Shadi Yazdan is a Strategic AI Advisor and Founder of SY Strategy. She helps business owners, CEOs, and leadership teams understand where AI belongs in their business, how to use it responsibly, and what needs to be in place before adopting tools.
Her work focuses on practical AI readiness, AI compliance, privacy, risk, client agreements, internal policies, and clear decision-making. She helps companies identify where AI creates real value, where it introduces risk, and what steps they need to take to protect their business, their clients, and their reputation.
Shadi is a 4x founder with 2 exits and was recognized as a 2024 Top Woman in AI. She has built companies from the ground up, including an AI company that developed predictive technology ahead of the market. 
Through workshops, advisory sessions, and practical guidance, Shadi helps businesses move from AI confusion to clarity. Her approach is simple: start with the business problem, the risk, the workflow, and the outcome. Then decide where AI makes sense.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shadiyazdan/
Wrbsite: https://www.systrategy.co/
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.
Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio is my pleasure to introduce you to Shadi Yazdan, strategic AI advisor and founder of SY strategy. Shadi helps business owners, CEOs, and leadership teams move beyond the hype of artificial intelligence by understanding where AI creates real business value and where it introduces risk. A four time founder with two successful exits and recognized as a 2024 top woman in AI, she specializes specializes in helping organizations adopt AI responsibly through practical strategy, governance, privacy, compliance, and thoughtful leadership. Her philosophy is simple solve the business problem first, then determine where AI fits. Shorty. Welcome to the show.
Shadi Yazdan: Thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited to be here with you.
Trisha Stetzel: I’m very excited too. We started this conversation months ago, and I’m so glad that I was finally able to have you here to have this conversation. So why don’t we start with, tell us a little bit more about you?
Shadi Yazdan: Absolutely. So my work currently in the AI space, I call it the wild, Wild West of AI, really focuses on the foundation a business needs before they even think about bringing in any AI tools. So this could include access to clean and reliable data systems that work together. Clear ownership. It could be strong security, the right internal skills and the well defined priorities responsible governance, privacy, compliance, readiness, employee guidelines and also, most important, human oversight.
Trisha Stetzel: Okay, human in the middle, I love that. And I know we’re going to probably tackle that topic, but first let’s talk about why business owners should even care about AI privacy, governance, and compliance right now.
Shadi Yazdan: I’m so glad you asked that question because it’s not asked often enough, I have to say. Currently in the US, there is no federal law that’s covering businesses and even the use of AI. But you know how quickly we’re moving with AI and how many companies are adopting AI technology in one way or another. Um, existing laws and obligations still apply. Absolutely. And these are the ones currently around privacy confidentiality, consumer protection, employment discrimination, intellectual properties contracts and professional responsibilities. But actual laws pertaining to AI, we don’t have anything in place yet. The technology is moving faster than the laws. So states are pretty much on their own, um, to put something in place. And a number of them have. But still, it’s a lot of work that has to be done in this place. But that doesn’t mean that we need to forget about what it means to prepare our clients and anyone that we’re working with, and ensure that their information is private, ensure that we are following the right compliant way that we should be in order to make sure that we are securing any data that we’re feeding into any of these AI models, because a lot of them, uh, are still training on data that people are inputting into these, uh, into these tools because that’s how they get better. And that’s how you get more of a robust output out of them. But businesses really need to be aware of this, not just to protect themselves, but to protect their clients.
Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. So it really is, it feels like the wild, wild West. So for the business owners that are listening today, where should they start before employees start using AI for client work or even internal operations inside their businesses?
Shadi Yazdan: Uh, very good question as well. First, I want to say I’m not a lawyer. I don’t provide any legal advice. So my essentially my role is to help businesses identify where AI creates business risk, establish responsible practices, ask those better questions and recognize when they need support from legal, privacy, cyber security or compliance specialists. So that’s first and foremost. So the first step really for businesses is to really understand how people are already using AI across their business. So when I say people, it could be their people, but it could also be external people, so their employees and so forth. So many, many leaders assume that their company, um, has not adopted AI because they haven’t purchased an official AI system. But we know that a lot of employees are using public AI tools for whether it’s marketing research, meeting notes, proposals, client works, hiring, or even internal decisions. Um, and you need to understand what tool people are using, what work they use them for, and what information they’re actually entering into these tools. And the next step is to really review any sort of an existing agreement and policy that they currently have in place, because we have to understand a lot of the agreements, contracts, policies that businesses have in place were written before the age of AI.
