Phase 2 Speakers Announced. 40+ Speakers. 2 Days: The Real AI Conversation.
In proud partnership with CapeTalk and Daily Maverick. Created by One-eyed Jack.
The inaugural AI Empowered summit, inspired by EO Cape Town, delivered on its promise to demystify artificial intelligence and explore its transformative power across business, life, and society. From big-picture visions to tangible next steps, the summit drew entrepreneurs, creatives, technologists, educators, and the AI-curious into bold, honest, and often provocative conversations about the technology shaping our future.
Day One: AI and Business
Hosted by radio personality Africa Melane, the main auditorium dived deep into the business applications of AI and the mood was electric.
- Kabelo Makwane, Country Director, Google,challenged African business leaders to prepare for “what’s coming by 2030,” blending strategy with hard truths about the pace of change. Kabelo shared that AI is becoming a full creative studio in your pocket, allowing marketers, creators, and businesses to ideate, produce, and distribute high-quality multimedia content faster and more cost-effectively than ever before.
- Mike Scott, Warp Development, reframed AI for non-technical founders as “a source of leverage, not just a toolkit.” Mike contrasted the promise vs. reality of AI in business. He argued that adoption is still messy, confusing, and often misunderstood. His advice: start small, run structured experiments, dedicate budget for trial and error, and integrate AI into one Standard Operating Procedure or core process before scaling.
- A key take away from Emma Sadleir, The Digital Law Company: AI adoption must be backed by clear, enforceable policies that address legal risk and ethical use, because good tech without good governance is a liability.
- The EO Insights Hub was a buzz with workshops like Generative AI 101 with Dillon Jearey, Circle Forward Global, gave attendees frameworks to start applying AI tools on Monday morning.
Day Two: AI and Society
If day one was about competitive edge, day two was about collective responsibility. From ethics to education, healthcare to climate, the focus shifted to AI’s societal implications.
- Shirley Eadie, Whole Human Studios, explored how AI could address South Africa’s deep-rooted education challenges from teacher shortages to language accessibility while warning that inaction both worsens the downside and forfeits the upside. Her core message is that AI should be applied proactively, in ways that are fit for context, to make learning “irresistible” and keep humans at the heart of education.
- Archana Arakkal, Synthesis Software Technologies, stressed that AI can give humanity weeks of critical advantage in fighting pandemics, but only if paired with cross-border collaboration, robust data infrastructure, and a commitment to openness.
- Tamir Kessel, ClimateTech Cultivator, shared that AI in climate tech must be guided by an AI Compass of people, trust, inclusion, restraint, ethical innovation, and transparency to ensure that technological advances truly serve environmental and social good, rather than accelerate the problems they aim to solve.
- Gaurav Devsarmah’s Warp Development, session, “Making Sense of AI to Generate Tangible Returns for Your Business”, focused on shifting from lengthy documentation and slow development cycles to a Prototype-First approach.
Instead of starting with 30-page requirement documents and months of planning, he advocates building a functional AI demo within days often by non-technical teams using no-code and low-code tools. The goal: win business faster, validate ideas sooner, and reduce wasted engineering work by showing stakeholders and customers something they can interact with immediately.
Diversity, Collaboration, and Local Impact
True to its mission, AI Empowered championed diverse voices, with over 15 female speakers and a line-up that balanced global expertise with homegrown innovation. Partnerships with the City of Cape Town, Invest Cape Town, FNB Women in Business, and the IAB reinforced the summit’s commitment to using AI as a catalyst for inclusive economic growth in Africa.
With its debut year setting a high bar, AI Empowered, inspired by EO Cape Town has already cemented its place on Africa’s innovation calendar.
Proudly inspired by EO Cape Town (Entrepreneurs’ Organization), in partnership with CapeTalk, Daily Maverick, Invest Cape Town, the City of Cape Town, IAB, FNB and produced by One-eyed Jack.
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Please contact: Natasha Goosen I natasha@one-eyedjack.co.za +27 64 650 0775.
Laurell Kok | laurell@one-eyedjack.co.za +27 76 112 0670.