The Rise of AI in Live Events

AI is suddenly everywhere – from our phones to our favourite search engines – and its influence is only set to increase. In fact, whether it’s in major breakthroughs in science and medicine or just the performance of simple tasks, AI’s impact is likely to be so profound that we haven’t even begun to grasp the implications.

So, why are some so slow to be adopting it? In a recent poll conducted by podcast ‘The Meeting Room’, while 56% of industry respondents said they’d already started using AI in some form, 25% said they had not.  

At TFI Lodestar, we’ve been using AI for a while now, always from the viewpoint that it can provide a useful helping hand and not an instant solution. Without applying our own creativity, values, taste and direction, current AI models tend only to serve up generic content or ‘solutions’ that are either misleading or outright incorrect.

Deployed in small tasks, where multiple processes and actions are not part of the equation, AI can be a great way to get started or save time. Here are five ways we’ve been using AI, or expect to be using it in 2025.

1. Content creation. None of the large language models we’ve tested can write anything remotely creative or insightful (or even factually correct a lot of the time), but they can be useful for drafting outlines of simple copy, especially social media posts. No AI was used in the generation of this post, we might add…

2. Process management and workflows. We’re starting to explore how AI can help us automate some of the simpler processes within our work, as a way to save time and increase efficiencies.

3. AI chats and support. Website and chat-based apps are becoming increasingly sophisticated at helping with simple queries and customer engagement requirements. Some of our event websites are already using this, and we are cautiously expanding it across more of our activities.

4. Data management and analysis. AI has already proven its worth to us at crunching large data sets, uncovering insights, analysing conference behaviour, and categorising audience responses. When performing these kinds of tasks, it’s vital that we remember GDPR legislation and the rights of our stakeholders, focusing only on data sets and not personal data.

5. Accessibility. AI has taken great strides in its ability to live-translate sessions for virtual audiences, and in the general multi-translation of website copy, captions, and tailoring the overall website experience for increased accessibility.