Shadi Yazdan: So they need to be updated. Um, even newer agreements may not clearly address AI. So business owners right now should be asking themselves, do our client agreements allow us to use AI when completing work with them? Uh, do we need to tell the client what AI tool we’re using, how we’re using it, how we’re collecting their data, what we’re doing with their data, who owns work that’s created using the AI models, who has access to that work? Who’s going to double check it? And, um, do we even have employee policies that are in place to explain which tools people use, what information they must never enter into these AI models, which is a huge question. So all of these have to really be taken into consideration. And this is really the core focus of the work that I do with a lot of the business owners. I help them understand how AI is being used, identify where their agreements and policies, don’t address it, and decide what responsible AI could look like for them, for their business moving forward to help protect them, even if the laws are currently not in place yet.
Trisha Stetzel: Okay, lots. I heard a lot of questions in there, a lot of things that have to be looked at and thought about. So can we talk about the exposure, the exposure that companies have when they use AI without these updated contracts, scopes of work, privacy, language, or even internal policies?
Shadi Yazdan: Yeah, absolutely. Um, so as I mentioned earlier, we know most of the agreements and contracts, contracts that currently clients sign don’t clearly address anything about AI and how the company is going to be using AI to run anything. And it could be anything from marketing to sales to whatever it may be. All of that needs to be articulated to the to end user, that this technology is going to be used for this purposes and without clear direction, um, whether it’s the client or employees, they’re making their own decision and their own assumptions. And this creates risks around confidentiality, privacy, ownership accuracy, and of course client trust. So this is something that’s really core and needs to be explained. Because when that data leaks and we’ve heard about this, this over and over again, where sometimes the information that you add into any of the AI models, and let’s talk about the popular ones, whether it’s ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini copilot, that information belongs to that organization, and they may use that information any which way they want. And not so long ago, there was news about how a lot of the information that we were inputting into ChatGPT was leaking into Google. This is your private client information that’s going out there into the the World Wide Web, and anyone can access it. So again, that is going against any of the privacy laws and regulations. And also you’re sharing information about your client or your employees or sharing information about the client without the client having that information, which opens you up to lawsuits. And even worse, I don’t even want to mention criminal offenses. And the list goes on and on that companies need to be aware of.
Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Oh my gosh. Okay. So we’re, I like on the edge of this scare factor. Like we really need to be paying attention to this stuff because many of us, many business owners have. It came so fast and we weren’t thinking about all of the work that you’re doing to teach business owners how to do it safely and in compliance. It’s so important. So let’s dig a little bit deeper into what you’re seeing in the market. When clients ask companies about their AI, use the data protection and the confidentiality and the risk.
Shadi Yazdan: Yeah, absolutely. So not only is the technology moving fast, AI technology, but every five minutes it seems like there’s a new tool on the market. How on earth are you supposed to keep up? And what I’m seeing in the market is that many companies are already using AI, but their leadership team have not agreed on how it should be used. So and there’s no discussion there being a lot of the leaders within some of these companies are being pressured by their boards to do something AI, I. And oftentimes they don’t know what that is. So they just want to check off a box. So it could be they would come and say, oh, we are doing something AI, we’re using ChatGPT, we’re doing something AI we’re doing using cloud. But the problem becomes obvious when a client starts to ask questions like, are you using AI in our work? What happens to my data? Who has access to it? How do you protect confidential information? Who reviews the output? And more and more clients are starting to ask these questions. And many leaders and also vendors don’t have a clear answer because they’ve never even considered or thought about this. And this, as I said before, is creating risks for everyone that’s involved. And I also see companies responding only after a client starts asking these questions. And that is an issue. You want to make sure you’re prepared already. And this is where I’m constantly coming in and supporting leadership teams, helping them understand their current exposure. You know what necessarily they need to have in place and how to prepare the answers that they need to give to the client. If the client were to come back and say, hey, how are you using my data in this work? And what kind of AI tools are you using for the work that we’re doing together?
Trisha Stetzel: Gosh, this has been such a great conversation already, and I know we’re only halfway through here, but I know that there are business owners out there that want to learn more. What is the best way to connect with you or follow the work that you’re doing so they can learn more?
Shadi Yazdan: Best way number one is LinkedIn. I’m very vocal on LinkedIn. Um, email. Also my website reach out. I always offer a 30 minute, no obligation call to anyone that has any question and wondering if it even makes sense for us to work together because there’s, again, so much confusion in the market. And I advise people to actually talk to those that do describe themselves as AI experts to see how they can really support you in what you need to do. And with a lot of the clients I work with, I oftentimes start my engagement with going in and doing, whether it’s a lunch and learn session, whether it’s an hour workshop, half day full day. And that’s a really great way to just help them and their team and the people that are at the company, just to wrap their head around what AI is, what it’s not, what are the possibilities for them, and how do they move forward effectively without opening themselves up to any lawsuits, without chasing tools after tools, and ensuring that anything that they do is founded in their core strategy and not beyond that.
