Beyond the Hype: What AI in 2025 Really Teaches Us

We’ve just returned from Connected Britain 2025. I don’t want to offer a conference review — the significance is bigger than that. With the decade at its midpoint, it’s a good moment to reflect: how did the 2020s begin, where are we now, and what does the second half demand? 

From Fibre Builds to AI Outcomes 

Back in 2020, the conversation was all about barrier-busting, fibre rollout, and 5G trials. The industry was focused on digging trenches and testing new networks, with councils largely absent. 

In 2025 the debate has shifted decisively to AI, data, and outcomes — with local authorities now central to the story. 

That shift matters because it shows how fast hype cycles move, and why leaders must focus less on the technology itself and more on what it actually delivers. 

Panel Takeaways: Building the AI-Driven City 

I had the privilege of moderating a session on Building the AI-Driven City. Five clear lessons stood out: 

1. Transport: Business Models Matter 

   The West Midlands connected 300 road junctions with sensors and AI to optimise flows and cut congestion. The savings run into tens of millions. But without new ways of sharing value across agencies, adoption risks stalling. 

2. Social Care: Productivity, Not Job Loss 

   St Helens showed how AI-enabled medicine dispensers saved nearly GBP 200,000 while doubling social care visits. AI transcription freed staff for people, not paperwork. The fear of job losses gave way to frontline staff asking: when can we have this too? 

3. Infrastructure: Fix the Plumbing 

   3D field capture and AI build validation are helping to cut re-excavation, compress billing cycles, and create reliable asset records. These “unseen” foundations are what make more ambitious AI projects possible. 

4. Governance: Optimism Needs Guardrails 

   AI feels like a “Wild West” — hype is outrunning evidence, and resilience is often forgotten. Without standards and fallbacks, one system failure can grind whole services to a halt. 

5. Culture: People First 

   Councils that embedded “digital care navigators” in social work teams saw adoption surge. Change works best when frontline staff co-design it and see evidence of the benefits themselves. 

Technology is a Means, Not the End 

These examples aren’t about AI algorithms. They’re about outcomes: shorter travel times, lower costs in care, staff freed to spend more time with residents, and citizens seeing tangible improvements. 

The bigger lesson is about pace. Telecoms once moved in decades — a new “G” every ten years. Now technology cycles arrive every 12–24 months. AI has gone from fringe to mainstream in three years. Another wave, not yet named, is already forming. 

The Intelligens Lens 

So what should leaders do? Chasing every hype cycle is impossible. Ignoring them is dangerous. The organisations that will succeed are those that: 

• Stay outcomes-led — measuring projects by productivity gains, efficiency, and citizen value. 

• Invest in data foundations they’ll still trust five years from now. 

• Build the discipline to read signals early and act at the right moment. 

  
  

This is the perspective we bring at Intelligens Consulting. We look beyond the hype, test the evidence, and help clients prepare for what’s next — ensuring technology delivers outcomes that matter for councils, businesses, communities and government. 

The message is simple: the future won’t wait. The real question is whether you’ll be ready to capture value from the next wave when it arrives. 

If you want to explore how AI will really evolve in the next decade—what our own futurists at Intelligens Consulting are seeing, and how to turn that into practical strategies feel free to reach out to use at info@intelligensconsulting.com. We’d love to share ideas, challenge assumptions, and help you imagine what an AI-driven future means for you, and how to realise that.