Two hundred episodes in, and we're done with the warm-up!

Episode 200 finds Rob flying solo and pulling zero punches on the question everyone's quietly asking: what's the future of data work? No anniversary nostalgia here, just uncomfortable truths about AI bootcamps at Starbucks, semantic models going naked, and why being "pretty good" at anything is about to get very complicated. If you think you know where this is all headed, think again.

Rob spent yesterday turning a non-techie real estate agent into an AI power user, and what he saw exceeded anything from the early Power BI days. But here's what nobody's talking about: the invisible barriers, the shifting skill requirements, and why the middle ground might be disappearing faster than anyone realizes. The lines between data work and software work are blurring, structured versus unstructured data is becoming meaningless, and the comfortable assumptions about who does what are about to get stress-tested.

Two hundred episodes of calling it straight, and this one tackles the questions that keep data professionals up at night. Some answers might surprise you. Others might make you uncomfortable. [But you'll know exactly where you stand when the dust settles]

Most of us have been in the trenches long enough to know when something's about to flip the script. And brother, we're standing at the edge of a cliff most data folks don't even see coming.

Rob Collie thought he had Power BI figured out. Then Copilot did something impossible; it cracked a question that should've left it scratching its digital head. But it didn't just answer. It nailed it. That's what we're calling the Dobie Moment—when AI stops being a fancy calculator and starts being genuinely scary-smart.

Here's the thing nobody's talking about, your semantic models aren't just sitting there anymore. They're waking up. And when Rob and Justin break down what happened in this episode, you'll see exactly why that should make you sweat a little.

They're not here to blow smoke. They'll show you the magic, sure, but more importantly, they'll show you where the landmines are buried. Because when AI starts connecting dots you didn't even know existed, confidence and correctness become two very different animals.

Bottom line: The future of data just knocked on your door. You can pretend you didn't hear it, or you can listen to this episode and actually be ready when your models have their own moment of reckoning.

Your call. But don't say we didn't warn you.

AI looks unstoppable… until you hand it a hundred pages of meeting notes. Rob and Justin dig into why context windows and token limits quietly run the show. That “million-token” brag from Google? More like weighing the Titanic in bananas.

From Shakespeare to SharePoint, this episode shows why AI remembers the Roman Empire better than your company history—and why that’s not a bad thing. Rob also introduces Griff, a digital colleague that fires off P3-flavored ideas like it’s had three espressos. It’s practical AI that’s actually fun to use.

Hit play to find out where AI is brilliant, where it falls flat, and how to make it work for you without the hype.

Also on this episode:

Million Token Context Windows? Myth Busted—Limits & Fixes