By Fernando SC Ferreira – Business Development

Tech predictions can be fascinating, but sometimes reality is just as interesting. OpenAI made AI accessible to all, but it also kick-started never-ending debates based on vague scenarios (“utopia or dystopia”). However important these may be, there’s clearly too many variables to consider for straightforward answers (like in other inflection points).

Meanwhile, multiple types of AI have quietly infiltrated every corner of businesses and life, and some utterly transformative. SXWS 2025 sessions offered plenty of real world cases that bring AI innovation to the “here and now”. Much of it was presented within very high level Tech trends, but they do deserve more attention.

Here’s 10 cases and the inevitable questions that come with them:

  • Communication (Autonomous Organizations): SUPERHUMAN offers an intriguing email experience, going far beyond “co-pilots” (“draft replies” and more). Will there ever be a true “autonomous organization”?
  • Finance (Agents): MIZUKI verifies sources and uncovers scams in the notoriously volatile crypto space. Will “agents” be the solution to some problems they themselves create?
  • Health (LLMs): after a stroke, ANN JOHNSON regained communication abilities via brain sensors years ago, but genAI now greatly improved fluency. Will “LLMs” shape our communication abilities as well?
  • Sports (Analytics): ENHANCED GAMES pushes the biological limits through highly personalized medical profiling and training. Will “analytics“ be a must in all types of human competition?
  • Architecture (Design): MATTHIAS HOLLICH’s studio acknowledges that cities are now designed by AI and architects operate as “translators”. Will AI and human collaborate in all “design“ related work?
  • IT hardware (Living Machines): CORTICAL has just launched a computer that includes actual human neurons, which are more energy efficient. Will “living machines” be the new normal?
  • Food (Meta-Materials): YONSEI UNIVERSITY took biotech to a new level with its “cow-rice”, in which rice is re-created with cow genes (and protein). Will “meta-materials” be regulated, and by whom?
  • Weather (Climate Change): DeepMind’s WEATHER NEXT is already used in many applications, such as moving energy as part of power grids. Will AI have a decisive role in “climate change”?
  • Books (Assistants): REBIND offers a whole new experience by supporting readers with expert guides and dynamic discussions. Will AI “assistants” us in recuperating much needed reading time?
  • Human Interaction: REFLEXAI support care providers with advanced language interpretation to instruct them during life-threatening situations.. Will AI act as an interface layer in our communication?

The list goes on and there are of course no short answers…

Some of these real life cases may of course never reach scalability or ROI, but their transformative power is undeniable. The point is that AI is no longer in the back seat, but more and more in “control”. Paradoxical as it may seem, individuals and businesses will only be able to somehow “manage” AI by fully embracing it.

Will AI guide us in finding a way toward even greater expression of what it means to be human?

See y’all next year!