Beyond LLMs: Unlocking the Future of AI at the Smart Data & AI Summit 2025

NETSOL Technologies proudly marked its presence as a Gold Sponsor at the prestigious Smart Data & AI Summit 2025. The two-day summit brought together global AI leaders, innovators, and decision-makers to explore how data and artificial intelligence are shaping the future of industries.

The Smart Data & AI Summit 2025 was a landmark event, bringing together the brightest minds in artificial intelligence, data science, and tech innovation. As global leaders and industry pioneers gathered to discuss the future of AI, one thing became clear: AI is not just a buzzword, but a driving force that will reshape industries and the way we live. The discussions ranged from AI-driven automation to transforming traditional business models, with a sharp focus on AI's role in finance, healthcare, and smart cities.

The summit was also an opportunity to highlight the broader implications of Saudi Vision 2030, which is driving the Kingdom’s ambitious push toward transforming its economy into a tech-driven powerhouse. With a focus on sustainability, economic diversification, and digital innovation, Vision 2030 is paving the way for Saudi Arabia to become a global leader in AI and technology. The AI-driven initiatives showcased at the summit are aligned with the Kingdom's vision, which emphasizes leveraging AI and data analytics to drive growth and innovation across various sectors. This vision sets the stage for Saudi Arabia to lead the way in AI, and the summit was a glimpse into the future where AI shapes industries, enhances productivity, and creates value. 

Distinguished attendees from NETSOL

As a company deeply invested in AI, NETSOL through its dedicated department, Transcend AI Labs, is focused on developing cutting-edge solutions that empower businesses to harness the power of AI in enhancing operational efficiency, customer experiences, and sustainable growth. This commitment to AI innovation was showcased through the company’s product presentations and thought leadership at the summit. NETSOL was represented by two of its key AI leaders:

• Sahibzada Ali Mahmud, Head of Professional Services
  Steering cutting-edge research and product innovation across NETSOL’s AI-powered solutions.
• Dario Morelli, Vice President AI
  Leading strategic AI initiatives and helping global enterprises operationalize next-generation AI capabilities.

Their presence underscored NETSOL’s commitment to advancing responsible and transformative AI across asset finance, automotive, and broader financial services. 

Keynote spotlight: “Beyond LLMs, where is the next competitive advantage?”

One of the most engaging and thought-provoking moments at the summit came on Day Two when Dario Morelli, Vice President – AI & Data Science at NETSOL, took the stage to deliver his keynote titled “Beyond LLMs: Where Is the Next Competitive Advantage?” Dario explored the limitations of today’s large language models (LLMs) and urged the audience to look beyond these technologies to uncover the next frontier of AI innovation. His insights were a call to action for businesses and tech leaders to think strategically about the future of AI and its potential to unlock new competitive advantages which challenged the audience to think beyond the hype of large language models (LLMs). Dario highlighted:

1. Recognizing the limits of today’s LLM infrastructure

• Marginal gains from newer models: Even with breakthroughs like GPT-5, improvements remain incremental.
• Reliability concerns: AI agents built on LLMs inherit these limitations, making large-scale production deployments challenging.

2. Three strategic elements for the next edge

• Product Mindset

Move beyond experiments; embed AI as monetizable products focusing on revenue growth, cost efficiency, risk management, and customer experience. Product managers must bridge customer needs and AI capabilities.

• Knowledge > Data

The real advantage lies in turning raw data into structured knowledge. Techniques such as knowledge graphs, ontologies, and causal relationships transform proprietary data into context-rich insights and create defensible competitive advantages.

• Self-Awareness

Organizations must address three types of “debt”:

Technical: Start from the existing tech stack; avoid chasing shiny tools.

Strategic: Align initiatives under a clear direction to avoid fragmentation.

Cultural: Foster experimentation and a learning mindset to continuously adapt.

3. NETSOL’s own journey

Dario shared how NETSOL is moving from project-based delivery to a product-driven organization, leveraging Transcend AI Labs to operationalize AI beyond LLMs. By applying causal AI and advanced knowledge engineering, NETSOL is redefining business outcomes for finance and leasing clients worldwide.

NETSOL products showcased at the event

In addition to the keynote, NETSOL showcased its advanced AI solutions, which are transforming the asset finance industry. The following products were highlighted at the event:

Flow AI

Flow AI, a cutting-edge AI-powered solution, automates and enhances financial document handling in credit and funding applications. By utilizing AI-driven data extraction, comparison, and discrepancy detection, Flow AI streamlines the approval process and integrates seamlessly into existing workflows, improving accuracy and compliance in credit decisioning. The solution ensures the efficient management of documents, such as tax returns and bank statements, saving time and reducing manual errors in the underwriting process

Check AI

Check AI is an AI credit analyst assistant designed to optimize the credit evaluation process by integrating multiple data sources and generating comprehensive reports. These reports provide SWOT analysis, asset insights, and applicant insights, making credit decisions faster and more accurate. Check AI’s modular design allows it to seamlessly integrate with existing workflows and is designed to automate document processing while providing data-backed insights. By automating repetitive tasks, Check AI empowers credit analysts to focus on high-value decisions

Transcend AI Labs

Transcend AI Labs represents NETSOL’s commitment to transforming business operations through AI innovation. This product focuses on advanced AI services tailored to meet the challenges of industries ranging from finance, banking, fintech, to insurance, and auto finance. The lab’s capabilities extend beyond LLMs, using causal AI and knowledge engineering to deliver AI solutions that drive sustainable growth, enhance efficiency, and provide personalized experiences for customers.

Future outlook

The Smart Data & AI Summit 2025 reaffirmed that the next competitive advantage will come from contextual intelligence and knowledge engineering, not just bigger models. NETSOL is committed to helping organizations harness this shift, transforming data into actionable knowledge and driving measurable business impact.

Looking to future-proof your AI strategy?

Partner with NETSOL’s Transcend AI Labs to explore how advanced AI and knowledge engineering can accelerate your business.

Contact us to start the conversation.