Enterprise AI roadblocks and roadmaps, security and physical AI: Day two at TechEx

Day two of TechEx North America has been more of a deeper, critical examination of AI in the enterprise, but with a optimistic bent. The AI and Big Data programme opened with reference to what was termed the “AI graveyard” – that is, AI projects that seem to perform well in pilot, but don’t seem to cut it in the real world. Despite the presence of what might be a negative term, multiple speakers and sessions addressed ways in which the forward-thinking business might not ever have to experience the technological cemetery.

The different show tracks of the second day of this event dived deeper into the pervasive issues that may be affecting AI deployments. Sessions in the Enterprise AI Implementation, ROI and Adoption tracks took stalled pilots as a starting point, and tried to ascertain the reasons behind faltering projects. There was a good deal of sound advice for organisations, with sessions on focusing agentic AI on specific business areas, building agent-ready data foundations (planning for success under the hood), and the realities of token-based AI charging on the business’s finances.

At an infra level, there were deeper discussions too on whether companies should buy or build physical infrastructure for their AI projects, and the best ways to create dur...