As AI is gaining ground

Key takeaways, innovative tools, and strategic opportunities for business following the World Summit AI 2025.

By Ali Amine Ghazali,
Director – Centre of Excellence in AI, COFOMO

The 2025 World Summit AI Conference, which took place in Montreal on April 15 and 16, 2025, brought together innovators, researchers, and industry leaders to explore the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) across sectors. From healthcare to finance, cyber security to education, the conference showcased cutting-edge applications, emerging trends, and opportunities for collaboration. Drawing from the discussions and presentations, I wanted to highlight our key takeaways, innovative tools, and the strategic opportunities we see for businesses looking to leverage AI responsibly and effectively.

With these tools, companies with limited IT infrastructure are enabled to rapidly deploy AI-powered applications. As no-code/low-code solutions gain traction, new business models are emerging to address diverse market needs.

Democratizing innovation with no-code and low-code AI deployments

One of the standout themes was the rise in popularity of no-code and low-code platforms, which are making AI development accessible to organizations without extensive technical expertise. Some firms are offering versatile tools to enable packaging, building, and deploying of AI and standard solutions at affordable prices. Certain platforms even support seamless integration through connectors and APIs, with intuitive drag and drop options, was clearly reducing or eliminating the need to write code.

With these tools, companies with limited IT infrastructure are enabled to rapidly deploy AI-powered applications. As no-code/low-code solutions gain traction, new business models are emerging to address diverse market needs.

Performance and computing power

The critical role of specialized hardware in AI development was highlighted. One firm showcased graphics processing units (GPUs) and computing capabilities tailored for machine learning and AI workloads. As organizations scale their AI initiatives, access to high-performance computing resources remains a bottleneck. More and more hardware providers and cloud-based computing services are selling solutions to help businesses overcome these challenges, ensuring they have the infrastructure to support advanced AI models.

The importance of AI compliance and ethical governance

With AI adoption accelerating, ensuring compliance and ethical governance is paramount. There is a growing need for standardized frameworks to ensure AI systems are transparent, secure, and compliant. Every organization should consider integrating compliance audits into their AI strategies to build trust and meet regulatory requirements.

Ethical considerations were further emphasized through initiatives like Women in AI, an organization dedicated to training women in AI and connecting them with career opportunities. Such programs highlight the importance of inclusivity in AI development, ensuring diverse perspectives shape the technology’s future.

Showcasing transformative use cases across industries

The conference showcased compelling use cases that illustrate the potential of AI to solve complex challenges. Here are a few examples:

• Healthcare: AI is revolutionizing diagnostics and operational efficiency. Machine learning algorithms are optimizing mammography imaging, classifying autism cases, and analyzing chest images to detect lesions with explainable outputs. These advancements promise improved patient outcomes and streamline workflows for healthcare professionals.

• Financial Services: AI is reshaping risk management, cybersecurity, and decision-making. Dynamic risk assessment tools enhance credit, fraud, and compliance monitoring, while confidential computing—leveraging trusted execution environments (TEEs)—ensures secure processing of sensitive financial data in the cloud. AI-powered chatbots are also improving customer service by addressing common inquiries, such as lost credit card scenarios, in real time.

• Cybersecurity and Defense: Rob Petrosino, a strategic advisor on AI for the FBI, highlighted AI’s key role in proactive threat detection, enabling organizations to stay ahead of cyber risks. This is particularly critical as cyber threats grow in sophistication and become increasingly threatening to the public.

• Education and Accessibility: AI is personalizing learning experiences and improving accessibility, making education more inclusive and tailored to individual needs.

• Retail and E-commerce: Shopify presented AI-powered automation for the “shopping of the future,” enhancing customer experiences through personalized recommendations and streamlined operations.

• Climate Change: AI’s predictive capabilities are being harnessed to combat climate change, offering tools to model environmental trends and inform mitigation strategies.

Data privacy and responsible AI – A recurring theme

Multiple sessions on privacy underscored the need for robust frameworks to safeguard user data, particularly in sensitive sectors like finance and healthcare. Responsible AI practices, including transparency and fairness, are essential for building trust and ensuring long-term adoption.

Strategic opportunities for businesses

Obviously, taking advantage of the numerous available funding programs is considered one of the most strategic elements for organizations. But beyond funding, the World Summit AI conferences revealed several actionable opportunities for organizations:

• Partnerships with no-code/low-code providers: Collaborating with platform providers like Zetane, Crewdle, and BotPress can enable businesses with limited technical resources to build AI tools.

• Investment in compliance services: Integrating audit and compliance offerings, such as those based on ISO 42001, can differentiate businesses in a crowded market and address regulatory demands.

• Support for inclusive initiatives: Engaging with organizations like Women in AI can enhance corporate social responsibility efforts and tap into diverse talent pools. It further showcases the value AI can bring at all levels.

• Exploration of specialized hardware: Partnering with GPU providers or cloud computing services can address infrastructure challenges, enabling scalable AI deployments. This can be a quick-win option for small businesses or research laboratories who wish to test functionalities without having to invest in physical environments or deal with large providers.

• Focus on industry-specific solutions: Tailoring AI applications to sectors like healthcare, finance, or retail can unlock significant value, as demonstrated by the conference’s use cases.

The World Summit AI Conference underscored, once again, the potential of AI when it comes to driving innovation, efficiency, and societal impact across industries. For businesses, the path forward involves embracing partnerships, prioritizing compliance, and leveraging AI’s capabilities to address industry-specific challenges. By doing so, organizations can position themselves as leaders in the AI-driven economy, delivering value while upholding ethical and inclusive principles.

Our Centre of Excellence in AI can support businesses at every stage of their AI journey and act as a guide in the adoption of AI through robust policies and principles.
We offer generative AI services through predefined, market-recognized models, such as those proposed by our partners, Microsoft and Amazon.

About Ali Amine Ghazali

Ali Amine’s mission is to provide guidance to our clients on their AI adoption and contribute to the implementation of principles and policies to optimize the success of their initiatives. As an elected member of the National and International IEC-ISO/ committee on Artificial Intelligence within the Standards Council of Canada, Ali Amine is actively involved in developing standards for the responsible and ethical use of artificial intelligence nationally and globally. He is a valuable asset to our clients and his colleagues. He is a cloud architect and computer engineer with a master’s degree in computer systems security, and several recognized certifications including Copilot for Microsoft 365 (Technical Champion) and Azure AI Engineer Associate.