Keynote with Weston LaBar - The Good, the Bad, and the Exciting: The Real Role of AI Now and in the Future
AI is not a silver bullet. It is a tool, and the organizations that treat it that way are pulling ahead. In this keynote, Weston LaBar offers a practical framework for putting AI to work: build strategy around real problems, not the technology; understand how AI reshapes the workforce; and treat AI fluency as a core competency for every professional. Weston is a certified professional AI business strategist through the MIT Sloan School of Management, where his thesis on AI architecture was validated by MIT faculty. He has guest lectured on AI's role in sustainability at CSULB. Drawing on his work in logistics and workforce development, Weston cuts through the hype with lessons leaders can use immediately. Attendees will leave with a clear-eyed view of what AI can do, where it breaks down, and why the people, not the algorithm, still decide whether it works.
This 15-minute keynote covers three ideas leaders can act on now.
First, developing an actionable AI strategy. Most of what is sold as AI is automation with better marketing. A real strategy starts with the problem, not the tool. Name the operational friction worth solving, then go find the fix. Know what you are buying, what those tools need to deliver results, and how they integrate into an AI-driven ecosystem, before you write the check. And for founders: you must leverage AI before investors will write you one.
Second, the impact of AI on the workforce. AI can close labor gaps and lift productivity, but the real risk is not the technology. It is falling behind the people who use it. As Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang put it, "You're not going to lose your job to an AI, but you're going to lose your job to someone who uses AI." Adoption is the hard part, and it is underrated. Vision and adoption start at the top. If leadership does not use AI and believe in it, no one else will either.
Third, AI is rapidly becoming a KSA in everyday life, much like the internet. AI fluency is now a knowledge, skill, and ability in its own right, not just a tool companies buy. A Wharton benchmark suggests 30 to 50 percent of what you do should look different than it did five years ago. Staying relevant means developing that competency personally, not waiting for your organization to hand it to you.
We aren't in the opening moments of a nine-inning game when it comes to AI. Are you prepared to go the distance?