
Hello and welcome to the Designing with
Love podcast.
I am your host, Jackie Pelegrin, where my goal is to bring you
information, tips and tricks asan instructional designer.
Hello, GCU students, alumni andeducators, welcome to episode
33 of the Designing with Lovepodcast.
Today, I have the pleasure ofinterviewing Naveen Krishnan, an
(00:21):
expert in the informationtechnology field at Microsoft.
Welcome.
I have the pleasure ofinterviewing Naveen Krishnan, an
expert in the informationtechnology field at Microsoft.
Welcome, Naveen.
Naveen Kirshnan (00:29):
Hey, jackie, nice meeting you and your team
of podcast, so I'm very glad tosee you all and your audience
and looking forward to see whatyou have for me.
Jackie Pelegrin (00:42):
Great, thank you, thank you.
So can you tell us a little bitabout yourself, maybe
personally and professionally,definitely.
Naveen Kirshnan (00:50):
So I started my career 15, 16 years back and I
started back in India and Iworked for a small.
I completed my engineering inelectronics and communication
and then I went into a one-yearrigorous course learning all IT
systems and programming skillsand things like that.
(01:15):
So after getting that knowledge, I joined a small startup
company back in India and Iworked there for a year.
We were developing some HRsystems and then I moved on to a
product-based company so that'san account payable process.
So I stayed there for aroundtwo, three years maybe, and
after that I joined a consultingfirm where my customers are
(01:40):
UK-based.
I worked for Ricoh and I workedfor PepsiCo, uk based.
I work for rico and I work forpepsico, and then I work for
jpmc, capitol one, morganshanley and delanco so many
other customers.
So that's where uh, that's whatmy journey with uh, that
consulting company.
I shared that for around nineyears and then in between I
(02:00):
moved to US in 2015.
Since 2015, I landed in Dallas,texas, and I'm here still, and
I joined Microsoft in 2021,maybe I'm here for the last
three years now.
Yeah, I do a lot of.
I joined as a cloud architectand then I got myself interested
(02:21):
into AI and now I'm here as asolutions architect specialized
in AI space.
Jackie Pelegrin (02:26):
Wow, that's great.
You've had quite a journey andnow you've been here in the
United States for 10 years, sothat's exciting.
Wow.
And so you've been at Microsoftthree years.
Wow, that's great.
So you're really seeing AI takeoff and things like that.
So how did you becomeinterested?
Did this position at Microsoftjust kind of did it land on your
(02:47):
lap in a sense, or were youlooking, or how did that?
Naveen Kirshnan (02:50):
come about.
No, so my initial days when Iwas with a consulting firm, I
worked for several customers andthen we did a lot of cloud
migration-related work and thathelped me get into Microsoft and
the main reason is I was at thecenter of excellence there and
the center of excellence teamand I managed a complete azure
(03:14):
and I was the first one to getcertified as a cloud solutions
architect at my consultingcompany and yeah that.
So customer sizes are like veryhuge.
So at some point we designmigration of 800 apps and we
design migrations or were-architect, re-factor.
(03:34):
I worked on all three or fourhours basically restructuring,
re-architecting, re-factoringand things like that.
So these things helped me getthrough Microsoft very quick.
So that was not easy.
A lot of preparation became thescenes and slowly I landed here.
And after getting into thisrole, I still continue to be as
(03:57):
a cloud engineer.
And after a year or two maybe,I got myself into AI.
That's when AI emerged.
I won't say AI emerged, butthat's when the generative AI
stuff came out, and then AIbecame a talk.
And I started learning a lot ofthings around AI.
(04:18):
I went back and then I did alot of courses around machine
learning and deep learning andwhatnot Right so?
And I got myself into data aswell.
So in parallel I worked on dataas well as AI, so that made me
very easy to land here safe, andso for the last one year I went
(04:39):
to AI completely.
So For the last one year I'vebeen doing AI completely
Designing AI applications,helping to build AI solutions,
identifying AI use cases andwhatnot Everything about AI.
I'm writing research papers onAI.
I write my own technical blogson AI completely AI.
(04:59):
I do AI podcasts.
Yeah, I almost think I'mcovering everything.
Jackie Pelegrin (05:07):
So you're immersed in the AI technology
generative AI and all of thatand the chatbots and how that
can help all the differentindustries.
Because as I read your profile,I was like, wow, this is
amazing.
So that's so cool.
So what's one of the mostexciting projects you've worked
on at Microsoft where you'veutilized AI technology to create
(05:28):
personalized learningexperiences, maybe for students
or for even learners in general?
