While we work globally, our business grew up in Philadelphia, and we have always found our roots in the Philadelphia technology ecosystem. From early days discussing the value of the “Internet” to now buzzing past one another in the endless stream of AI news, our Philly friends have always played a major role in our culture and development.

Philly Tech Week has been a gravitational force for the regional tech community for years. The region's longest-standing celebration of tech and innovation, it pulls together founders, operators, investors, and civic leaders across 90+ events in a single week.

This year, O3XO was proud to participate in the (Co)nnect: Philly AI Ecosystem Summit at the Pennovation Center. Our CIO, Mike Gadsby joined a panel called "Talent, Infrastructure, and the Long Game" exploring what makes Philadelphia sticky for companies and talent over time, though the conversation extended far beyond those parameters hitting on points from AI adoption to “what makes community work”.

First off, a big thank you to Talia Tomarchio of Accenture for moderating with sharp instincts, and to fellow panelists Ben Williams of Exyn Technologies and Alex Hillman of Indy Hall for a conversation that was genuinely worth having. It left us all thinking about something that applies well beyond the city limits.

Right now, the problem with AI isn't access. It's volume. More content, more tools, more predictions than any one person can meaningfully process. And the faster it moves, the less useful much of it becomes. It was the undercurrent of the entire discussion at Pennovation, and the answer the panel kept circling back to: community.

Find your people

A colleague shared this idea with Gadsby a while back and it has stuck. Find a few people outside your normal circles who are actively building or solving problems with AI in ways that are relevant to your work (what he calls an “AI micro-community”). They don't have to be in your industry or at your level. They just have to be doing real work with AI, solving real problems and willing to be honest about what is and isn't working.

Think about what that circle actually gives you. Someone who has already hit the wall you are about to hit. Real solution recommendations from people who have deployed them, not just read about them. Honest conversations about what failed and why. The difference between most AI content and a trusted circle is simple: one is optimized for reach, the other for relevance.

The same problem, at the city level

The panel kept pulling toward one theme: the structure of human connection.

Alex Hillman argued that what Philadelphia needs most is practice. A structure that actually forces corporations, universities, and civic leadership to work on a problem together. A city-wide hackathon model. Practice over proclamation.

Ben Williams pushed on geography. The talent ecosystem isn't the city. It's the full metro, suburbs included. Until we stop drawing those invisible lines, we make coordination impossible.

Both ideas map directly to what we see with AI adoption inside organizations every day. Siloed teams. Parallel experiments that never compare notes. The fix is not better software. It is better connection, built on purpose..

AI for ALL of us

That is why we built 1682. It is a conference where we bring together senior practitioners doing real AI work across industries. The theme is "AI for All of Us" and it is less a slogan than a premise: the most consequential AI work happening right now is not at the hyperscaler level. It is in real workflows, driven by real people at every level of the organization, from the CEO to the engineer, who are experimenting, learning, and willing to say "this didn't work."

That is exactly what a good network gives you. Find your inner AI circle. And if you want one more room that earns its place in it, join us on October 7.