
RECAP: A Look back at the inaugural AI Week in Nashville
Hundreds of AI innovators, developers, and information-seekers gathered at the City Winery for three days of non-stop discussions around artificial intelligence.
Everyone thinks about artificial intelligence (AI) a little differently. Some think AI is taking all human jobs. Others think it’s the greatest assistant to ever exist. And others, honestly, aren’t sure what to think.
The pulse and perspective of the inaugural AI Week in Nashville was that it’s not about AI versus humans, it’s about AI versus trust.
Brett Ewing, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Axe AI said it best – “AI is not going to replace humanity, it’s here to reveal it.”
So, what does he mean?
Dozens of speakers over three days spoke into the truth behind that statement in a broa1d array of industries – technology, professional services, sales, web development, cybersecurity, education, the list goes on.
Tom Utiger, the Global AI Integration and Strategy Lead at IBM shared a bit about the corporation’s push toward “vibe coding.” This is a process of using speech-to-code generation AI to enhance software, content, and interactive experiences. Meaning, it essentially gives any person the power to code.

“AI does what you tell it to do,” Utiger said the hundreds of attendees. “What companies really need isn’t coders, it’s people who make really good decisions, and know the best ways to prompt AI to do what they want.”
Utiger described his own personal experience creating a video game. He spent years on the code.
One day, he used Cursor AI to generate the same base code, replicating his game from scratch. It took him about five minutes to specifically tell Cursor what to generate. In just 15 minutes, the AI generated a base code that almost perfectly replicated the one that previously took Utiger years to build.
“Now, the images were bad, the audio was bad, but the base was there for me to build on. It was a big moment for me,” he said. “I realized that day that we need to change from using AI as a tool to using AI as a teammate.”
Knoxville-based founder Luke Wiseman, of Nexus (formerly Loop), spoke about using AI tools in schools across the country to streamline data to help people make better-informed decisions for students.

Currently, Wiseman said about 90 percent of a school administration’s time with data is spent collecting, tracking, and analyzing it. Only 10 percent of their time is spent taking action as a result of that data.
By using AI tools, and Nexus specifically, that statistic could be turned around completely.
“We can ask our model, which students are at risk of not graduating this year — and why. It will punch out a list of students that the school can then intervene with,” he said.

The remainder of the Thursday and Friday sessions detailed opportunities for people to be more efficient, better-equipped, and capable through the use of AI.
Additionally, several start-ups took the stage to pitch their innovative businesses; including David Howerton’s VendoIQ (see teknovation.biz story here). The company was co-founded by The Innovation Studio, which was also one of the event sponsors.
To learn more about the speakers at the inaugural Nashville AI Week, visit the website.
Like what you've read?
Forward to a friend!