Naveen Kirshnan (05:33):
Yeah, sure, so I can talk in general, basically
.
So there is one other goodexample which my colleague in UK
is working on, so maybe I'lltalk about that, so that will be
more interesting.
So, for example, what they aredoing is they are using agents
AI agents, basically tocompletely monitor their cloud
(05:56):
infrastructure.
So, for example, as we work onIT systems right, so these
systems are meant to run 24 per7.
So there is no risk for my appsor my data or whatever.
It is right.
So there are problems.
Sometimes you see issues atmidnight and sometimes your
application crashes or yourdatabase goes down or things
(06:19):
like that.
So you have to get into a callFirst, you have to troubleshoot
where the problem is and thentry to fix those things.
So that takes several hours,basically, and there is no
proactive approach yet.
So, with this help of AI agentimplementation, they are
automating these end-to-endsystems so agents can identify
proactively, based on theprevious knowledge or data,
(06:43):
whatever it has got.
So it identifies the problemand proactively senses it and
then it tries to remediate byitself with all the list of
instructions, what we haveprovided and the level of
control, what it can do,basically, and so once it fixes.
It keeps human in loop.
So it will just alert someone,like there is something happened
(07:06):
and then they fixed it.
And if it couldn't, then itwill give you the list of steps,
what you can perform, whichagent doesn't have control to,
and then pick you up in thenight and then it will just
consult with you whether shouldI take this recommendation and
what are the plus and minus if Ido this.
(07:26):
So, if you just agree, it'sgoing to perform this task for
you.
So that's the level ofautomation with agents, what
they are planning on.
It's a very interestingsolution.
It may be a very simple usecase, but if this gets succeeded
in one enterprise, then severalof those enterprises may even
follow this same thing.
(07:47):
So this is one interesting usecase, what I recently got from
my friend, and apart from that,you can use AI in any of these
wherever you can.
First, you can think ofincreasing it, increasing the
customer experience, maybe.
So, for example, I call my cellphone provider, or there is an
(08:07):
effort provider, my entrant isdown and I call them and I have
to wait for like around 30minutes to get a technician on
my call, because the technicianis working on the things that
are like a Q&A type of questions.
For example, they are loadedwith 300 calls at a time and
there are only 80 techniciansout there and out of 300 calls
(08:32):
maybe 200 are just FAQs.
So you can just repeat based onthe knowledge base.
So those types of things heavylifting can be handled by AI so
that other cases, other problemswhich are really valid, so that
can be put into a techniciandirectly.
So these types of things whereyou can start with basically we
(08:53):
call it as the AI bot or AI chatbot, anything like that where
you can chat with AI and thensee if this is an existing
problem or a known solution,then AI can fix it for you and
if not, it will escalate it to anext level.
So you can start there.
And with agents, you haveautomated tasks so we can
automate your task basically.
(09:14):
So day-to-day tasks for example, I come in and then I read my
emails and I, I I kind of figureout how my day is going to be
and then I do a lot of analysison my meetings and what to talk
and whatnot.
So those types of preparations,they can help them, they can
help you and apart from that, itcan help write your emails and
if you have office respect, uh,all your office 365 is now
(09:37):
embedded with Copilot and if youhave those capabilities, then
it can draft your emails as well.
So you don't have to wait, sit,spend an hour to draft those
notes.
So these are the capabilities,or what I am seeing, and if you
are a hard core developer, youcan make yourself hit up Copilot
.
So at least in a IT day to daywork, in 30 to 40 percent of my
(10:02):
work is now closely with AI.
So basically, this 30-40% of mywork, ai is my assistant.
So that is sitting next to meand then it is assisting for
framing emails.
If I miss a meeting, it gets mysummarization and whatnot.
So it's going to evolve soonand then close to 70, 80% of
(10:25):
your day on what you do, a isgoing to be your assistant for
those tasks.
So this is what I see basically.
Maybe it's a lengthy answer,but I think I covered all the
pieces.
Jackie Pelegrin (10:36):
Yeah, that's great.
So you're really seeing that AIis becoming that assistant and
coming alongside people, right,so that they can take those, as
some people call them, mundanetasks, those everyday tasks like
writing an email and making itto where it's simpler.
And there can be thoseautomated tasks, right, that AI
can do.
(10:56):
So I love that.
I like that idea, too, of thechat bot.
