Do AI agents actually need to be intelligent?
Or do they just need to get the job done?
We’ve spent months arguing about whether AI truly “understands” anything. Whether it has a mind. Whether it’s just autocomplete dressed up in confidence.
Meanwhile, inside real companies, AI agents are drafting documents, routing tickets, analyzing logs, and compressing cycle times.
They’re not philosophers.
They’re workflow engines.
If performance inside constraints is what moves budgets, maybe intelligence isn’t the KPI.
In this episode of Shimmy Says, we break down:
• The “parrot problem”
• Why leaders may be asking the wrong question
• What actually matters if you’re accountable for outcomes
• Why execution beats perceived intelligence
This isn’t about hype.
It’s about incentives, reliability, and measurable results.
Watch to the end and decide:
Are we measuring the wrong thing when it comes to AI?
Up Next in Season 1
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Blaming the Internet Is Like Blaming ...
🪞 Blaming the internet for what’s wrong with society is like blaming the mirror because you don’t like what you see.
Platforms optimize for engagement.
Engagement rewards outrage.
Incentives drift toward shareholders.Cory Doctorow calls it enshittification.
The uncomfortable truth is this.
Th... -
AI and the Scarlet Letter | Shimmy Sa...
This week on Shimmy Says, we’re talking about the scarlet letter we’ve stamped on AI-generated work.
The funny part?
It has almost nothing to do with quality and everything to do with fear.
What that hesitation means for DevOps teams, engineering culture, and how work gets done is at the center o... -
AI in Adolescence: Twilight Zone or A...
AI is growing up fast — faster than our institutions, norms, and guardrails.
In this episode of Shimmy Says, Alan Shimel explores AI’s “adolescent” phase through two powerful cultural lenses:
the unchecked power and volatility of The Twilight Zone, and the rules-driven optimism of Asimov’s robot...
