Our media partners spoke to key experts from business, technology, innovation, marketing, data and AI about some of the emerging trends, challenges and opportunities AI opens, and why it’s time to embrace innovation, while respecting ethical and data governance guidelines.
Research shows shift towards AI and GenAI adoption
A recent Digital, Marketing & eComm in Focus 2025 report, produced by digital, data and eCommerce advisory & consultancy Arktic Fox in collaboration with recruitment firm Six Degrees Executive, reveals that 59% of brands are experimenting with or scaling efforts around generative AI and AI more broadly to drive personalisation efforts.
Half of today’s brands are experimenting with GenAI for content generation, and almost a quarter (24%) are scaling up efforts here. Nearly half (49%) of brands are experimenting with using AI for insights generation, with 19% scaling up. Despite this trend, only 13% of leaders believe their organisation is advanced in leveraging predictive analytics, with these mostly being brands with revenues in excess of $100 million.
“But while adoption is growing, most brands still face barriers to unlocking AI’s full potential,” says Teresa Sperti, Founder and Director at Arktic Fox. “Only 14% have a mature, unified customer view, despite it being a key investment area. Without strong data foundations, efforts to use AI for personalisation and experience delivery will fall short.”
AI: The new frontier for solving fragmented data issues
Customer data issues like fragmentation, poor quality and identity confusion have really hindered business and marketing performance over the years. According to Billy Loizou, APAC Area Vice President at Amperity, AI is now changing the equation by making sense of the data that already exists and unifying it accurately.
“One of its biggest impacts we see lies in identity resolution. Instead of relying on rigid rules, AI can detect patterns across billions of records to unify customer profiles with far greater speed and accuracy. It reduces manual effort while improving precision,” he explains.
“AI also improves data quality by learning from the data itself, flagging inconsistencies, filling gaps and adapting to behavioral changes. This leads to more trustworthy, actionable datasets over time.”
Also Read: In the Age of AI, Trust Is the Real Infrastructure
Unlocking deeper data insights and reporting with gen AI
A great example of gen AI deepening the impact of customer data insights and discovery for business is the latest innovations from Nexxen, a global, flexible advertising technology platform with deep expertise in data and advanced TV.
They recently announced their newest advancement, nexAI: the introduction of generative artificial intelligence (“AI”) to the Nexxen Data Platform, including a UI assistant within its proprietary insights tool Nexxen Discovery. With this advancement, nexAI enables clients to quickly turn complex consumer data into clear, actionable audience profiles and campaign planning for seamless activation.
“The Nexxen Data Platform has always been powered by advanced machine learning to help our clients navigate the fragmented media landscape. With the introduction of generative AI and the nexAI Discovery assistant, we’re taking that foundation to the next level — turning complex datasets into clear, strategic guidance in an instant,” said Karim Rayes, Chief Product Officer, Nexxen. “This is about removing friction from the entire workflow, enabling advertisers and agencies to move from insights to activation faster, smarter and with greater confidence.”
AI as the cornerstone for future proofing personalised experiences customer loyalty
Recent research from The Australian Loyalty Association (ALA) highlights the growing tension between personalisation expectations and customer comfort with data use:
- 46% of members expect brands to know their preferences—suggesting a gap between expectation and delivery.
- 58% are happy to share their data in exchange for more relevant offers.
- 53% remain concerned about the volume of data loyalty programs hold on them.
- 75% prefer communication via email, with only 35% open to texts—and just 68% wanting SMS used for urgent updates only.
“As AI tools become more sophisticated, the pressure is on loyalty leaders to stay informed about technology advancements to maintain their competitive edge,” ALA Founder and Director Sarah Richardson says. The 2025 event is set to provide loyalty professionals with practical guidance and fresh thinking during a pivotal moment for the industry, to better adapt to shifting consumer behaviours and cultivate lasting customer loyalty.”
So topical is the issue, that the ALA recently announced the future of retail AI, personalisation and customer loyalty will be the major topics of industry discussion and debate at its the upcoming 2025 Asia Pacific Loyalty Conference from 29–31 July 2025 at QT Resort, Gold Coast.
AI augmenting traditional SEO to generative engine optimisation (GEO)
Ask ChatGPT about the best car brands for families, and you’ll get a curated list. Search for laptop recommendations, and the AI serves up specific models with reasoning. But notice which brands make those lists and which don’t.
The rapid transition from traditional search engines to AI-powered language models represents a complete restructuring of the discovery layer between brands and customers. And many businesses haven’t noticed they’re already losing.
According to Marty Hungerford, Chief Innovation Officer at BRX, this trend has given rise to what is being called ‘generative engine optimisation (GEO’), the new discipline of optimising content for AI-powered responses rather than traditional search rankings.
“The shift from traditional search engines to AI-powered language models represents a complete reshaping of how consumers discover, evaluate, and engage with brands. Those that fail to recognise and respond to this shift risk becoming invisible at the moment of decision,” Hungerford explains.