Trisha Stetzel: Oh, and that’s such important work that you’re doing, you guys, this is how I found shady was on LinkedIn. So if you’re looking for her there as SHADIYAZDEN and she’d.
Shadi Yazdan: A.
Trisha Stetzel: Nanodan. Pardon me. Uh, SHADIYAZDAN. And she writes some really great stuff out there, so you guys should go connect with her and learn more about her work. Let’s get practical. Why don’t we get practical? So what practical steps should leaders, those who are listening today take now to protect their company and even their clients, without or without stopping responsible AI use?
Shadi Yazdan: First of all, they should ask the question why? Why are they thinking about AI? Many, believe it or not, have a hard time answering that. Um, and then they should also start by understanding how AI is already being used across the business, whether they know it or not. And then from there they need a clear ownership approved tool system, simple rules for data and confidentiality and a clear process for human review. Because regardless of what anyone tells you, you’re still going to need the human to review the work that the AI is doing, and they should also make sure that they really go back to all of their agreements, privacy, language, employee policies, client commitments, all of that to ensure that it reflects how the business really operates today and how they’re using AI technology. Now, the goal here is really not to frighten people or to block people from using AI. It’s really to create enough structure for people to use it safely and confidentiality and confidently. This is the work that I continuously am really passionate about and love doing, and help leaderships do to identify those gaps, make the right business decisions, and put the right foundation in place before risk, confusion, client concerns, lawsuits, anything becomes more expensive.
Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. And just a little sidebar on the human in the middle. You talked about a couple of times how important it is that humans are paying attention in the world. How important is it to have that human in the middle when we’re talking about AI?
Shadi Yazdan: Sorry, can you repeat that again?
Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. No problem.
Trisha Stetzel: Just coming back to the human in the middle, how important is it for that human to be in the middle of AI, where we’re not letting all of that technology just take over the business?
Shadi Yazdan: It’s crucial. I mean, we hear every day, and I think a new term that people have learned is hallucination. And that is when the AI models make a mistake or they go rogue. I mean, we just heard about a major event that happened with OpenAI, where their AI models just pretty much got loose and started causing havoc. And this is very important that businesses really need to be prepared, um, to have someone that’s double checking any sort of an output that the AI model is giving them to ensure that it’s a accurate information that, you know, aligns with the data that they currently have and just double check. I don’t think we’re ever going to just be able to set it and forget it, which is what people really want. And there’s so many vendors on the market that are selling their products as something that you set and forget, and that’s just not the reality. You’re always going to have to double check, make sure mistakes aren’t made. And we hear these stories every day, from the law firms to the small little businesses to even enterprises that have gotten themselves in hot water because somebody didn’t check the output that was put out there through the AI that gave them the results that they were asking for.
Trisha Stetzel: Mhm. Yeah. Hallucinations. I’ve seen a little bit of that in my tools, for sure. So let’s go a little deeper into how you’re supporting businesses as an outside AI expert, when they need help making these decisions about the tools that that they are using, building governance and compliance foundations and responding to client concerns.
Shadi Yazdan: Yeah, I help them really make clear decision about where AI belongs and then identify any gaps that they have and whether it’s in their business and also their governance, privacy, compliance and internal policies, and then really help them prepare for questions that clients could potentially have for them about data use, about confidentiality, risk, and human oversight. I also help the business decide what needs to change before legal counsel, updates their formal language in contracts and policies, and the result really is, at the end of the day, the leadership team that feels more confident, protects important client relationship, really avoids costly mistakes and is able to make better AI investment. Every day we’re hearing about how AI implementation is failing miserably, and I have to say it’s because the foundational pieces aren’t in place and they really need to be before any discussion is to be had about any sort of an AI tool.
Trisha Stetzel: And that’s so important. Thank you for bringing all of this. I feel like, um, good detail, but in ways that we can really understand it, particularly as small to mid-sized business owners, we, most of us are using it and we have employees that are using it. And I think that there is definitely a conversation that we all need to have or, uh, get out and have with you or learn from the work that you’re doing. I really appreciate you sharing all of that. Do you have a I know that you talked a little bit about the market and some stories that are out there. Do you have something that comes top of mind from a story perspective, either with a client or outside of your clientele? That has a lot to do with this human in the middle and making sure that we’re doing the right things before we implement these tools.
