Beyond the Hype – How Innovation Speakers Help Businesses Make Sense of AI

There’s a lot of media noise in artificial intelligence. You’re always being pushed the next tool or platform to revolutionise your business. But how can you cut through to understand what’s really going to help you and what’s ancillary? Today, we’re going to talk about how innovation speakers help businesses make sense of AI. (And it’s no surprise, these are among our most in-demand speakers right now.) We’ll dive into whether the uncertainty is well placed and make some suggestions for talent you should hire for your next event.

What’s the risk of doing AI wrong?

Most of the worry around artificial intelligence is because it’s unknown territory. With anything new, the impact of using it or not using it is largely unknown. AI tools look to have all these amazing capabilities, but there are risks if AI is done wrong, too. AI systems suffer from bias, where the training data can skew results. There are also concerns around the ethics and whether third world countries or the planet are being harmed to keep them running. Next comes worries over the security risk, not just of putting your company’s confidential data into a 3rd party system, but also of deepfakes that are now so convincing, employees are handing over huge sums of money. It has led to several post-summit conversations on artificial intelligence restrictions and has even seen Labour include AI regulation pledges in its manifesto. So, it makes sense that companies are keen to get educated.

There’s also the human impact of AI to consider.

Why is human-centred AI a hot topic?

Beyond security and equity, there are also understandable debates around AI replacing human workers. Explaining how AI is empowering jobs, not deleting them, is one of the most-requested topics from our innovation speakers, and it shows that businesses want to reassure their team that they’re not expendable. Human-centred AI is the future and not just a buzzword. Taking a human-supporting approach allows businesses; conscious that early adoption creates a competitive advantage, to line their departments with AI agents, ML tools and automations without running their culture.

How innovation speakers help businesses make sense of AI

So, with all these considerations in mind, plus the pushback against ‘AI for AI’s sake’, there’s a real appetite for understanding the responsible, inclusive and practical applications for artificial intelligence. Innovation speakers help businesses make sense of AI by explaining what’s out there, what it can do and how it can be used empathetically to enrich human productivity, not overwrite it. Great AI speakers will explain how automation can remove repetitive tasks from your human team members and free them up for more high-value work (which people find more rewarding anyway).

What should event organisers look for in an innovation AI speaker?

When looking for an innovation AI speaker, you want to seek out a professional with broad experience and exposure across multiple industries. You also need someone with a business lens and a relatable conversational style that can make more complex topics easy to understand. Ensure that they are impartial and not trying to sell you something too. There’s less value in talks that end with a sales pitch. So, we recommend choosing a speaker from a journalistic or academic background instead of a SaaS provider, for example. And finally, you may want to align your speaker with your values and business goals for the very best fit.

Recommended AI speakers on innovation

We’re honoured to have a large stable of innovation speakers available for your next event or keynote. Here are some we’d recommend specifically for the topic of AI:

Zoe Kleinman

The beloved BBC Technology Editor and an expert presenter on AI, cybersecurity and tech trends; Zoe is an impartial voice in the digital marketplace. She’s led coverage of the UK government’s AI Safety Summit for the BBC and interviewed visionaries like Tim Cook of Apple.

But she’s also been on the front lines with the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal, in-game gambling hearings and Twitter takeover drama. This provides her with a nuanced take on how businesses should use AI that audiences will find enthralling.

Katie Prescott

Tech Commentator of the Year and a highly accomplished journalist, speaker, podcaster and host in previous years for London Tech Week and the AI Summit; Katie says we are in a special moment for business. In terms of future of work, artificial intelligence will have the same impact on white collar office jobs that steam power had during the industrial revolution. 

Katie looks at the infrastructure being built to cope with the demand for AI and questions whether governments can keep up with Big Tech when it comes to spending and therefore crucially control over the technology.

Katie will reflect on the interviews she has done with Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Sam Altman of OpenAI, Alex Kendall of British driverless vehicle company Wayve and others to look at the most exciting developments in the sector at the moment and what key players are saying about what they are doing.

Danny Fortson

A great storyteller and correspondent for The Sunday Times, Danny takes people inside the Silicon Valley machine, explaining how to innovate amid a bubble where most ideas flounder.

His talks on how humans with AI co-pilots have begun producing at superhuman levels resonate with leaders, and his broad exposure via the Times Tech Podcast with co-host Katie Prescott makes him highly desirable for keynote addresses.

To connect with these speakers or any of our other innovation speakers, please get in touch today.