Ohio AI Summit Recap
The Ohio AI Summit was hosted by OhioX. OhioX is a nonprofit membership organization that connects, promotes, and advocates for tech in Ohio. They’re a coalition of leading tech companies building Ohio’s tech hub.
Enterprise AI Insights from the Ohio AI Summit
The enterprise AI panel (KeyBank, Nationwide, Cardinal Health, and State of Ohio) shed light on how organizations are leveraging artificial intelligence to drive innovation, improve efficiency, and elevate customer experiences. Below are some key takeaways from the discussion:
AI Adoption Across Enterprises
Education and Training:
A state-led training program has been implemented for employees to learn AI and cloud environments, leveraging platforms like AWS and Microsoft tools.
Companies shared their initiatives such as internal "AI Days," hackathons, and code jams provide employees with a safe environment to experiment and innovate with AI. (I hear this often that employees don’t get enough time to play and experiment with AI tools.)
Policy and Governance:
Organizations are actively developing AI governance policies to manage both structured and unstructured data, aligning strategies for generative AI use cases.
Set up AI councils to prioritize and guide the implementation of AI use cases to ensure alignment with business goals.
Use Case Identification and Prioritization:
Companies like Nationwide are surveying departments to identify AI opportunities, with one effort gathering over 200 potential use cases. Of these, eight are actively in development, focusing on impactful applications.
Shifting Business Models with AI
AI is driving a paradigm shift from labor arbitrage (cost savings through outsourcing) to value arbitrage, emphasizing enhanced customer experiences and operational efficiency.
Case examples include:
Customer Service Enhancements: AI tools like GitHub Copilot and Microsoft Copilot are streamlining tasks for employees, enabling more empathetic customer interactions.
AI in Call Centers: Summarizing customer notes and reducing redundant tasks allows call center agents to focus on human-centered engagement.
Robotics in Distribution: AI-powered robots are transforming supply chain operations, improving precision, and reducing manual workload.
Workforce Development and Upskilling
Upskilling initiatives to prepare employees for an AI-driven future. These programs emphasize hands-on learning to build confidence and competence in applying AI solutions across industries.
The Role of AI in Government and Public Services
In public services, AI is enabling case workers to manage larger workloads more efficiently, enhancing the quality of service delivery.
Emphasis on educating staff to "think AI-first" ensures AI becomes an integrated tool in decision-making processes, not just an IT project.
Key Themes for Successful AI Integration
Change Management: Successful AI adoption requires structured change management practices to address resistance and foster collaboration across teams.
Data Strategy and Governance: Generative AI demands a shift in data strategy, ensuring proper governance and ethical use of AI models.
Ethical Recruitment: As organizations expand AI initiatives, recruiting talent with ethical AI expertise is a growing priority.
This panel highlighted that AI is not just an IT initiative but a transformative force reshaping industries. Organizations must prioritize education, adopt AI-first thinking, and shift their focus from cost savings to creating value through innovation.
Lots to be proud of in Ohio.
Ohio also announced its AI in Education Strategy for AI literacy in our school systems. https://innovateohio.gov/aistrategy/ohios-ai-in-education-coalition-ai-strategy
It was fun to represent our CincyAI community at OhioX with all these wonderful humans! It’s always inspiring to connect, learn, and share ideas about the future of AI. Go Cincinnati!
Maddie Bell from SchedulerAI, Katie Trauth-Taylor from Narratize, and Zachary Beller from Vixiv all from Cincinnati, and AI founders had a chance to share their innovative AI tools. Check out their AI platforms. They are super impressive.
State of AI in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky
Please share our AI Survey with your organization and social media.
We are loving all the responses so far! Please fill out this quick survey (less than 4 minutes) and let us know your thoughts (your answers will be anonymous).
Our Greater Cincinnati and NKY State of AI Report will be available by Q1 2025, and we need your responses! The report draws on feedback from businesses and leaders like you to provide insight into artificial intelligence use cases, adoption, opportunities, and challenges in our community.
The deadline for responses is November 30, 2024!
Greater Cincinnati AI Events for 2024 (over 70 events)
New events are added weekly. Here are the events that I am aware of: https://kendraramirez.com/cincinnati-ai-events-2024/
2025 dates for you https://kendraramirez.com/cincinnati-ai-events-2025/
December 3 from 3-5 for our CincyAI meetup. 7 spots left. Come see why we sell out every month with over 150 attendees. Half of the room is AI developers and half the room is the business community navigating AI. Thank you to UC Research and Digital Futures for your partnership.
This is a special session sponsored by Adobe Content Authenticity Initiative. Content Credentials, like a digital nutrition label for content, enable anyone to understand the provenance or history of content. Learn why it’s important, how the standard is rolling out across the Internet, and see a demo on how to add your attribution, set your AI training preferences, and more.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1067987311799?aff=oddtdtcreator
December 12 from 12-1 AI webinar for Nonprofits led by Pete Blackshaw and I.
2024: A Breakthrough Year for AI in Non-Profits. Discussing AI best practices and how to stay ahead going into 2025.
Details and rsvp links to come for this free event. We are also working on a series of AI trainings for 2025 for the Nonprofit community. Save the date for hands on training on January 14 from 12-2.
I love answering your AI questions. Feel free to message me.
Where AI and inspiration collide!
Kendra Ramirez
KendraRamirez.com
We provide AI Speaking and Training, AI Readiness Assessments, AI Strategy, AI roadmap and implementation, and AI Coaching for small to mid-size businesses and nonprofits.
We can help you navigate finding the right partner. We have worked with several AI partners to meet your specific needs.