I know I've interacted withsome chat bots on some websites
where it'll help you to see,okay, is this something that's
more general that the AI chatbot can help you solve?
And then, like you said, if itis something more complicated,
then it can go to a live agentand they can help them with it.
(11:17):
So it helps to eliminate that alot of that busy work for them.
Probably, so that it it helpsto eliminate that, uh, a lot of
that uh busy work for them,probably so that they don't have
to take calls that they don'tnecessarily need to take, and
then it frees up some of thattime as well.
Wow, that's amazing.
I love that, yeah, cause I usedto work in a call.
I used to work in a couple ofcall centers before I worked at
(11:37):
um, at Discover Card, which ispart of Morgan Stanley and I
worked in a call center there inthe early 2000s and then that
was when we were migratingcomputer systems.
So I just think of wow, if AIwas around, then it would have
been amazing to have all of that.
And then I also worked forVanguard, which is a financial
(11:58):
institution, so it would havebeen pretty amazing to have all
of that, instead of having allthese calls come in of general
questions where they could havegone to the website right and
found that information.
So that's great.
Wow.
So you're really seeing thefuture of AI, it's really
expanding, and that's amazing.
(12:20):
Wow, that's wonderful.
So it sounds like you're evenin a leadership role and what
you do too, because you'rehelping to lead these projects,
and so there are different typesof styles and skills that you
find helpful in your daily workthere at Microsoft that you
think are really helpful,especially in this type of work
you do.
Naveen Kirshnan (12:39):
Yeah, so usually I don't follow something
standard or a specific style,but what I do is I kind of take
every opportunity and see how wecan be better or good at it.
So every chance what you get islearning.
So I always have this mindsetof what I know is just 1% and
(13:04):
what I don't know is 99%.
So that always keeps youlearning and I don't myself.
I don't think that I knoweverything, so I still don't
know anything.
So I will keep on hunting andthen spend most of my time
learning and helping others whoare learning, basically so
writing some technical blogs andI'm in fact, writing a book on
(13:28):
AI.
So it is just covers everything,basically so who is just from a
different field and then wantedto jump into this and wanted to
know more about AI and how itevolved and what is machine
learning, what is deep learningand what is neural networks and
what is this right?
So it kind of covers everythingand what is agent and what is
(13:51):
the multi-agent system and howdo you design that.
So it covers end to end.
So that book is around.
It's getting what you say.
The publisher is actuallyworking on it.
Once it is out, maybe that willhelp you land in English.
I took that opportunity andafter I wrote around 30-40
(14:12):
blocks then I kind of thought,okay, what's next?
Then I jumped into it and Istarted writing my own book.
Jackie Pelegrin (14:19):
Wow, that's wonderful.
Naveen Kirshnan (14:21):
This is of making every opportunity for you
to grow and evolve.
So that's what I do.
Jackie Pelegrin (14:34):
It's like a continuous learning culture.
Right, you're constantlylearning because technology is
always changing.
I was talking to someoneearlier about that and we yeah,
those emerging technologies areyeah it's amazing that interest.
Naveen Kirshnan (14:48):
So as soon as you see something new out there,
I would say you go try it andthen see what's what's in there
and then what it can do, so thathaving that knowledge will
definitely help you, help you aswell as help others when you
share those learnings.
So that's one thing, what I do,and apart from that I do a lot
(15:12):
of hands on work.
So I develop applications, Idevelop code, and then if there
is something which I canautomate physically, then I'll
try to.
I even try to create some games.
Is something which I canautomate physically, then I'll
try to.
I even try to create some gamesfor me which I am interested on
.
So it keeps going.
So, yeah, that's how.
If you, if you are interestedand then if you are eager to do
more, then don't hesitate.
(15:34):
So this is the right time foryou to, because it's just
evolved right.
So we just crossed only twoyears of this uh a channel.
So if, if you start uh gettinguh the grasp of it, then it's
like computer, like how you getit got into a computer before
when it started, right.
So those who don't know how touse computers, so they are now
(15:57):
struggling to get into it andstart using all their apps and
everything.
It's a similar thing.
So if you try to stay out of it, then you are not going to be
part of this and then enjoy thedevelopments, for what will be
happening around you.
Jackie Pelegrin (16:18):
Wow, that's exciting.
So when are you planning to?
Naveen Kirshnan (16:31):
release your book.
Is it going to be coming outsoon?
Got pulled into several otherthings and then I tried to
complete it in spring and it'snot possible.
And finally, for this summer Ihave completed and now it's
waiting for this peer review andthings like that.
