I had the absolute pleasure of attending AI for the Rest of Us in London. The conference was an inspiring mix of perspectives and experiences that made each session incredibly valuable. We started with a crash course on the fundamentals, and from there, we were free to explore and dive into the tracks that resonated most with us.

Throughout these two fantastic days, I’ve met so many incredible people from diverse fields, filling my notebook with clever insights and sparking a growing list of ideas. The attention to detail was outstanding—from snack bars to the creative stickers signalling our level of openness to conversation. As a “come say hello to me” person, it was heartwarming to see people reaching out!

To those who couldn’t attend, I’ve gathered my key insights and takeaways from the conference to share. But first, a huge thank you to the conference team for their care, energy, and dedication. You crafted an unforgettable experience, and I’m leaving with a head buzzing with new knowledge and a heart full of gratitude. Can’t wait for what’s next and continue the conversations on LinkedIn.

A few of the many clever things the phenomenal speakers shared:

• There are massive opportunities for non-tech people to work with helping companies implement AI right now. As long as you have domain experience, you can add tech as a layer on top of that to identify how to perform certain tasks more easily or create valuable insights.
  
  
• If you can write a brief, you can write a prompt for a LLM. Really, it’s that easy. And if you cannot be specific and describe what you want to achieve, for whom or describe a specific task. Then you should not be worried about AI taking your job, you should be afraid of other people.
  
  
• Agentic AI is the new buzzword. And it’s here to help augment humans. We can now build teams of AIs that solve specific and narrow tasks to solve.
  
  
• There are vast opportunities for the market insight sector to use AI solutions to increase correct analysis and faster of vast quantities of data. To ask the right questions, and to deliver value in a fast-paced world.
  
  
  
• The best quote from the conference; “AI without direction is a road to nowhere”
  Jessica Hall Just Eat Takeaway.com

Skills and organisations

• A new skill that we need to develop, is LQ, the ability to adapt, learn, unlearn and relearn something.
  
  
  
• Conways Law – Organisational structure affects what a company can create. And the rise of the demand for M-skilled people who have experience in multiple domains and can make connections between them. Patrick Debois
• Dave Rogers from Snyk reminded us that we apply AI in imperfect contexts = organisations. And to read the terms and conditions of the AI tools that we use for our businesses. 
  
  
• We need skilled people to do AI, not just tools. Martina Hodges-Schell

Key questions that I’ve saved from my notes, to help us navigate AI;

• When can AI enhance our technology? And how can we create a human-led transformation? Lawrence A.Vodafone
  
  
  
• Have we been LLM-washed? And how do we choose the right model for our use cases? Lisa Becker’s checklist for choosing the right model;
  
  
  • What problem are we trying to solve?
  • Do we have the right data?
  • What are the computational and cost limits?
  • How quickly is the solution needed?
  • Do the stakeholders need to understand the model’s decisions?
    
    
• Where to find models? Browse Huggingface.
  
  
• Another helpful question, to help you identify how you can use AI in your business, is to ask yourself how can I save 5-10 hours from my and my colleague’s week?
  
  
• When we build solutions and tech, whose knowledge counts? And we value the people who use technology (a must-read is “Studying Those Who Study Us” by Diana E Forsythe, which I have ordered). Lianne Potter.