Shadi Yazdan: Um, so how scary do you want the story? Should it be G rated or PG?
Trisha Stetzel: Or how about we do PG 13? I think my audience can handle it.
Shadi Yazdan: Pg 13. Um, I’ll just give you a story because this is top of mind because it just, it, it, it happened and, and we’ve gotten on top of it. But there was this, um, company that I was working with midsize and I’m going to protect their identity. I’m not allowed to, uh, you know, discuss that. But what ended up happening is I came in because they were saying how they were thinking, and they wanted to use AI, but weren’t sure how to get started. And then very quickly, um, I discovered through the discussions I was having with teams, um, that many of the employees were actually using their mobile device, um, their own data because the company had blocked everyone accessing using the company Wi-Fi, accessing ChatGPT cloud or any of the other tools, but the employees were using it with their own data to run. And then they were uploading like private client documents to get results. And, um, conclusion about, oh, what does this data, what, what is this data really saying? And they were doing that constantly. And the worse was that they were using free version of ChatGPT, which means if you’re using anything that’s free, you are the product. Many of us who are Facebook generation learn that lesson the very hard way, because we don’t have access to any of our pictures or anything we ever shared when we started using Facebook. So you’re the product, so you are sharing all this information and the ChatGPT of the world.
Shadi Yazdan: And I don’t want to just blame ChatGPT because the other models do it too. It’s just it doesn’t come out in public as much as ChatGPT because they’re always the ones in the spotlight, but they’re running. That’s how they improve their AI models. They’re training them on your data so that information gets leaked into like World Wide Web, Google, or wherever. That’s your private client information about their revenue, about, um, everything that you can think of. Gov. So I always say if that if the information isn’t available publicly, then you should not be including that in any sort of a AI model out there whatsoever. You should be very careful. But even the ones that you pay for, I always say caution people and say, be mindful of what you’re sharing and how you’re sharing. I advise my clients remove names, remove ways of identifying the particular client and then running that data. So yeah, it was quite interesting. Um, trying to, um, work with this client to make sure this wouldn’t happen again, um, in the future. But again, it’s a very tough lesson to learn. And I think all of us are so excited about these tools. We look at them as these shiny, exciting tools. And I completely understand, but none of us are thinking about what could potentially happen and where that’s going to end up taking us.
Trisha Stetzel: Right? Absolutely. And that’s where you come in. And the work that you’re doing with your clients is so important when it comes to this, because they’re there doesn’t seem to be the governance and compliance and all of those messages that you talked about today, coming down to the small to medium sized business owner, where many of them have adopted because it made their work easier and they were able to spend time doing other things as they adopted these tools. This has been amazing. So, Shadi, if our listeners take away just one idea, just one from today’s conversation, what do you hope that is?
Shadi Yazdan: Go back to your agreements and contracts. Rewrite them with AI in mind. You don’t have to mention every single tool and how you use it and where you use it, but just make sure you do mention that you are using if you are what you’re using and how you would be using it. And again, I’m happy to work with anyone that wants some guidance. That is the core of the work that I’m doing now, um, to help you ensure that your agreements are compliant so they won’t get you into those hot waters.
Trisha Stetzel: We. So I’m from Texas. I’ll call it a pickle.
Shadi Yazdan: Yes. There you go.
Trisha Stetzel: Don’t get into a pickle pickle. Oh my gosh.
Shadi Yazdan: I have to say one good thing about Texas. You guys are actually implementing some really great laws right now. Yeah. When it comes to AI and governance. So good on Texas.
Trisha Stetzel: Okay, thanks for the shout out. That’s fantastic. All right Shorty, one more time. Where’s the best place for people to connect with you as well as find more information about the work you’re doing.
Shadi Yazdan: So thank you for asking. Linkedin number one, email number two and my website.
Trisha Stetzel: Okay, fantastic. And by the way, you guys, as always, we’ll have all of that in the show notes. So if you’re sitting in front of your computer, you can point and click to get in touch with Shorty. Otherwise you’ll have to wait until you get home in front of your computer and you can find the notes that you need in order to connect with her. Shorty has been my pleasure to host you. Thank you so much for spending your time with me today.
Shadi Yazdan: Thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed it.
Trisha Stetzel: All right, you guys, that’s all the time we have for today. If you found value in this conversation that Shadi and I had, please share it with a fellow entrepreneur, veteran or Houston leader ready to grow. Be sure to follow, rate and review the show. Of course, it helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours and your business. Your leadership and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.
