The annual AI Horizon 2025 conference united leading experts, business leaders and government representatives to explore the future of artificial intelligence and its ethical applications. Attendees gathered to discuss responsible AI development, innovative solutions and cross-industry collaboration.

The event kicked off with a keynote by Sergiy Barbashyn, President of the AI Ethics and Integrity International Association (AIEI). He emphasized the importance of ethical AI, shared the association’s achievements and outlined future initiatives, setting a thoughtful and inspiring tone for the evening.

Among the key AIEI’s achievements, Sergiy stopped: 

First, AIEI released the first edition of the International AI Principles – a unified document that consolidates the world’s best practices in ethical and responsible AI. These principles were reviewed by experts from eight countries and designed to be practical and applicable for companies of any size. AIEI members also receive exclusive access to the AIEI Verified Badge, confirming their commitment to responsible AI.

Sergiy also emphasized the establishment of the AIEI Legal Committee. Even at its initial meetings, it gathered representatives from 17 countries and more than 34 legal experts in total. The Committee will officially begin its work soon, focusing on reviewing and updating the AI Principles, monitoring regulatory developments across jurisdictions, supporting the legal community in AI implementation, and addressing many of the urgent issues emerging in the field.

He further highlighted that today’s conference, along with the AI Horizon Journal, demonstrates AIEI’s active role in sharing knowledge and promoting responsible innovation. The third issue of the Journal is now in preparation. Finally, Sergiy drew attention to AIEI’s growing global presence. This year, association representatives attended more than nine conferences offline and over twenty online events worldwide. AIEI now has an active presence in more than 30 countries, supported through strong collaborations with partner organizations across the globe.

During this part of the confernece, keynote presentations followed:

Roba Hamam (AÏP Genius) showcased how AI enhances intellectual property management by addressing the complexity and fragmentation of IP. She highlighted the risks of generic AI hallucinations and explained how vertical AI ensures domain fidelity. At AÏP Genius, they developed Vertical AI solutions for the global IP lifecycle that support, rather than replace, human legal judgment – emphasizing transparency, accessibility, and responsibility.

Roba also demonstrated the “Human in the Loop” approach: AI accelerates processes, while humans validate outcomes to maintain ethical, accurate, and accountable decision-making. A real-world example showed that full trademark registration in the UAE took only 2.5 months via AÏP Genius, compared to 6–8 months through traditional routes, and renewals took 2.5 hours versus 2–3 months.

Her advice for implementing AI in legal domains was clear: start with a narrow domain, build from verified data, and leverage human oversight as a strategic control advantage. 

Igor Paniuk (Trinetix) shared how AI is transforming software development, moving from traditional SDLC to AI-native approaches. Today, AI-augmented SDLC uses assistants like GitHub Co-pilot to support human work, while tomorrow, AI-native SDLC positions AI at the core, with humans providing context.

He highlighted that building these capabilities now reduces costs, improves output quality and minimizes rework. Accurate, context-driven AI ensures reliable results and faster time-to-value.

Finally, Igor stressed that as AI becomes commoditized, context engineering creates competitive advantage, protecting market positions and driving sustainable growth.

The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine presented QA Sandbox, a pilot program supporting startups developing AI and blockchain solutions. It provides free audits and expert consultations in legal, business, and technical areas, helping startups refine models, ensure regulatory compliance, and improve AI performance.

All results remain confidential and accessible only to the participating startup. The program runs until October 2026 and is supported by the UK-funded UK DIGIT initiative, positioning Ukraine as a hub for responsible AI innovation.

The next part of the conference focused on sharing insights from different fields through the panel “Responsible Innovation: Building Trust in the Age of Intelligent Systems.” Experts from academia, business and startups discussed balancing innovation speed with responsibility, regulatory approaches and cross-industry collaboration. Panelists included:

• Catarina Farinha, AI Product Manager at Sword Health;
• Professor Miguel de Castro Neto, Dean of NOVA Information Management School;
• Dmytro Maslov, Global AI Lead at Plarium;
• João Andrade, Partner at Hacken.

The panel combined brief presentations with interactive audience discussions, offering practical insights and actionable takeaways. 

Among the questions raised by the audience and participants were reflections on which skills or mindsets will matter most for professionals working with AI over the next five years, as well as whether cross-industry collaboration, for example, between GameDev and Cybersecurity, could help make AI safer and more trustworthy. The energy and engagement in the discussion underscored just how timely and relevant the topic is.

The Startup Pitch Session featured Marqea (Sandra Kobel), Paintit.ai (Yulii Cherevko), HostyAI (Joao Botelho) and SYLA (Mykola Lozinskyi), who presented innovative projects to the audience. This session showcased the creativity of the next generation of AI ventures and the value of connecting startups with the wider AI community. SkyUp Airlines awarded the startup session winners with promotional flight tickets and all conference attendees received special flight promotions. Our partner Network VC delivered a welcome address, emphasizing their commitment to supporting innovative projects and fostering collaboration within the AI ecosystem.

The conference concluded with awards for companies making significant contributions to ethical AI.his year, 15 companies were recognized and some of them, including AIP Genius, Hacken, Trinetix and APDC, attended the conference and received their awards in person. 

Following the awards, Vice President Artemiy Volodin delivered closing remarks, emphasizing the importance of a responsible approach to AI and sharing upcoming initiatives for the association, including the launch of an international AI registry, the development of an AI assessment platform and the opening of an additional office in New York this December.

AI Horizon 2025 reaffirmed its role as a key platform for knowledge exchange, ethical practice discussions and collaboration across business, academia and government. The event demonstrated that the future of AI relies not only on innovation but also on responsibility, transparency and ecosystem-wide cooperation.