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UnlikelyAI
The conversations shaping AI’s future are happening everywhere. Last week, one of our team was part of an important discussion in Reykjavik.
Our Solutions Lead, Dr. Ailish McLaughlin was on stage at Iceland Innovation Week to challenge why 78% of AI deployments still aren’t delivering ROI, our team keeps finding itself in the rooms where that question matters most.
Ailish spoke at Iceland Innovation Week on a panel alongside Minister for Innovation Logi Einarsson and former Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir discussing AI sovereignty, the deployment gap, and what it actually takes to derive measurable value from AI.
The ideas on the table
The conversation in Reykjavik touched on a question: why, if AI is so capable, are 78% of senior leaders in regulated industries still not seeing ROI? The panel pushed on what sits behind it.
The argument Ailish brings to these conversations is that the gap is not a technology problem. The blockers are structural, data readiness, compliance frameworks, the mismatch between what holds up in a demo and what holds up under real operational conditions. Fix those, and the value follows. Ignore them, and no amount of capability closes the gap.
On sovereignty and considered AI
The panel also covered AI sovereignty, a live question for every country outside of the US and China. The framing Ailish offered: the arms race is a race to recklessness. The big players cannot slow down to focus on the details. That is not a weakness to compensate for. It is an opening.
“”Countries who prioritise human-first systems will win in the end. Because the success of AI, like any technology, is reliant on consumers who want and are able to use it.””
Winning the future for humanity and winning the AI arms race are not the same thing.
Why this matters to us
Moments like Iceland Innovation Week are a reflection of the team we are building. People with genuine expertise, strong points of view, and the range to take them into rooms that matter. From policy panels to client deployments to the research underpinning our Trust Report, the thread running through all of it is the same: AI that cannot be trusted cannot deliver.
We are proud of the work, and proud of the people doing it.