“Brands that are not surfaced in LLM-generated responses will see a significant decline in visibility, resulting in downstream impacts on customer acquisition, brand relevance, and market competitiveness. Those that delay will not merely fall behind, they risk being excluded from the AI-powered discovery layer entirely.”
Helping business leaders step off the ‘technical treadmill’ with AI assistants
According to Sangeeta Mudnal, Chief Technology Officer of pioneering GenAI platform Glu, AI-powered assistants from Google, Meta, and Perplexity are redefining how consumers engage with brands, creating an entirely new canvas for creative expression. These developments aren’t merely technical innovations but rather a fundamental reimagining of the creative producer’s role.
“As AI assistants increasingly mediate the relationship between brands and consumers, we’re witnessing a profound shift in how creative work is conceptualised, produced, optimised, and delivered,” Mudnal says. “With the rapid rise of these industry trends platforms like Glu.ai are now showcasing a deep commitment to customer-centric innovation, while being dedicated to helping e-commerce merchants seamlessly adapt and thrive in this new era of AI-facilitated ecommerce.”
Managing AI transformation and governance in asset-centric industries
AI presents significant opportunities for many organisations, but asset-centric industries in particular, where management and data collection plays a key role in the viability of assets, resources and infrastructure, are emerging as clear candidates for AI transformation.
However, according to Anthony Cipolla, AI Lead with data-led asset management solutions firm COSOL, organisations across the asset-centric industry landscape exhibit mixed maturity when it comes to their AI journeys, and are looking for guidance on getting AI integrations right.
“The scale of the change that AI presents to all industries is perhaps comparable to the disruption brought by the internet, mobile technology and cloud computing (though likely more exponential in nature),” Cipolla explained. “At the same time, the concept of the Agentic-Web is being developed to determine how AI systems are standardised and communicate with each other.”
The pace of transformation is evident across related sectors, and this is highlighted by just how quickly AI is changing the software engineering space.
“During a conversation at Meta’s LlamaCon event in April 2025, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that within a year, approximately half of Meta’s software development could be handled by AI, with expectations for this proportion to grow over time,” Cipolla explained.
AI is moving from experimental to measurable returns in retail
According to executives at retail technology platform Eagle Eye, the AI landscape has reached an important moment where retailers can finally start measuring real returns on AI investments rather than just discussing potential. But this transformation is also prompting deeper reflection on how AI will reshape professional roles.
Jonathan Reeve, Vice President APAC at Eagle Eye, has been considering this personally.
“I’ve been thinking about AI advancement a lot lately as we watch AI and automation start to reshape our working lives,” he says.
“Like many others, I’ve invested years developing particular skills and expertise. It’s not easy to imagine large parts of my work being automated, but I recognise I need to start asking: What problem do I solve for people? Could that problem be solved differently? And how might I evolve to stay relevant and valuable?”
“It’s challenging, but it also gives us a chance to step back, reimagine, and maybe evolve to improve our prospects.”
This personal evolution coincides with measurable business progress. Early retail adopters like Tesco and Carrefour are already achieving measurable results from predictive AI in personalised marketing, demonstrating that AI has moved from experimental to practical application.
Aaron Crowe, Regional Director Asia at Eagle Eye, also has great perspectives on the trajectory of AI in retail, including where he doesn’t see it going.
“AI augments, not replaces, human expertise; speeding data analysis while preserving human judgment and local market insights,” he says
On the ethical handling of customer data, Crowe emphasises the importance of proper protocols.
“Obtain explicit customer consent; anonymise or pseudonymise personal data; enforce role‑based access controls and conduct regular privacy audits,” he adds.
Integrating Agentic AI capabilities directly into existing business systems
Looking to harness the benefits of AI to provide its customers with more features, one company has taken steps to build AI features conveniently into its product, providing users with hassle-free access to frontier technology.
Leading enterprise resource planning and analytics software provider, Pronto Software, just signed a strategic agreement with IBM Australia, enabling the integration of powerful Agentic AI capabilities into its Pronto Xi ERP platform via IBM Watsonx.
Pronto Software Managing Director Chad Gates says the initiative is designed to democratise access to intelligence, helping businesses develop the capabilities of their teams.
“Rather than replacing workers, we’re using AI to elevate them,” Gates says. “Our customers, many of them family-run, mid-sized businesses, can enable staff to act strategically. Pronto Software can work with customers to build and deploy Agentic AI that not only informs, but acts on the information, unlocking real business value without compromising security.”
This approach shows how businesses can adopt AI without disrupting existing workflows. Rather than requiring staff to learn entirely new platforms, the technology becomes part of the tools they already use daily, reducing the typical barriers to AI adoption.
“AI doesn’t have to be overwhelming or intimidating,” Gates concludes. “It should feel like a natural part of your workflow, and that’s exactly what we are delivering. With this new capability, Pronto Xi becomes not just a system of record, but a system of insight and empowerment.”
Also Read: AiThority Interview with Lokesh Jindal, Head of Products at Axtria
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