What I Witnessed Chairing Europe’s Premier AI Stage in 2025

25,000 tech leaders, 20 panels, 2 days, one of the biggest tech events. The real issues with AI are cooling, data management, and the chasm between the sales pitch and engineering.

Between handshakes, AI panels, and a feverish haze, I dropped the ball. To those who caught it, a bit thank you for being patient.

By the afternoon of March 13th, I was barely holding it together.

Still, I dragged myself back to ExCeL London. A promise was a promise, especially when I agreed to chair sessions with industry leaders flying in from across Europe.

For my American readers wondering what the fuss is about: Tech Show London is to Europe what RSA or AWS re:Invent is to the US tech scene, just smaller (as most other things). This year, about 25,000 attendees attended London, one of the must-attend annual tech events on the continent.

TL;DR

• As GPUs replace CPUs. While everyone obsesses over model parameters, The hot topics in the data center section are cooling and power constraints.
• Packed conference sessions discussed autonomous agents. The agentic AI drama continues and remains as is: talk.
• My talk challenged the AI certainty bubble through nine real-world cases that transformed marketing headlines into uncomfortable questions.
• Panels showcased ambitious AI roadmaps, while private discussions acknowledged pilots that never reached production. A clear implementation gap.
• Can’t build an AI castle on a data swampland. From my fireside chat with Merve Alanyali to data scientists across multiple sessions, the emphasis was on fundamentals over algorithmic excitement.
• The training paradox is on full display. Vendors eagerly sell courses on technologies so nascent they lack established patterns. But hey, what’s more important than slipping in the term AI for your enterprise training package?

Physics Doesn’t Care About Your AI Sales Pitch.