So once it's all complete,maybe it will be out in two
(16:52):
months, maybe.
Jackie Pelegrin (16:53):
That's good.
Wow, so you got it to where youneed it.
Now it's going through peerreview.
That's great, wonderful.
Naveen Kirshnan (16:59):
Yeah, it's a 300-page book, so 350-page book.
So it's not easy to get it to agood place and then take it to
market.
It takes its own time to.
Jackie Pelegrin (17:11):
That's exciting , wow.
Maybe once you get it releasedyou can come back on the podcast
and kind of talk a little bitthrough some of the elements,
yeah, and then we can focus onthe AI technology and by then,
you know, it'll be kind of neatto see how things like you know,
because you know most companieshave Microsoft already built in
, microsoft already built in.
So we're at first, when we hadMicrosoft and where I work at
(17:34):
our company, the copilot wasdisabled.
But now they've got copilotenabled and I'm seeing it
embedded in everything.
So it's really neat to see thatit's in Outlook and it's in
Word and all of that.
So it's pretty neat to see thatit's there and it's a good
assistant, because we do have aninternal tool.
(17:55):
But they say that Copilot issafe to use within the
organization as well.
So it's nice to know that wehave options and that we don't
have to use an external toolthat potentially could have
proprietary information thatcould get out there, because we
don't want that.
So it's great to have Copilotembedded into all of Microsoft
now.
So it's great.
Naveen Kirshnan (18:16):
You can also do it in the work mode, so that if
you need to know about anypolicy information whether what
is my insurance plan and thingslike that you can ask it.
So it will be within yourcompany.
So instead of waiting for HR torespond back and that takes a
day and instead of that I use itif I need to know some policy
information of whether I canshare this or not and what, so
(18:39):
you can get all this from thework mode.
Jackie Pelegrin (18:43):
Oh, wow, that's good to know.
Wow, I love that it's.
Naveen Kirshnan (18:46):
M365 for pilots and we can just install it and
make this office so that isintegrated with your complete
Office 365 ecosystem.
So spreadsheets, sharepoints,excel, word.
Solve it and make this so thatis integrated with your complete
office system.
So spreadsheets, sharepoints,excel, words and your enterprise
data which you have access to.
Basically, what it uses is onbehalf of access, so, which
(19:10):
means whatever access you have,it takes that level of access
and then it go find data whichis related to you and which is
accessible.
Jackie Pelegrin (19:18):
Oh, wow, that's one thing.
That's amazing.
I love that.
Wow, I'll have to pass that onbecause I know our IT.
They check, you know, all thedifferent systems and internally
and as things get released out.
So yeah, so I'll have to lookinto that.
And Microsoft recently wentthrough an update I think it was
Friday, so yesterday.
(19:40):
So I'll have to check into that, yeah definitely.
Yeah, that's great.
So, as you know, my studentsare mostly instructional design
students, but I also have noviceinstructional designers.
I have listeners from all overthe world, which I never
expected with this podcast, butso there's.
Are there any tips and adviceyou can share with those who are
(20:00):
currently in the master'sprogram and instructional design
at Grand Canyon University thatmaybe are thinking of utilizing
AI technology or they're notsure where to start when it
comes to learning and and andthose types of areas?
Naveen Kirshnan (20:14):
Yeah, sure.
So what I would say is it'sbetter to try AI in all aspects
of what you are doing.
So because the future for nexttwo, three years it's completely
going to be AI and you will seea lot of developments around AI
, a lot of things happeningaround AI, and so this is the
right time for you to grasp andthen learn stuff, what's out
(20:38):
there, and make use of all thetools.
There are plenty of tools that'savailable out there.
So make use of all the toolsfor whatever you're doing and if
you're making designing right.
So, for example, I see I don'tremember the name so there's a
website called Napkin AI, Ithink so.
So you just fill in your textcontent, it can update an image
(21:01):
for you, design for you, whatnot?
So there are several tools andthings that's available.
Make use of all the tools.
So, whenever you get stucksomewhere and then you're doing
some tedious job like it takesfive days or ten days then first
thing that comes to my mindcomes to your mind is whether
can I leverage it?
Is there any tools that'sreadily available which can do
(21:22):
all this instead of me doing itmanually?
So ask this question every timewhen you get into such a
difficult task or anything.
So there are plenty of toolsavailable.
Only thing is you want toexplore something and then
figure out which tool fits bestfor you for all your needs.
