She lived through Y2K, sold for Microsoft, and bet early on the cloud. Now Carmen Aviles is building AI agents on a Mac mini, and she says this wave is bigger than all of them.

Carmen Aviles has spent more than 40 years in tech. Her path runs from shipping e-learning on CDs across Latin America to SAP implementations during the Y2K panic, Microsoft's partner ecosystem, and one of South Florida's first Office 365 practices. Today she's the founder of Aviles AI and helps small and midsize businesses adopt AI without breaking what already works.

Hosts Samantha Viola Wilson and Brittany George ask her what Y2K can teach us about the AI rush and whether AI will really take jobs in the next five years. They also get into how CEOs can get their teams to adopt it: role by role, with incentives, starting from the top. Carmen gives an honest account of building a six-agent real estate marketing system, including the cron job that burned $135 in one day. She explains how Jake Van Clief's Interpretable Context Methodology (ICM) brought her cost down to about $10 per run.

IN THIS EPISODE:

- How is the AI rush like Y2K, and how is it different?

- Will AI replace jobs in the next 5 years?

- How do you get employees to adopt AI? (role-based rollout)

- Is Microsoft behind in AI? (Copilot, Copilot Studio, GitHub)

- How do you cut AI agent token costs?

- Cloud vs. local AI models: who owns your data?

- Using NotebookLM as a personal AI tutor

CHAPTERS

00:00 Meet Carmen Aviles ("Abuela")

00:53 Shipping e-learning on CDs across Latin America

02:23 Y2K, SAP, and the panic that looks like today's AI rush

05:16 Getting hired at Microsoft (via cassette voicemail)

07:11 Betting early on Office 365 and the cloud

09:40 First AI "wow": 2-hour research cut to 30 minutes

10:37 The OpenClaw obsession and a 6-agent marketing system

12:13 Y2K vs. AI: what's the same, what's different

13:40 Early adopters, proof-of-concept people, and skeptics

16:26 Will AI take jobs? Carmen's 5-year outlook

18:32 Kids, critical thinking, and AI in education

20:35 NotebookLM as a personal AI tutor

23:22 How CEOs get teams to adopt AI

25:28 Free Microsoft AI courses and the partner opportunity

27:55 AI adoption has to start at the top

29:30 Is Microsoft behind in AI? Copilot, models, GitHub

34:32 Copilot Studio inside Teams: worth $30 a month?

37:16 Token costs and the $135 cron job mistake

40:26 Building vs. monetizing: the honest update

43:09 ICM: the folders-and-files method that cut costs

46:53 Protecting your IP when vibe coding

48:07 Obsidian, Skool, and knowledge graphs

50:47 Cloud vs. local models: who owns your data?

54:44 AI glasses and DIY robots

58:13 Personal AI: ChatGPT for life, Claude for business

1:00:44 How to reach Carmen

RESOURCES MENTIONED

- OpenClaw

- Interpretable Context Methodology by Jake Van Clief: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.16021

- Clief Notes community on Skool: https://www.skool.com/cliefnotes

- Google NotebookLM

- Microsoft Copilot Studio

- GitHub

- Obsidian

- Brilliant Labs Halo AI glasses

CONNECT WITH CARMEN AVILES

Business Optimization & Adoption Consultant | Founder, Aviles AI

🌐 https://avilesai.com

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmenavilesaiconsulting/

📸 Instagram: @caviles812

✉️ carmen@avilesai.com

🏡 Buying or selling residential or commercial real estate in South Florida? Carmen is a licensed realtor. Reach out by email.