Future Tech Forum tackles an AI-driven world

If anything, it’s rapidly speeding up, especially when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI). Cincinnati innovators know that, and they gathered at the Future Tech Forum to talk about how to adapt as the ground keeps shifting.

Hosted at the University of Cincinnati’s 1819 Innovation Hub and led by the Enterprise Technology Association, the forum put business leaders in the same room to wrestle with today’s most urgent tech questions. Missed the sessions? Here’s what stood out.

For all the buzz around AI, one point came through loud and clear. These tools don’t work perfectly straight out of the box.

“When the process is good and the data is good, AI works really well,” says Hanna Khoury, who works on IT infrastructure and cybersecurity for the City of Cincinnati. “When you train an agent on messy data, you get a messy agent.”

Instead of AI cleaning up dysfunction, it highlights it. Tools train on whatever data and processes already exist, whether they’re good or bad. As Khoury sums it up, “Trash in, trash out.”

That means organizations have work to do before expecting results. Clear processes, clean data and regular updates matter. When AI misses the mark, it’s often reflecting gaps humans built in first.

AI can move fast. Too fast, if no one’s paying attention.

Speakers cautioned against the urge to hand off entire workflows to automation. While AI can save time and money, removing humans from the loop invites problems that are harder to fix later.

“AI is just another tool in the toolbox,” says Ryan Hale, chief information officer at Lithko Contracting.

It’s meant to support people, not replace them. AI generates responses based on prompts and patterns, so it still needs direction, review and correction. Without that oversight, organizations risk letting technology steer decisions instead of serving them.

Skepticism about AI is not going away, and speakers acknowledged that concern. But avoiding the tools altogether is no longer a viable strategy.

Across industries, AI literacy is becoming an expectation. Those unwilling to engage may soon find themselves struggling to keep pace.

The Future Tech Forum took place at UC’s 1819 Innovation Hub for a reason. As the Center for the Silicon Heartland, the space has become an important hub for AI work in Ohio.

It anchors the Cincinnati Innovation District, where students, startups and established tech companies cross paths daily. Entrepreneurs test ideas, students push new concepts and growing companies turn to the 1819 Venture Lab for support.

From major events to everyday collaboration, 1819 plays a central role in shaping the region’s tech future. For Cincinnati, it’s quickly become a place where conversations about AI turn into action.

Featured image at top: Panelists speaking during the Future Tech Forum. Photo/Stephen Kenney