What has AI done for us? Celebrating AI Appreciation Day
In the last few years artificial intelligence has found its way into more and more areas of our world and its progress shows no signs of slowing down.
Of course most things these days need a day to mark their achievements and today is AI Appreciation Day. So, what has AI done for us and what can we expect from it in future? Some industry experts gave us their views.
Patrick Harrington, head of AI/ML at MetaRouter, says, "Having witnessed AI's evolution -- from early data processing challenges to today's agentic systems -- what's become increasingly clear is how we've moved from asking 'what can we do with all this data?' to 'how can we do it responsibly while maintaining control?' The real breakthrough isn't just that AI can now handle complex workflows autonomously, but that we're finally recognizing data ownership as the cornerstone of sustainable AI innovation. The most exciting chapter ahead is democratizing AI capabilities while keeping the most valuable asset -- first-party data -- exactly where it belongs: with the companies that generated it.”
Vall Herard, CEO of Saifr, says:
AI Appreciation Day provides an opportunity to reflect on the remarkable evolution we've witnessed -- from large language models that impressed us with their content generation capabilities to the emergence of agentic AI systems that can plan, reason and execute complex multi-step workflows. What strikes me most about this transformation is how it's fundamentally changing our relationship with data quality and human expertise.
The most successful AI implementations I've observed combine high-quality, curated datasets with meaningful human oversight, creating systems that are both more capable and more reliable. As we move into this new era of AI that can break down sophisticated business challenges and solve them systematically, the organizations seeing the greatest success are those that view AI as a tool for human augmentation rather than total replacement.
Paula Felstead, chief information officer at HBX Group, looks at AI’s impact on the travel sector, “There is huge potential that AI models can enhance and improve the customer experience in the travel industry, which is just one of numerous common use cases. The challenge for many organisations is connecting and utilising AI solutions at scale across other parts of their organisations, with the accuracy and reliability that customers expect and demand.”
Ivan Novikov, CEO at Wallarm, believes APIs are pivotal to AI success, “AI Appreciation Day is an opportunity to celebrate the transformative power of artificial intelligence and the pivotal role APIs play in shaping its future. APIs are the backbone of AI innovation, enabling seamless integration, data sharing, and collaboration across platforms. They empower businesses to unlock AI’s potential at scale, driving efficiency and creativity like never before. However, with this power comes responsibility. Securing AI systems and the APIs that connect them is one of the greatest challenges we face today. As we celebrate the advancements AI has brought, we must also commit to building robust, secure frameworks that protect data, ensure ethical use, and foster trust. Together, we can harness AI’s capabilities while safeguarding its integrity for generations to come.”
Natalie Rutgers, VP of product at Deepgram, says, “We are now witnessing voice AI quickly reframe how entire sectors operate. This is especially true across industries like quick-service restaurants (QSRs), hospitals, banks, and really any business that depends on natural conversation, a help desk, or contact center to help ensure a positive customer experience (CX). Of course not only customers benefit. Voice AI is making conversations faster, more natural, and less frustrating for everyone involved – including employees. Voice is how we connect as humans, and now, it’s becoming one of the most critical factors in how businesses connect, too.”
SentinelOne’s senior director, solutions engineering, Ezzeldin Hussein, looks to the future:
On this World AI Appreciation Day, we pause to reflect -- not just on how far we’ve come, but on the limitless future ahead. A decade ago, artificial intelligence was largely experimental, often misunderstood, and cautiously adopted. Today, it shapes our everyday lives -- from personalized healthcare and smarter cities to securing cyberspace and decoding complex global challenges.
What once seemed like science fiction is now the pulse of progress. AI no longer just analyzes data; it reasons, predicts, and adapts. It collaborates with humans, augments our creativity, and even safeguards our digital and physical environments. In cybersecurity, for instance, AI has shifted the balance -- empowering defenders with predictive insights and autonomous threat response.
Yet this is only the beginning. The next frontier lies in ethical, responsible AI -- where transparency, fairness, and human oversight are embedded into every algorithm. We are stepping into an era where AI becomes not just a tool, but a trusted partner.
As we appreciate what AI has already enabled, let’s also imagine what it can do -- if guided by human values, inclusive design, and bold innovation. The future is not about AI replacing us, but AI elevating us.
There are some cautionary notes, though. Naomi Buckwalter, AI security strategist at Contrast Security says, “I am on the fence about celebrating ‘AI Appreciation Day’ as a security professional. On one hand, I see the amazing benefits of AI for software development and product creation. On the other hand, the jury is still out if AI-generated code meets the quality and security standards that human-generated code provides. I see a future where software engineers delegate more and more of their work to AI and agents as a way to ship code more quickly, without truly understanding that code, leaving the door open to unchecked security vulnerabilities and an ever-expanding attack surface. We as a security industry should be raising alarms with our development teams that the old axiom still holds true, even in the age of AI: Good, Fast, Cheap -- pick two. You can never have all three.”
Geoff Burke, senior technology advisor at Object First, also warns of risks, “Bolstered by AI, cyberattacks are quicker and more sophisticated, and threat actors are finding and exploiting vulnerabilities in quick succession. This essentially means AI has made falling victim to a cyberattack all but inevitable. I don’t believe all these threats and the extent of their potential scope are fully understood by anyone at this early stage. Large enterprises are most likely to be aware of the risks, to the extent that they would be able to assign dedicated teams of experts to monitor all the evolving problems related to AI and apply fixes as soon as they appear.”
So, apart from, the improved customer experience, better security, agentic systems, smoother travel and more accurate predictions… What has AI done for you? Let us know in the comments.
Image credit: Gemini