AI Appreciation Day: How tech leaders are turning hype into impact

/ Thought Leadership
AI Appreciation Day 2025 Image

From sci-fi fantasy to boardroom priority, artificial intelligence has crossed a threshold. As it embeds itself into critical business systems, from finance to infrastructure, from robotics to cybersecurity, AI Appreciation Day is an opportunity to reflect and ask: What does it take to make AI truly work for business and society?

To mark the occasion, NODE spoke to technology leaders across the industry who are helping answer that question.

Embedding AI where it matters

AI is no longer confined to pilots or proof-of-concepts. Leaders across sectors are focused on making it deliver real business value.

Rob Israch Tipalti 1
Rob Israch - President, Tipalti

AI Appreciation Day is a timely moment to reflect on how AI is transforming the finance function, not with hype, but with real, measurable impact. Integrating AI into core workflows unlocks real-time visibility and predictive insights that drive smarter, faster decisions. When AI is embedded into finance operations, from accounts payable to cash flow forecasting, it can uncover patterns and trends, surface anomalies, and deliver real-time insights that improve productivity and inform more confident decision-making.

With the frenetic pace of developments in AI over the past couple of years, it’s a good idea to take a moment and take stock of how far we have come since GPT models were made widely available to the internet-using public.

James Bergin, Xero 1
James Bergin - Executive GM, Xero
Adrian Negoita Dexory 1
Adrian Negoita - CTO, Dexory

AI is transforming the robotics industry, powering smarter, more adaptive systems that learn and respond in real-time… This enhanced capability is essential to seamless human-robot collaboration.

Laying the groundwork

Beneath AI’s visible breakthroughs lies the less glamorous, but vital, question of infrastructure — data, systems and strategy that allow AI to scale safely and work reliably.

At Qlik, we believe the future of AI goes beyond automation, it’s about empowerment. But for AI to deliver real-world value, it needs more than algorithms. It requires context, quality data, strong governance and a clear sense of purpose.

Nick Magnuson, Qlik 1
Nick Magnuson - Head of AI, Qlik
Jesus Barrasa, Neo4j 1
Jesús Barrasa - AI Field CTO, Neo4j,

Your AI is only as good as the data you give it – not just how much, but how connected, contextual, and usable it is… When AI drives decisions from connected data, grounded in graph databases… much richer insights can be derived.

AI’s impact depends on how quickly it can process vast amounts of data and how effortlessly it can scale to meet growing demands. As it continues to evolve, the technology that supports this speed and scale becomes the unsung hero, enabling breakthroughs that were once unimaginable. Today, we celebrate not just AI itself, but the critical infrastructure and systems that drive its performance.

Manvinder Singh Redis 1
Manvinder Singh - VP of AI Product Management, Redis

Empowerment, education and evolving roles

Far from replacing people, the most successful AI strategies focus on empowering them. And that starts with deliberate, inclusive implementation.

David Torgerson - Lucid 1
David Torgerson - VP of Technology and Security, Lucid Software

Nearly half of workers already use AI to automate tasks, yet just 37% of entry-level employees believe it will make their job more satisfying. Organisations should make AI a deliberate, accessible and continuous improvement opportunity for all employees because helping people apply AI with purpose is what turns adoption into impact – and lays the groundwork for long-term success.

As the industry evolves, so too does the opportunity for people to upskill and take an active role in shaping the sector’s future… driving new jobs, ways of working and a new era of innovation.

Adrian Negoita Dexory 1
Adrian Negoita - CTO, Dexory
Lori McVittie F5 2
Lori MacVittie - Distinguished Engineer, F5

AI has given us astonishing tools, sparks of insight, speed and scale that once lived only in science fiction. But turning that potential into real-world value still demands human clarity and discipline. The systems are here. The complexity is real. And so is our ability to rise to the challenge.

AI is already creating deep shifts in how we live, work and connect… The golden opportunities will lie in leveraging AI in the right way to deliver insights that can be turned into action as part of a secure, compliant loop.

James Bergin, Xero 1
James Bergin - Executive GM, Xero

Building trust and guardrails

As AI’s power grows, so too does its potential for harm. That’s why transparency and governance are top of mind for many industry leaders.

Rory Choudhuri 1
Rory Choudhuri - Product and Solutions Director, Soldo

AI Appreciation Day highlights not only AI’s potential to drive innovation in financial services, but also the need for thoughtful, responsible adoption. Generative AI has already been exploited to commit expense fraud. Businesses must shift from reactive experimentation of AI to a more proactive, strategic approach. Traditional expense processes, like many manual financial tasks, are fast becoming obsolete in the AI era.

AI is already creating deep shifts in how we live, work and connect… The golden opportunities will lie in leveraging AI in the right way to deliver insights that can be turned into action as part of a secure, compliant loop.

Patrick Harding, Ping identity 1
Patrick Harding - Chief Product Architect, Ping Identity
Stuart Templeton, Genesys 1
Stuart Templeton, VP UK&I, Genesys

As businesses move to adopt agentic AI, the focus must remain on embedding the right guardrails, governance, and delivering real value to customers. Government investment remains essential. Initiatives like the UK’s £2bn AI Action Plan are key to maintaining innovation and enabling organisations of all sizes to access and benefit from advanced AI capabilities.

Agentic AI and what comes next

The next evolution of AI isn’t just about better prediction or faster output. It’s about systems that act with autonomy and intent — agentic AI.

AI is already creating deep shifts in how we live, work and connect… The golden opportunities will lie in leveraging AI in the right way to deliver insights that can be turned into action as part of a secure, compliant loop.

Phillipe Deblois, Dynatrace 1
Philippe Deblois - VP Global Solutions Engineering, Dynatrace
Nick Magnuson, Qlik 1
Nick Magnuson - Head of AI, Qlik

Agentic systems don’t just respond — they reason, collaborate and take actions to solve real business challenges… With the right information, at the right moment, AI can help us work smarter, faster and more impactfully.

A day to reflect and refocus

AI Appreciation Day is more than a celebration, it’s a chance to critically assess how AI is being applied, who it’s benefiting, and what it needs to succeed. From infrastructure to innovation, education to ethics, the message is clear: AI is powerful, but purpose, planning and people are what make it meaningful.

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