Share

Top 5 Takeaways from Our AI Panel: Infrastructure, Adoption & What Comes Next 

Artificial intelligence is advancing at an unprecedented pace—but as our recent panel made clear, the biggest story right now isn’t just innovation. It’s the tension between rapid technological progress and the real-world constraints shaping how quickly AI can scale. This panel featured:

• Kevin McLaughlin, Partner & Artificial Intelligence Practice Leader at Centri
• Michael Maniscalco, Chief Executive Officer at Qumulus AI
• Michelle Burke, Chief Operating Officer at Z Squared
• Timothy Horan, Managing Director in Equity Research – Digital Infrastructure, Satellite and Communications at Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.
• Satya Nitta, Co-Chief Executive Officer at Emergence AI

Here are the five key takeaways from the discussion: 

1. AI Demand Is Outpacing Infrastructure 

The growth of AI is accelerating far faster than the infrastructure required to support it. Demand for compute, power, and data center capacity continues to surge, creating a persistent supply–demand imbalance across the ecosystem.  

2. AI Agents Are Emerging as a Transformative Force 

AI agents—particularly coding agents—are driving significant productivity gains and represent one of the first meaningful enterprise use cases to scale. Their rapid evolution is beginning to reshape how work gets done across organizations.  

3. Infrastructure Is Shifting Toward a Hybrid Model 

While hyperscalers remain essential for large-scale model training, the future of AI infrastructure is becoming more distributed. Localized inference and modular deployments are enabling faster, more flexible, and cost-effective applications closer to end users.  

4. Enterprise Adoption Is Held Back by Trust and Data Challenges 

Despite widespread interest and experimentation, enterprise adoption of AI remains in its early stages. Key barriers include fragmented data environments, concerns around security and governance, and a lack of trust in AI systems to reliably support mission-critical decisions.  

5. Verified Autonomy Will Unlock the Next Phase of Growth 

The next major breakthrough in AI will be the ability to verify and validate AI decisions with certainty. As systems become more reliable and trustworthy, organizations will be better positioned to deploy AI at scale—unlocking broader transformation across industries.

As the panel emphasized, AI is still in its early stages. The organizations that navigate infrastructure constraints, build trust in AI systems, and prepare their data environments today will be best positioned to capitalize on what comes next. 

How Centri Can Help

As organizations look to move beyond experimentation and scale AI effectively, Centri helps bridge the gap between innovation and execution. From AI infrastructure providers and model developers to enterprise adopters, Centri delivers specialized advisory services that address many of the challenges highlighted during the panel—including infrastructure strategy, capital planning, technical accounting, cybersecurity and risk management, audit readiness, tax advisory, and transaction support. With deep experience supporting high-growth technology companies, Centri helps organizations build the financial, operational, and governance foundations needed to deploy AI confidently, scale responsibly, and create long-term value.