The Ohio AI Summit, presented by Further and OhioX, returned for its second year with a clear message: organizations are ready to move from experimentation to real, responsible impact. Whether you attended in person or are simply following the trends shaping the region, the conversations offered a practical look at what it takes to adopt AI that is trustworthy, high quality, and built for real-world use.
A People-First View of AI Adoption
The summit opened with a keynote from Cal Al-Dhubaib, Head of AI and Data Science at Further. His message centered on one foundational idea: AI only creates value when people are prepared and confident enough to use it.
Cal explored the gap between rapidly advancing AI tools and the slower pace of organizational trust. His thought experiment, which asked leaders whether they trusted their own ability to quality-control AI versus their colleagues, highlighted a universal challenge. Technology evolves quickly, but trust and literacy take time.
He emphasized that successful AI programs balance automation with human decision-making and closed with a powerful reminder from Dr. Fei-Fei Li:
“There is nothing artificial about AI. It is inspired by people. It is created by people. And it impacts people.”
How Enterprises Are Putting AI Into Practice
One of the most insightful sessions featured an AI in Action panel with leaders from Velera, Case Western Reserve University, and Westfield Insurance. Their discussion offered tangible lessons for organizations building or scaling AI initiatives, especially in regulated industries.
Key themes included:
- AI Literacy Isn’t a One-Time Training: Teams gain confidence through ongoing working sessions, applied learning, and real workflows rather than slide decks or single workshops.
- Governance Helps Innovation, Not Hinders It: Each organization described AI councils or cross-functional oversight groups that guide both ideation and approval. When done well, governance removes friction and speeds up delivery.
- Your Best AI Talent Might Already Be on Your Team: Panelists consistently found that the people who became their strongest AI contributors were internal employees who simply needed time, structure, and support to upskill.
- The Mindsets That Matter Most in 2025: Curiosity, courage, comfort with change, and collaboration emerged as the human skills that will drive AI success in the year ahead.
Trends and Themes Emerging Across the Summit
While sessions varied, the hallway conversations revealed a consistent story about where enterprise AI is heading.
- People Are the Bottleneck, Not the Technology: Tools are advancing rapidly, but adoption ultimately depends on culture, confidence, and workforce readiness..
- Quality Control Is Becoming the Top Priority: Organizations want reliability, consistency, and governance that ensures AI strengthens rather than replaces human decision-making.
- ROI Is Shifting from Efficiency to Effectiveness: Leaders are measuring impact through customer satisfaction, employee experience, conversion rates, and speed to market rather than only cost savings.
- Governance Is Becoming Operational, Not Theoretical: The most effective teams treat governance as part of the delivery process, aligning risk, ethics, innovation, and outcomes.
How Further Supports Organizations Moving From Experimentation to Impact
Further continues to help enterprises design AI systems that are safe, trusted, and ready for real-world environments.
Our work spans:
- AI readiness and workforce enablement
- Quality programs that support responsible deployment
- Governed generative and agentic AI solutions
- Partnerships that help teams build AI that strengthens operations and improves decision-making
If your organization is navigating AI adoption, quality control, or workforce readiness, feel free to share what challenges you are facing. We are happy to provide a complementary exploratory session and share tailored resources.
