Applied AI and AI Agent Workflows
Applied AI is the practice of putting an AI agent to work on a real task you already own, instead of reading about what AI might do someday. For a mid-career professional, that usually means preparation: the negotiation, the meeting, the week ahead. An AI agent does the research and the first draft. You make the decision and you do the talking.
Jacqueline Twillie teaches this hands-on. She has taught more than 400 people to build their first AI agent, and in September 2026 Forbes featured her as one of the peer leaders closing the $5.5 trillion AI skills gap. Her point of view is simple. Waiting for a corporate training program to teach you this is a slow way to fall behind, and you can build a working AI agent in an hour.
A note on what you will find here. Most of this teaching happens in live build sessions, not on the podcast feed, so this page links the sessions and the episodes that connect to them. The episodes below are the conversations on the show about AI and curiosity. The step-by-step builds live in her sessions.
Start with the conversation you have to prepare for
Her first build is a negotiation prep AI agent, because negotiation is where preparation pays the most. The AI agent takes the facts of your offer or your raise, anticipates the objections, helps you set your three numbers, and gives you lines you can say out loud. It follows her L.A.T.T.E. framework: look at the details, anticipate the challenges, think about your walk-away point, talk it through, and evaluate options.
The AI agent drafts strategy. It never sends anything for you. That boundary is deliberate, and it is the same whether you are preparing for a salary conversation or a client contract.
The five steps of a one-hour build
Step one is a precise objective: one sentence on exactly what you need from the conversation. That sentence is the anchor for the AI agent. Step two is explicit instructions, a core document that tells the AI agent how to process the facts and anticipate objections.
Step three is turning on self-improvement, so the AI agent keeps your corrections and gets sharper over time. Step four is grounding it in real data: your pricing sheet, your contract, or your offer letter goes in as a knowledge source. Step five is setting strict boundaries, with no connectors, so the AI agent never sends anything on your behalf.
Where she teaches it live
At Sistas In Sales Summit on September 21, 2026, in New York, she led a one-hour Negotiation AI Agent Lab, and 32 people built the same negotiation prep AI agent live on Gumloop. The follow-along steps are at bnedai.com/sis-summit-2026.
At the CultureCon 2026 Braindate in Brooklyn on October 3 and 4, and in an online encore on October 7, she taught two builds: a Chief of Staff AI agent and a Content Manager AI agent. The guide is at bnedai.com/culturecon-2026. On October 7 she also led a one-hour build session for Women Applying AI, setting up a Chief of Staff AI agent that reads your calendar and inbox, drafts your replies, and never sends one without you.
On October 8 she led the Negotiation Prep Agent session at Vibe Summit Day 1, a 45-minute build on L.A.T.T.E. The page is at bnedai.com/vibe-summit-2026.
Why the frameworks still matter
An AI agent is only as good as the instructions you give it, and good instructions come from knowing how you want to show up. L.A.T.T.E. gives the negotiation agent its structure. The Reset move in R4 is what you reach for when a conversation does not go to plan. The A.H.A. method, Attitude, Habits, and Actions, applies to the AI agent too: it is a way to keep using it after the workshop ends.
That is why this topic sits next to the other five on Winning Season. The tools change. Winning Season has been on air since December 2017, and preparing before the conversation has not changed.
Questions, answered
What is an AI agent?
An AI agent is a set of instructions plus the information it needs to complete a task for you, such as preparing for a negotiation or planning your week. In Jacqueline Twillie's builds, the AI agent researches and drafts. You review it and decide. It does not send anything on your behalf unless you choose to connect it.
Can I build an AI agent with no technical background?
Yes. Her live sessions are built for people with no code experience. In a one-hour session you define one objective, upload a set of instructions, ground the AI agent in your own documents, and set boundaries. At Sistas In Sales Summit, 32 people built a working negotiation prep AI agent in a single session.
What is the first AI agent I should build?
Jacqueline Twillie recommends a negotiation prep AI agent, because the payoff is immediate and the stakes are clear. It uses the L.A.T.T.E. framework to prepare the facts, the likely objections, your numbers, and the words you will say. A Chief of Staff AI agent for your calendar and inbox is a strong second build.
Why not wait for my company to train me on AI?
Corporate programs tend to move slowly and teach about AI instead of building with it. Forbes featured Jacqueline Twillie in September 2026 as one of the peer leaders closing the $5.5 trillion AI skills gap by teaching people to build. Learning by building one real AI agent on your own work is faster than waiting for a course.
Where can I learn to build one live?
Jacqueline Twillie leads hands-on build sessions through BNEDai. The follow-along guides from past sessions are at bnedai.com, including the Sistas In Sales Summit, CultureCon, and Vibe Summit pages. She has taught more than 400 people to build their first AI agent.
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