Last week I shared my longer, big-picture MAICON 2026 recap: where AI in business seems to be headed, why I think humans need to stay at the center, and what businesses should be doing about it. This week, I went back through my notes and pulled out five smaller ideas worth carrying into your own work.
1. Better AI starts with better context
One session put it plainly: context is king. AI can be incredibly capable, but if the information behind it is outdated, incomplete, inconsistent, or scattered across systems, the results suffer. That means your documentation, SOPs, customer data, meeting notes, and other internal knowledge are becoming even more valuable. Before asking AI to do more, make sure it has something useful to work with.
2. AI should free us to do more human work
This came up repeatedly throughout MAICON. If AI can handle research, summarization, repetitive production, analysis, or administrative work, the point shouldn't simply be doing even more tasks. It should create room for the work people are uniquely good at: talking with customers, exercising judgment, building relationships, creating, leading, and thinking deeply. Artificial intelligence should serve us as humans, not push humans out of the process.