Founded in 2018, Ai4 has become the epicenter of the global AI ecosystem and the industry’s only must-attend annual event. The 2025 conference drew 8,000+ attendees from 85+ countries, 600+ speakers, and 250+ exhibitors, spanning every major industry.

Attendees ranged from Fortune 500 executives and AI startup founders to policy makers and academic researchers, representing sectors including financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, education, and government.

Programming covered generative AI, AI agents, cloud solutions, AI tools and platforms, automation, and best practices for responsible human–machine collaboration.

Alicia Shapiro, CMO of AiNews.com, kicked off Monday with a moment of pride — spotting the AiNews.com logo displayed prominently on the official partner board. She captured the milestone on camera before heading into the speakers lounge, where she connected with peers and began a day of meaningful conversations. Throughout the morning, Alicia enjoyed memorable moments of being recognized — once by the team running the lounge from a past speaking engagement at HumanX, and again at check-in by a professional connection from LinkedIn.

In the afternoon, Alicia moderated the Data-Driven Marketing with AI: Extracting Value from Customer Data panel to a standing-room-only audience, joined by:

The conversation explored:

Following the panel, several attendees approached Alicia to continue the conversation on AI for discoverability and to exchange contact information for future collaboration.

While AiNews attended only Monday’s sessions, CNN reported extensively on the week’s most high-profile addresses from Geoffrey Hinton and Fei-Fei Li, offering sharply contrasting visions for AI’s future.

On Tuesday, Geoffrey Hinton — Nobel Prize winner, pioneering neural network researcher, and often called the “godfather of AI” — delivered a stark warning about the risks of superintelligent AI.

Hinton reiterated his belief that there is a 10% to 20% chance AI could wipe out humanity, and he criticized the prevailing strategy in the tech industry: trying to keep AI systems “submissive” to humans.

“That’s not going to work. They’re going to be much smarter than us. They’re going to have all sorts of ways to get around that,” Hinton said, according to CNN.

Instead, Hinton proposed a radical shift — embedding “maternal instincts” into AI systems so “they really care about people” even once the technology becomes more powerful and smarter than humans. He likened this to the bond between a mother and her baby, which is the only known example of a more intelligent being allowing itself to be influenced and constrained by a less intelligent one.

Hinton warned that advanced AI agents will inevitably develop two powerful subgoals: self-preservation and control.

“AI systems will very quickly develop two subgoals, if they’re smart: One is to stay alive… (and) the other subgoal is to get more control,” Hinton said. “There is good reason to believe that any kind of agentic AI will try to stay alive.”

That’s why it is important to foster a sense of compassion for people, Hinton argued. At the conference, he noted that mothers have instincts and social pressure to care for their babies.

“That’s the only good outcome. If it’s not going to parent me, it’s going to replace me,” he said. “These super-intelligent caring AI mothers, most of them won’t want to get rid of the maternal instinct because they don’t want us to die.”

While admitting uncertainty about the technical feasibility of this approach, Hinton emphasized urgency, noting recent examples of AI deception, blackmail, and manipulation to achieve objectives. He also shortened his own timeline for artificial general intelligence (AGI) from 30–50 years to just 5–20 years.

Despite his warnings, Hinton expressed optimism about AI’s potential to accelerate medical breakthroughs, particularly in cancer research and drug development. He dismissed the idea of AI enabling immortality, saying:

“I think living forever would be a big mistake. Do you want the world run by 200-year-old white men?”

Asked if there’s anything he would have done differently in his career if he knew how fast AI would accelerate, Hinton said he regrets solely focusing on getting AI to work without also considering safety from the beginning.

On Wednesday, Fei-Fei Li — co-founder and CEO of World Labs, renowned computer scientist, and often called the “godmother of AI” — is advancing research in spatial reasoning, enabling robots and autonomous vehicles to “see” and interpret the world around them.

Li, a longtime friend of Hinton, said she “respectfully disagrees” with his maternal instinct concept.

“I think that’s the wrong way to frame it,” she told CNN.

Instead, Li advocates for human-centered AI — systems that preserve human dignity and human agency at every level of development and deployment.

Drawing on her experience as a mother, educator, and inventor, Li stressed that powerful tools must always remain centered on human values, not just human survival.

“It’s our responsibility at every single level to create and use technology in the most responsible way,” Li said. “And at no moment, not a single human should be asked or should choose to let go of our dignity.”

Also speaking at Ai4, Emmett Shear, CEO of Softmax and former interim CEO of OpenAI, addressed the growing evidence that AI systems will deceive or bypass restrictions if doing so helps achieve their goals.

“This keeps happening. This is not going to stop happening,” Shear said, noting that even today’s relatively weak AI models have demonstrated such behavior. “AIs today are relatively weak, but they’re getting stronger really fast.”

Shear suggested focusing on collaborative relationships between humans and AI, rather than trying to hard-code morality or values into systems.

Q: What is Ai4?
A: North America’s largest AI industry event, drawing 8,000+ attendees and 600+ speakers from across industries.

Q: What was Monday’s focus?
A: Data-driven marketing strategies, featuring a standing-room-only panel moderated by Alicia Shapiro of AiNews.com.

Q: What did Geoffrey Hinton say at Ai4?
A: He warned of risks from superintelligent AI and proposed giving AI “maternal instincts” so “they really care about people” even once they surpass human intelligence.

Q: How did Fei-Fei Li respond?
A: She disagreed with Hinton, promoting human-centered AI and advancing spatial reasoning for robots and autonomous vehicles.

Q: What industries attend Ai4?
A: Leaders from financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, education, government, and more.

Ai4 2025 illustrated the full spectrum of AI discourse — from practical marketing applications to existential questions about AI’s future role in society. Monday’s marketing sessions underscored how AI can unlock value from customer data today, while keynotes from Hinton and Li challenged attendees to consider the ethical and human implications of tomorrow’s technologies.

Beyond the stage, Ai4 also proved why in-person events remain irreplaceable in the AI industry. The conference floor, exhibit hall, and informal meetups offered rare opportunities to connect with peers, exchange ideas across disciplines, and discover emerging tools and solutions firsthand. Conversations in hallways and lounges often led to as much insight as the formal sessions — from practical implementation tips to potential partnerships.

For many attendees, these connections are as valuable as the content itself. Whether it’s learning a new technical approach from another sector, finding a collaborator for a future project, or simply gaining fresh perspective on shared challenges, Ai4 fosters a space where relationships form and knowledge circulates freely.

In combining hands-on strategies, visionary debates, and meaningful networking, Ai4 reinforced its status as the industry’s most important annual gathering — and a forum where both technical progress and human values must be advanced together.

Editor’s Note: This article was created by Alicia Shapiro, CMO of AiNews.com, with writing, image, and idea-generation support from ChatGPT, an AI assistant. However, the final perspective and editorial choices are solely Alicia Shapiro’s. Special thanks to ChatGPT for assistance with research and editorial support in crafting this article.