Make use of those tools,liberate them as and when needed
(21:44):
and keep yourself updated onall the trends that's happening
and new innovation that's comingout.
Just watch and eye on it andfollow people who are at C
levels on all these bigcompanies so that you know what
is coming out, so which featureor what development is happening
(22:08):
around there.
So follow them and then readthem, read what they have been,
so keep yourself updated.
So keep yourself updated.
So that's a recommendation,what I would say at this time.
Jackie Pelegrin (22:18):
Right, that's great.
Yeah, just keeping yourself upto date on the technology and
knowing what's out there, right,that's that's great.
Yeah, because there aredefinitely, I agree, a lot of
tools out there and it's hardsometimes for us to know what's,
what's going to be a good tooland not, um, but you know, even
maybe, like you were kind ofmentioning, kind of
experimenting right with thosetools and seeing will it work or
(22:40):
will it not, because you don'tknow right until you try it and
see how it's going to work and Iyeah, I've done that before,
I've tried something, and I'mlike I don't know, but it seems
like the text to image isgetting better than what it used
to be.
It used to be where I had somestudents do that and it was so
obvious that it was an AI image.
I was like, wow, the handsdon't look right on the person
(23:01):
and the eyes look off.
But now it seems like it's muchbetter.
Naveen Kirshnan (23:05):
I had another student that did that.
Yeah, it's far better now.
Yeah, it's good, I love it.
Jackie Pelegrin (23:16):
So I use that for my book session.
So okay, so check that out,that's cool.
Yeah, I had a student that usedum, adobe um for hers and she
did a presentation and all ofthe images were ai generated
images and I was like, wow, theylook so realistic.
I'm like that's, that's amazing, it's come.
It's come a long way.
I think they keep improving thetechnology and even with the
machine learning right and theAI generation and how it's able
(23:38):
to kind of pick up on your toneand your style of how you're
doing things I've noticed thatwith chat, gpt it's gotten
better Copilot's gotten betterwith that and recognizing that,
okay, this is the tone that youwant and I can kind of pick up
on that.
And then you don't have to tellit so many things or ask it so
many things, that what you need,it can really pick up on that
(23:58):
tone and that that voice thatyou're looking for as well.
So it's really great and havingthat conversation with the AI
and no, this isn't quite right,this is where I wanted to go.
And then it can shift and itcan say, okay, I'm sorry, I was
wrong, let me change it.
So it's kind of neat how it cando that.
Yeah that's great, wonderful.
Thank you, naveen.
(24:19):
Is there any other thoughts orideas you'd like to share before
we wrap up?
Naveen Kirshnan (24:24):
So what I would say is follow me on LinkedIn,
so it's N-A-V-I-N-T-K-R, sothat's my LinkedIn handle, and
so that's my LinkedIn handle,and that's my GitHub handle as
well.
And if you wanted to read myblogs, then I would say AI with
Navin Krishnan.
I write on mediumcom, and ifyou wanted just one spot that
(24:44):
you wanted to know all about meand what I'm doing is my website
, so it's navinkrishnanai.
So I have all my podcasts there, all my blogs there.
I have wherever.
If there is a, if there is atalk which I'm being one of my
presenter or anything, I'llupdate it so you can always
(25:09):
follow me there as well.
Jackie Pelegrin (25:10):
Great, wonderful.
I'll make sure to put thoselinks in the show notes for
everybody so that way all of mylisteners can can go there.
It's really nice to have thoseshow notes there, so I'll make
sure to link that in there andthen when this podcast gets
released, then I'll give you thelink to that and then that way
you can have that as part ofyour your library and your
collection as well.
So it's always good to sharethat knowledge across the board.
(25:32):
So that's great.
I'll make sure to do that aswell.
Great, well, thank you so much,naveen.
I appreciate all your expertiseand your insight into AI
technology and how it's changingacross all industries in
healthcare, education, finance,everything.
It's touching all industries,so it's great to have you on and
(25:53):
to talk about how things areevolving and changing.
Naveen Kirshnan (25:56):
I appreciate it Same here, Chakri.
Thank you very much.
Thank you Glad to meet you andyour audience.
We'll stay in touch, thank you.
Jackie Pelegrin (26:03):
Thank you Appreciate it.
Thank you for taking some timeto listen to this podcast
episode today.
Your support means the world tome.
If you'd like to help keep thepodcast going, you can share it
with a friend or colleague,leave a heartfelt review or
offer a monetary contribution.
Every act of support, big orsmall, makes a difference and
(26:25):
I'm truly thankful for you.
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