AI Conferences and the Road Ahead: Marcus Jecklin on the Trends to Watch

In the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence, staying current is essential. One of the most effective ways to stay informed, inspired, and strategically aligned is by attending an AI conference. These events bring together top minds, cutting-edge tech, and forward-looking strategies that help professionals stay ahead in an increasingly AI-driven world.

To dive deeper into the power of conferences, we spoke with Marcus Jecklin, Co-founder of Ai4 and RETCON—two premier platforms known for curating high-impact events for business and technology leaders.

In this conversation, Marcus shares why AI conferences have become vital hubs for innovation, collaboration, and future-proof thinking.

Q: Let’s start with a brief introduction. Can you tell us something about your role as a Co-founder of Ai4?

Jecklin: Since our Brooklyn debut in 2018 with just 300 attendees, Ai4 has grown into the AI industry’s definitive annual gathering—the one event every enterprise, AI startup, investor, researcher, policymaker, and journalist marks on the calendar.

This year, for Ai4 2025, more than 8,000 leaders from 85+ countries converge here to exchange ideas, launch breakthroughs, and set the pace for an industry reshaping every sector of society.

As Co-founder, I’m involved in nearly every aspect of the business. Still, my core focus is on marketing – from shaping the brand and voice of Ai4 to driving attendance, engagement, and awareness across digital channels. I work closely with our team to ensure we’re reaching the right people, crafting the right message, and delivering an event experience that resonates with a broad spectrum of AI professionals.

Another fun fact is that my Co-founder, Michael Weiss, and I produced many events together before we launched Ai4.

Shortly after we graduated from Washington University in St. Louis together (undergraduate class of 2012), we started throwing New Year’s parties. After that, we launched a B2C event called “World’s Fair Nano.”

After a couple years of trial and error, we eventually learned the events industry a bit better and launched Ai4, which has been by far our most successful.

Q: As a leader, how do you think AI conferences and events are helping industry leaders in the current evolving environment?

Jecklin: In a space as fast-moving as AI, staying current is a full-time job. Conferences like Ai4 create a moment where leaders can retreat from their day-to-day and immerse themselves in the broader AI ecosystem. It’s a place to benchmark strategies, understand where the field is heading, and forge relationships that lead to real-world collaborations.

Our AI conference is focused on delivering extremely niche insights into every industry and job function. We’ve built an event featuring over 600 speakers and 50+ content tracks ranging from healthcare to finance and from marketing to cybersecurity in the hopes of educating the most people possible about all of the innovation going on within their unique roles.

Our thesis is that idea sharing and collaboration lead to technological progress.

Q: Are there any key highlights or differentiators that make Ai4 conferences/events unique for leaders looking to excel in artificial intelligence?

Jecklin: What sets Ai4 apart is our obsession with the product. We’ve spent years refining the event format, curating speakers, and studying what our audience actually needs. We focus heavily on real-world applications and enterprise adoption.

Plus, the scale and diversity of our audience – from Fortune 500 execs to bleeding-edge startups – create a uniquely rich environment for knowledge exchange.

Q: How do you think artificial intelligence has changed the world today?

Jecklin: AI is already embedded into daily life — from how we shop and work to how we diagnose disease and drive cars. It’s reshaping business models, enabling automation at scale, and creating entirely new industries. But beyond the headlines, it’s also quietly improving efficiency and decision-making across nearly every vertical. Personally, I rely on AI daily for help across all of my tasks!

Q: Do you think AI is something good or dangerous?

Jecklin: Like any powerful tool, AI is both. Its potential for good is enormous — from accelerating scientific breakthroughs to improving healthcare and education. But without thoughtful governance, we risk misuse, bias, and a lack of accountability. It’s up to the global community to steer AI’s trajectory in the right direction. 

As many of our speakers will point out, AI stands to redefine many aspects of society and may even change what it means to be human. The possibility of such drastic change forces us to confront how humanity aligns with AI, to ensure that our AI-driven future helps us flourish.

Looking beyond the pop culture examples of Skynet, a paper clip apocalypse, and HAL 9000, there are many future versions with a more insidious plot.

Think about the increasing wealth divide, unsustainable energy demands, LLM echo chambers, or the internet full of fake information that drowns out the good stuff.

Q: How do you envision the future world with AI?

Jecklin: I think we’ll look back on this era as the beginning of a fundamental shift.

AI won’t just be a tool in the future — it will be a collaborator. We’ll have AI co-pilots helping us make decisions, automate workflows, and even spark creativity. However, achieving that responsibly will require serious investment in ethics, safety, and accessibility.

Q: What advice would you like to give young tech/business leaders?

Jecklin: Don’t be afraid to take the leap before you’re ready; never ask for permission to do anything! If you’re within the confines of the law and you’re generating revenue, then you’re doing it right. 

I’ve learned that there are only two things that can kill a business: running out of money and running out of drive. I think it’s really the latter that kills most businesses because if you want to do something badly enough, you’ll figure out how to do it with zero cash. Sometimes running out of money can look like a good reason to quit, but it’s really just another excuse.

Make no excuses! Start your business today, and figure the rest out later. When you get stuck, talk to somebody who’s more experienced than you are, and never take advice from anyone who hasn’t actually done it successfully themselves. Having a co-founder always helps.

Note:

Founded in 2018, Ai4 2025 is now North America’s largest AI industry event, drawing 8,000+ attendees, 600+ speakers, and leaders from across the Fortune 500.

Recognized as one of the most comprehensive AI conferences, this year, Ai4 2025 is scheduled on August 11-13 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas!