Heiko Hotz

Heiko has spent 23 years building software and the last 9 in AI/ML — embedded systems at Panasonic, data science at Amazon, AI/ML at AWS, then two and a half years as a Generative AI Global Blackbelt at Google Cloud. One thing he helped build was Magalu’s “Lu’s Brain”, a multi-agent shopping assistant on WhatsApp that did over R$100 million in sales in its first eight months. In July 2026, he joined Google Cloud’s Strategic Customer Engagement team as Principal Strategist, helping senior leaders across EMEA turn big questions about cloud and AI into clearer business problems and concrete next steps. He’s built the systems and watched them break, which is how he can tell an executive which parts of the pitch are real. He also teaches Generative AI Product Design at London Business School and co-wrote “Building Live Voice Agents” (O’Reilly, early release). His position is simple: AI is software. Treat it with engineering discipline, and it can transform your business. Treat it like a mag