AI Appreciation Day spotlights responsible & purposeful adoption

Artificial Intelligence Appreciation Day is prompting industry leaders to reflect on the rapid progress of AI, its real-world impact, and the challenges that accompany widespread adoption across various sectors. As businesses and governments integrate AI into operations, the conversation has shifted from novelty to necessity, with a focus on strategic, responsible use and measurable outcomes.

Within enterprise technology, the role of AI is evolving from an automation tool to the backbone of digital transformation. Gal Naor, CEO of StorONE, highlights AI's transformative influence in data storage, noting, "AI-powered auto tiering... observes how data is used and moves it between flash and disk tiers based on actual workload behaviour. This ensures frequently accessed data remains on high-performance storage, while infrequently used data is shifted to lower-cost media without affecting application performance." Naor emphasises that this capability both simplifies operations and prepares organisations for ever-increasing data demands.

In the traditionally manual construction sector, Shanthi Rajan, CEO of Linarc, points to AI as a catalyst for addressing systemic industry challenges. "AI does not replace construction professionals; it empowers them," she explains, citing improved decision-making, reduced friction, and the introduction of contextual awareness to complex projects. According to Rajan, AI brings "cohesion to complexity, accountability to action, and momentum to teams," making construction smarter and more human-centred.

Manufacturing and logistics are also benefiting from AI at the edge. "Edge AI is playing a massive role in enabling autonomous systems to make independent, real-time decisions with minimal human intervention," observes Yoram Novick, CEO of Zadara. "From self-driving cars navigating complex environments to smart factories optimising production processes, Edge AI is now delivering localised intelligence that operates well even where network connectivity is limited." Such autonomy reduces reliance on cloud connectivity and improves operational efficiency across various industries.

For Australian businesses, Carla Ramchand, CEO of Avanade Australia, describes a surge of AI investment in the mid-market. "Our latest research shows that 86% of Australian mid-market leaders are increasing their investment in AI, with most expecting a fourfold return on investment in the next 12 months." Ramchand highlights the rise of agentic AI, where systems act independently, stressing that success "depends on modern infrastructure, clean data, trusted governance, and human oversight."

Data remains central to AI's promise, as noted by Oded Nagel, CEO of CTERA. "In a ready state, data becomes the fuel for AI systems, enhancing their ability to produce actionable insights and drive strategic decisions. Companies must prioritise having their data organised and accessible, as it is the key to unlocking AI's transformative potential."

Security is another major concern, as cyber threats continue to grow in sophistication. Jimmy Mesta, CTO of RAD Security, points out, "AI is now actually the only way teams can keep up... AI can spot patterns, connect events across multiple parts of the security stack, and take action fast enough to matter." Drew Bongiovanni, Technical Marketing Manager at Index Engines, adds that "the real ROI of AI shows up after the breach. It's in the speed of recovery, the confidence in your backups, and the ability to make decisions under pressure without second-guessing your data."

AI enhances the complexity of enterprise application development, but with important caveats. Vijay Prasanna Pullur, CEO of WaveMaker, cautions, "Injecting AI into the design-to-code-to-deploy process without oversight or curation may not work... Enterprise applications and solutions are complex and need a lot more enablement on top of existing AI orchestration."

With growing reliance on AI comes a call for responsible governance. Josh Mason, CTO of RecordPoint, argues that businesses must "make sure [they're] governing [their] data and using the technology responsibly and ethically, in a way that benefits customers and employees." According to Mason, poor data governance is a key blocker to large-scale AI deployment, with only a minority of companies succeeding beyond pilot implementations.

Sustainability and infrastructure are increasingly seen as critical to AI's continued growth. Ted Oade of Spectra Logic urges the industry to "champion responsible development: transparency, bias mitigation, and environmental impact. Appreciating AI means understanding its full context - technical, operational, and ethical." Mark Klarzynski, CEO of PEAK:AIO, concurs, arguing that "the need for AI-native infrastructure is no longer optional. It is strategic."

As AI systems become more agentic, autonomy and insight are set to become defining characteristics. Helen Masters, Managing Director at Smartsheet, sums up the current landscape: "Today's conversation focuses on how effectively we can integrate AI into our everyday lives. Across Australia, businesses are rapidly adopting AI not as a standalone solution, but as a strategic enabler."

David Hunter, CEO of Local Falcon, offers a final reflection: "AI's true power isn't in integrating it into existing tools for writing fluffy content faster... but in uncovering patterns, trends, and other insights that would otherwise go unnoticed. The future isn't 'AI everywhere.' It's AI with purpose."

As AI Appreciation Day is marked, industry consensus is clear: intelligent, responsible, and sustainable integration of AI will shape the future across every sector, provided organisations invest in governance, infrastructure, and purposeful deployment.