Hi, I’m Yas Dalkilic. I’m the Head of AI at a leading B2B marketing agency (been there since 2010), but this is my personal lab. My defining trait is a relentless passion for solving problems that don’t want to be solved.
Before business problems, it was water. As a child I fell for freediving—holding my breath and going deep. I was obsessed with the challenge of figuring out how to make a human body work as efficient as a Swiss clock to function and survive that long without oxygen, while remaining calm deep underwater where it is always screaming: "You don't belong here, you may die!". That pursuit took me to eight world records with dives to 400 feet. Not because I loved danger (I didn’t), but because the puzzle was irresistible.
When it was time to pick my lifelong career, I chose Mathematics because I believe the core of problem solving is mathematical thinking. Yes, I was that geek that actually went to college to study Math.
After that, I started working as a programmer and soon became the go-to person when a need didn’t have an off-the-shelf solution. Then I formed the innovations department, staffed with like-minded individuals that expertly tackle problems that don’t fit templates.
When generative AI arrived, it felt like someone pointed me to the door of an endless knowledge treasure trove. AI became the ultimate playground for a problem solver, and I decided to make it my work.
I acquired the prestigious MIT credential in AI, ran our AI literacy program for the entire agency, and led the charge to make the business AI-ready across people, process, and platforms.