Dr. Antonio Nucci has built an extraordinary career at the intersection of AI, security, and enterprise technology. With nearly 100 patents, leadership roles at major tech companies like Cisco and Symantec, and a track record of driving innovation and industry disruption with AI, he’s now bringing his expertise to RingCentral as the company’s Chief AI Officer. I sat down with Dr. Nucci to learn more about his journey, his thoughts on the potential of agentic AI, and the future of AI-powered business communications.
You’ve had a remarkable career spanning AI, security, and enterprise software. What led you to join RingCentral?
I’ve always been drawn to challenges that involve disrupting the status quo and redefining how businesses operate. I started with distributed computing and security, and over the last two decades, I’ve had the opportunity to apply AI to everything from networking to cybersecurity to service desk automation.
When I looked at the landscape today, I saw that business communications—one of the most essential functions for any company—was still ripe for AI-driven transformation. There’s a huge opportunity to elevate the way companies engage internally and with their customers externally through AI-powered experiences.
That opportunity, combined with RingCentral’s culture of innovation, made this role the perfect next step for me. I was impressed with RingCentral’s strong track record of delivering AI-powered products, including AI-assisted systems for customer experience and intelligent conversation tools. I’m excited to be here at RingCentral to accelerate embedding AI into the very fabric of business communications.
Coming in as Chief AI Officer, what are your top priorities?
One of my main focus areas is to drive elevated experiences in business communications. Today, voice, video, or messaging primarily serve as passive conduits for conversations. An elevated experience means transforming these channels into an intelligent proactive system of experiences that don’t just facilitate conversations but actively enhance them by understanding the parties involved (persona awareness), their needs and sentiment (situational awareness), and providing real-time assistance with task automation, recommendations, and more (in-time assistance).
With the emergence of agentic AI, there is a tremendous opportunity to transform business communications as we know it. And we at RingCentral are uniquely positioned to deliver a unified agentic AI platform that powers specialized digital agents. I’m excited about the capabilities of agentic AI to leverage multiple modes of conversation to enhance productivity, streamline collaboration, and improve interactions.
For example, imagine a dental office that relies on phone calls and messaging to schedule appointments and manage patient inquiries. Today, staff members spend valuable time handling routing and scheduling, answering frequently asked questions, and managing follow-ups. Conversational AI assistants can instantly respond to common questions, like insurance coverage, pricing, or pre-visit instructions, freeing staff to focus on in-person patient care. AI can automate tasks like managing appointment bookings, sending confirmations, and following up with patients to reduce no-shows.
With AI, customer experiences are shifting from reactive to proactive engagement. AI can analyze past interactions to anticipate needs, such as suggesting check-ups based on treatment history or sending post-visit care instructions tailored to the patient’s medical record. By anticipating, automating, and assisting, AI elevates the patient experience while allowing staff to focus on high-value care.
What advice would you give companies looking to integrate AI into their operations?
The key is preparation. Many companies want to jump on the AI train because of its potential, but often lack the necessary digital infrastructure.
Successful AI integration starts with data readiness. AI thrives on high-quality data, yet many companies attempt implementation without addressing data silos, data inconsistencies, or accessibility. Businesses must prioritize a strong data foundation, ensuring AI has real-time access to relevant information across systems.
AI isn’t plug-and-play. It must integrate seamlessly into existing workflows, applications, and backend and front-end systems. Without API readiness and interoperability, AI remains a disconnected opportunity rather than a force multiplier. Companies need flexible, well-documented APIs that allow AI to pull insights from CRMs, Knowledge Bases, and Service platforms, ensuring AI-driven automation and decision-making feel like a natural extension of their daily operations.
The biggest challenge in AI adoption isn’t technology. It is the people using it. AI should augment human capabilities, not just automate tasks, but this requires employees to trust, understand, and effectively embrace AI in their workplace. Organizations must invest in workforce transformation, providing employees with the right skills, training, and mindset to leverage AI.
When everything clicks, AI will truly unlock human potential, empowering people to work smarter and deliver greater outcomes.
And finally, what excites you most about the future of AI in communications?
We’re at the beginning of a major transformation. AI is evolving rapidly, and its applications in customer communications are only starting to unfold.
The real power lies in AI enhancing decision-making, like predicting customer frustration before a complaint or summarizing key insights from a call or a meeting. Imagine intelligent digital agents that can anticipate a customer’s needs before they even reach out, or AI-driven collaboration tools that eliminate inefficiencies in real time.
The potential to reshape how businesses interact, internally and externally, is limitless.
At RingCentral, we’re setting the course for what’s next, and that’s incredibly exciting to be a part of.
Looking forward
Dr. Antonio Nucci joins RingCentral as Chief AI Officer at a pivotal moment when AI is completely transforming business communications. With enterprises rapidly adopting AI to enhance collaboration and customer engagement, the need for dedicated leadership in AI strategy has never been greater.
A Silicon Valley visionary with over 100 published papers and a track record of groundbreaking AI innovations, Dr. Nucci has shaped industries, advised on national security, and earned top accolades for his contributions. Now, he is bringing that expertise to redefine how organizations collaborate and connect.
Originally published May 21, 2025
