This week on Buffering, we are exploring what it actually looks like to build with AI, not just talk about it. Join Zack and Gabe as we kick things off with a quick run through the latest AI news and some hot takes, then move into what we’ve actually been building over the past couple of weeks, and how fast ideas are turning into working tools.

Join us as we walk through how we’re using real-world data to recommend better internet plans, how we’re replacing rigid signup quizzes with smarter, more adaptive experiences, and how post-install network data can help us time and shape better customer conversations. We also look at how CXPs show up in AI-driven search—and why that’s becoming just as important as traditional SEO. The big takeaway from this one: the tools are here, the build time is short, and the opportunity is in figuring out what to actually build.

This week on Buffering, Gabe and Zack dive into the critical difference between using AI and actually building with it—and why that distinction is about to define the next generation of high performers. From breaking down why clicking “accept” on a co-pilot suggestion isn’t real AI fluency to sharing real examples of tools they’ve built in hours (instead of paying thousands), they explore how context, curiosity, and a willingness to experiment separate those who will accelerate in their careers from those who will plateau.

Along the way, they unpack the evolving AI landscape—from why apps like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini still dominate, to how “AI expert” is becoming the next overused resume buzzword (just like “Excel expert”). They also share practical, real-world examples across marketing, sales, and operations, plus a simple call to action: start small, build something repeatable, and make your work visible. Because in this new era, it’s not about asking better prompts—it’s about turning ideas into working tools.

This week on Buffering, we are exploring how the best brands in the world have stopped selling specs and started selling feelings — and what that means for broadband providers still leading with speed tiers and price points. Join Zack and Gabe as we discuss how Apple's new MacBook Neo and Rivian's R2 are rewriting the rules of market positioning, why the utility trap is the silent killer of BSP growth, and how experience-first messaging turns subscribers into advocates.

Are you referring to your service tiers as segmentation? This week on Buffering, we are breaking down why generic marketing and segmentation is killing growth, and how AI can connect siloed data sources with behavioral data to actually move the needle. Join Zack and Gabe as we talk through a challenge to run this week, on how to think about subscribers based on their situation, not their services.

This week on Buffering, we are unpacking an unlikely lesson from McDonalds’s and their attempt to market the “Most McDonald’s burger ever”. If you’re talking about your products and services like a SKU, you may be creating a gap between product management and customer experience that’s impossible to ignore. Join Zack and Gabe as we discuss how your customers aren’t buying architecture, but the experience of a connected, modern home.

This week on Buffering, we are exploring how marketing has entered it’s post-experimental AI era and how the true winners of 2026 are no longer prompt engineers, but system architects. Join Zack and Gabe as we discuss how the early-AI advantage is fading as true differentiation now comes from designing intelligent, integrated ecosystems that turn insight into action in real time.

This week on Buffering, we are joined by Vele Galovski, Regional Vice President of business Transformation and AI Engagements at Calix to unpack what AI transformation really takes, and why so many efforts fail to scale. With more than two decades of experience leading large-scale transformations, Vele brings real-world examples from his book, The Perpetual Innovation Machine, to discuss how organizations can turn AI strategy into measurable business outcomes.

What happens when Broadband Providers can’t compete on speed or technology, when everyone sells the same plans? This week on Buffering, we are joined by Anthony Bortolotto, Managing Director of Infinite Networks to explore what competition looks like inside Australia’s open-access broadband market.

Join Anthony, Gabe, and Zack as we share lessons from Australia, where hundreds of providers share the same plans, and how BSPs can avoid becoming a commodity with real-world differentiation.