The Applied AI Conference has been Minnesota's premier platform for practical AI education, networking and innovation since 2023. The 2025 conference was held at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul.
Manjeet Rege, professor and chair of the Department of Software Engineering and Data Science at St. Thomas, gave the keynote talk about how organizations must move beyond tool adoption to build systematic capabilities that turn widespread AI use into measurable business advantage. His talk explained why implementation and organizational learning, not model access, determine winners and presented a pragmatic roadmap for scaling AI responsibly and at pace.
Associate Professor Thomas Feeney, director of the MA in Artificial Intelligence Leadership Program, gave the talk “How AI Keeps the Students up at Night.” His session presented a practical, field-tested method to help students navigate AI. The method brings anxiety about AI replacement out in the open, before giving students an opportunity to build in their own ideas.
