December 15, 2025
AI didn’t enter our work lives all at once. It crept in quietly. First as a curiosity, then as a thought partner, and eventually as something that has fundamentally changed how businesses approach problems, creativity and value creation.
Over the past two years, I’ve watched my own relationship with AI (as well as our clients’ relationships to it) evolve, and it mirrors how I experienced MAICON, the AI conference hosted annually by SmarterX and the Marketing AI Institute in Cleveland. MAICON 2024 was my personal and professional “AI ah ha” moment. It opened my eyes to the possibilities of AI. I listened and watched as early adopters asked, “How do we use these tools?” while others demonstrated early use cases that hinted at what was to come. Those ahead of the curve were experimenting, testing, tinkering and figuring out how these models could help them become more efficient, productive and creative.
Fast forward to MAICON 2025. The crowds were (much) bigger and the environment had a different energy. There was a “vibe,” as the kids say. The conversations weren’t about whether AI belonged at work and or if it could be trusted; they revolved around where it could take work. Less “adoption and testing.” More “innovation and transformation.”
Here are a few of the shifts I saw (and felt) most clearly:
1. From “random acts of AI” to problem-first implementation
2024: “We need an AI strategy. Let’s find places to use ChatGPT.”
2025: “We have business problems. Let’s see how AI can help solve them.”
This shift from tool-first to problem-first was a common thread throughout many of the presentations at MAICON 2025. It sounds simple, but it forces clarity on your goal and ensures that the value gained using AI as part of the solution is based on strategy and outcomes.
2. The tech leap forward is staggering.
2024: “AI is a helpful thought partner and writing assistant.”
2025: “I use a small team of AI agents, including my digital twin, that run workflows.”
This year, more systems work for you. Multi-step agents that research, draft, check and hand off; routing that triggers reviews and approvals; integrations that push finished work to the right place. The human element is—and will always be—just as important as the people learning to use, manage and train these “teammates” the way we would manage people.
A personal anecdote: It was during the last day of MAICON 2024 that “Strawberry,” the first advanced reasoning model from OpenAI, dropped. That is incredible given the amount I use the “thinking” version of LLMs.
3. Quality is taking center stage
2024: “GenAI can write the blog post.”
2025: “GenAI averages the internet. We have to architect the outcome.”
The “wow” in 2024 was that the machine could write at all. The lesson in 2025 is that models are prediction engines and will happily produce “average.” If we feed them generic prompts, we’ll get generic work.
The people and teams doing standout work curate their inputs, and test, test, test to improve the outcomes. Human + Machine. The result? Output that sounds like the brand, knows the customer and actually moves the needle. (The C.R.I.T. methodology from Geoff Woods has changed the way I work.)
Treat knowledge as a product. Capture it, structure it and use it with every model so that the work is uniquely yours, not “AI slop.”
In Closing
These are just a few of my takeaways from a truly inspiring and motivating event. A final theme throughout both events that I find reassuring is this: if you think you’re behind on AI, you’re not. Start experimenting. Start identifying problems to see if AI can help you solve them. Start now.
If you are interested in learning more about MAICON, you can visit their site. Most of the content from MAICON 25 is available on-demand. If you want to chat about how your organization can start or accelerate its AI journey, feel free to reach out to me at kpoor@dix-eaton.com.
