Hitachi: Story Behind AI

Executive interview production for Hitachi’s “Stories Behind AI” series

Earlier this year I partnered with Hitachi Digital to produce interviews for Innovators: Stories Behind AI, a series about the leaders and technologies shaping AI across the Hitachi Group.

We shot at Hitachi Digital’s Santa Clara headquarters: five executives over two production days, covering how AI is changing software development, manufacturing, transportation, energy, and data infrastructure.

The episode featured here is Suhail Khaki, CTO of Software Development Lifecycle at GlobalLogic, a Hitachi Group company. The problem his team is working on is one a lot of organizations recognize: AI tools keep getting more powerful, but they’re scattered and don’t talk to each other. Their answer is VelocityAI, a platform where AI agents collaborate across the whole development lifecycle so a team can get from idea to working prototype far faster than the traditional path.

The moment I keep thinking about is Suhail’s Tesla comparison. Most AI tools today are like Autopilot — you still have to keep your hands on the wheel the whole time. What he’s building toward is closer to Full Self-Driving: the system does most of the work and pulls a human in only when it needs one. It’s the kind of analogy that makes a very technical idea click instantly, and it’s exactly what you hope for in an interview.

On the production side, the hard part was the schedule. Five senior leaders, two days, and none of them with time to spare. Executive interviews aren’t really about the camera package. They’re about being prepared enough that the person walks in, sits down, and walks out forty minutes later feeling like it was easy.

I wanted one consistent look across the whole series, and I wanted every participant to have the same smooth experience. Staying organized paid off in a way I didn’t fully plan for: we kept finishing interviews with a few minutes to spare, and I used them to grab custom B-roll with each executive. That’s the footage that gives each episode its own personality, and it didn’t cost the client a single extra shoot day.

This is the kind of project I enjoy most — taking something technical, whether it’s AI orchestration or smart manufacturing or grid infrastructure, and finding the person inside the story. The technology is interesting. The person who’s spent years on it is more interesting.

Suhail’s episode is one of several in the series. The others cover Hitachi Rail’s digital train factory in Hagerstown, building AI for evolving industrial applications, a human-centered, AI-enabled electrical grid, and preparing data centers for rising global demand.