"AI Isn’t Coming—It’s Here!"

Morgan Doyle
Jun 29
3 min read

Day 1 of Atlanta Tech Week at Atlanta Technology Park.

Inside the opening keynote at Atlanta Tech Week 2025

"There’s so much going on. I can’t make sense of anything. The world has gone nuts."

That was the opening line—and it instantly set the tone for a fast-paced, eye-opening keynote by Mike Branch, VP at Geotab, as he kicked off Atlanta Tech Week 2025.

But this wasn’t a gloom-and-doom take on AI. In fact, quite the opposite.

"AI is not complex. Or, at least, it’s never been simpler to use than it is today."

From that moment forward, the audience was taken on a journey, not just through the past five years of exponential AI progress, but into a future that’s already unfolding before our eyes.

📱 From GPT-2 to VO3: A Look at AI’s Acceleration

Branch highlighted the dizzying pace of change using examples that were both technical and relatable, from early GPT-2 text outputs to today’s multimodal systems capable of generating photorealistic images, lifelike video, and even interactive agents that can interpret intent and take action.

In just a few years:

A basic prompt to "describe a mischievous cat" has evolved from a few flat sentences to richly detailed narratives with accompanying visuals.
Visual generation has moved from awkward AI art to near-photorealistic renders with tools like VO3.
Video-to-video models now reimagine everyday scenes, books on a shelf become skyscrapers.

And perhaps most importantly: it’s accessible.

“You can do all of this from your phone now. That’s wild.”

🌎 The AI Revolution Is Real—and Personal

Branch made the case that we are not approaching the AI revolution; we're living in it. From AI-generated theater scripts and storytelling with his kids, to Waymo self-driving vehicles giving people a “futuristic experience,” the impact is everywhere.

He compared the moment to the Industrial Revolution:

“No one in 1762 said ‘We’re in a revolution.’ But we can say it now. We are at the start of the AI revolution.”

This isn’t just about LLMs or generative art. It’s about empowerment, imagination, and automation at scale, from consumer apps to public sector innovation.

🧠 AI at Geotab: Turning Data into Macro-Scale Decisions

As VP at Geotab, a global leader in connected commercial vehicles, Branch shared how AI is transforming their operations and customer value. With over 4.8 million connected vehicles, generating 100 million data points per day, Geotab uses AI not just to monitor, but to predict and influence outcomes across five key areas:

Collision Reduction
Downtime Prevention
Emissions Optimization
Time to Insight
Macro-Scale Decision Making

From predicting vehicle battery failures to using fleet movement data to influence infrastructure investments (like Toronto’s $73M accelerated highway project), Branch emphasized one thing: AI must drive outcomes, not just dashboards.

🤖 From GenAI to Intelligent Agents: What’s Next

One of the most engaging parts of the talk centered on AI agents: software that observes, plans, and acts on your behalf.

“No one knows what the hell an agent is,” Branch joked, echoing Google’s recent slide, but clarified that "agents will be the next evolution beyond prompts."

He introduced Geotab ACE, a fleet analytics agent that gives users ChatGPT-like access to their vehicle data, instantly answering questions that would take a data scientist days. But as he cautioned, agents amplify whatever data you give them, good or bad.

“Garbage in? With agents, it’s not just garbage out—it’s a dumpster fire.”

🔐 Trust, Goals, and Grounded AI

To make this next era work, Branch underscored two fundamentals:

Trust in AI systems—through privacy, transparency, and responsible governance
Goal alignment—especially in agent systems, where misaligned incentives can lead to poor outcomes

He left the audience with a challenge:

“You can’t measure what you don’t define. Start with clear goals and clean data. That’s the work we all need to be doing right now.”

📍 Why Atlanta?

Closing out the keynote, Branch shared big news: Geotab is making Atlanta its U.S. headquarters, citing the city’s vibrant tech ecosystem, talent pipeline, and accessibility as key drivers.

“There’s no way you’d have this kind of community in just any city. Atlanta is where it’s happening.”

💡 Final Takeaway

Mike Branch’s keynote wasn’t just a talk; it was a call to action. Yes, AI is evolving fast. Yes, it’s complex under the hood. But for leaders, builders, and everyday users, the opportunity has never been simpler to grasp, or more important to engage with responsibly.