Crashing an AI Promo Event: What to Ask Before Buying into an AI Agent Platform (ossa-ma.github.io)

At the recent Dust x Paatch "Agentic AI" promotional event, a participant raised essential concerns about vendor lock-in, data sovereignty, and other key issues often overlooked during sales pitches for AI agent platforms. After questioning the platform’s capabilities and finding a lack of clarity in Dust's documentation, the attendee cleverly used Dust's own platform to create an "agent" that posed critical questions about evaluating performance, vendor exit strategies, and data management. This live demonstration underscored significant gaps in how companies approach vendor evaluations for AI systems. For the AI/ML community, this episode highlights the pressing need to question the underlying frameworks of AI vendor platforms before committing, emphasizing a shift towards critical inquiry over promotional hype. Key takeaways include the importance of evaluation frameworks for measuring agent performance objectively and the feasibility of self-built solutions versus proprietary platforms that limit data portability. As the AI space continues to expand, ensuring transparency and ownership over data and models will be crucial in preventing vendor lock-in and maintaining organizational agility.