The 2025 Analytics and Industry Symposium, held March 20 and 21 at Boston College’s Yawkey Athletic Center, gathered industry leaders, policymakers, researchers, and students to examine the theme “Productivity and (or?) Prosperity with AI.” Now in its third year, the event featured two days of panel discussions, keynote addresses, student presentations, and networking sessions focused on the rapidly evolving role of artificial intelligence in business, government, and society.
The symposium showcased speakers from major organizations, including IBM, SiriusXM, PayPal, New Balance, and SurveyMonkey, with keynote addresses from luminaries including Nobel Laureate and Boston College professor Paul Romer and Head of AI at SiriusXM Derya Isler. A perennial highlight of the event is the student poster session, where graduate students present original research on data science and analytics.
Across all sessions, participants examined how AI is shaping everything from financial services to ethics in technology, and what that means for innovation, regulation, and everyday life. Here are some of the key takeaways.
Symposium at a Glance: Building a Day of AI
Technological progress constantly disrupts the workplace, but there’s something different about generative AI, according to Woods College Associate Dean of Strategy, Innovation & Technology Aleksandar (Sasha) Tomic. He framed the symposium’s purpose this way: “We have assembled an impressive group of industry and academic leaders… looking at issues like, ‘What are some practical uses and challenges of generative AI in business? What is the implication of generative AI for the long-term growth and for the distribution of income that comes from that growth?’ And, finally, it looked at how generative AI can be used to enhance human well-being in addition to just productivity and income gains.”
That’s a lot of ground to cover; the two-day event was understandably crammed with keynotes, presentations, panels, and social events. To ensure a thorough overview, the symposium convened experts from academia and industry. As Lawrence Fulton, visiting professor in applied analytics, noted, “We need to provide a cross-fertilization among the populations so that we’re learning together.”
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Insights from the Keynote Addresses
The 2025 Analytics and Industry Symposium featured four keynote addresses, all of which are available to stream online.
SiriusXM Head for Artificial Intelligence Derya Isler led off by forecasting the next two to three years of AI development. She noted that technological advances and simpler interfaces are spurring rapid growth in AI implementation. However, she cautioned that formidable barriers remain, including an uncertain regulatory environment, high computational and storage costs, compatibility with legacy infrastructures, and organizational resistance. She observed that many companies focus too much attention on building an AI model (“not the difficult part”) and too little on data strategy. She posed the question: “What is the data that you are collecting? How are you collecting that data? Where is your data? Using it for your competitive advantage is the problem. In my opinion, your data strategy is more important than your AI strategy right now.”
Paul Romer followed with a discussion of the promise of progress and the factors that impede it. Competition, he argued, is the key to rapid, unfettered growth that serves the greatest number of beneficiaries. Technological advances, regardless of their capabilities and the wealth they can generate, don’t necessarily improve society on their own: “People who win the lottery don’t always end up substantially better off,” Romer pointed out. “I think that’s the challenge we face with technological innovation right now. It’s not that we haven’t had innovation, but we haven’t always used it in ways that are socially beneficial.” He warned that monopolistic power impedes innovation and neglects the public good and counseled progressive tax policies, greater transparency, and wise regulation to harness AI’s beneficial capabilities.
Tamara Srzentic, a leader in government reform and digital transformation, drew on her leadership experiences in the California and Montenegro governments to address the intersection of AI and policy. She pointed out that crises—like pandemics, wars, and terrorist threats—can spur technological advances and government reform to facilitate agility and collaboration. She emphasized the importance of building human-centered, data-informed, and agile government systems that prioritize people over process. “For government transformation and policy reform to stick,” she observed, “we need a legion of public servants and civic tech leaders who build with the people and by the people, and a radically different approach to social impact and public service organization, one based on multidisciplinary teams, starting with human needs, and scaling iteratively by testing policy and products and service assumptions.”
Andrew Flowers, chief economist at Appcast, presented a talk entitled “Two Cultures: Economics and Analytics” in which he interwove personal and professional experiences in a discussion of how economics and analytics converge and differ, and how AI can function in both cultures. He identified the key distinction this way: data analytics focuses primarily on prediction, while economics focuses on determining causation. Flowers emphasized the importance of both and the need to integrate them, noting that the Master of Science in Applied Economics at BC Woods—a degree earned in 2023—provides the necessary tools for this integration.
Panel Takeaways: AI and the Changing Workplace
The symposium included three panel discussions. The topics:
- AI Applications to Business, Economics, Analytics, and Finance
- Ethical AI: Regulation and Governance
- AI: Advancing Well-Being or Increasing Inequality?
AI Applications to Business, Economics, Analytics, and Finance
This panel, featuring industry leaders from PayPal, SurveyMonkey, and New Balance, explored how AI is transforming credit decisioning, consumer insights, and retail personalization. Panelists emphasized the importance of clean, unbiased data, thoughtful model deployment, and human oversight, particularly in regulated or sensitive contexts. They also spotlighted the growing role of generative AI and the need for strong communication and problem-solving skills among AI professionals. As Nurtekin Savas of PayPal put it, “For the first time in a long time, I would say [there’s a greater need for] problem-solving skills than technical skills” in businesses deploying AI.
Ethical AI: Regulation and Governance
In this panel, experts from IBM, Boston College Law School, and Anduril Industries explored the rapidly evolving landscape of AI governance across sectors, from finance to national defense. They discussed the global patchwork of emerging AI laws, the tension between innovation and regulation, and the critical need for proactive, risk-based frameworks that ensure safe, transparent, and ethical AI deployment. Panelists emphasized the importance of cross-disciplinary collaboration, continuous monitoring, and aligning AI use with core organizational values to navigate both the promise and peril of this transformative technology. Referencing Spiderman, Director of Product for watsonx.governance, risk, and compliance at IBM Heather Gentile noted: “With great power comes great responsibility, and that’s where having an effective AI governance framework really helps, not only to protect companies from risk but also to succeed in their AI adoption.”
AI: Advancing Well-Being or Increasing Inequality?
Panelists from Infinite Sum Modeling, IBM, Deloitte, and the University of Memphis explored whether AI is truly advancing human well-being or deepening societal inequality. They discussed the transformative potential of AI in healthcare, education, and public services, but warned of growing risks related to bias, workforce displacement, and unequal access. They emphasized the importance of human-centered design, upskilling, transparent governance, and a globally coordinated regulatory framework to ensure that AI benefits all and not just a privileged few. Badri Gopalakrishnan of Infinite Sum Modeling summed up: “Someone has to say you should not cross the line; that has to be a combination of government, civil society, and people at large… We have to form the public opinion to draw the line.”
Highlights from Student Presentations: Addressing Pressing Issues with AI Research
While renowned speakers play a significant role at the annual symposium, graduate students are at its heart. Presentations in the poster competition are a hallmark of the event, the culmination of nearly half a year’s work. This year, there were a dozen posters.
Trevor Petran, who recently earned a Master of Science in Applied Analytics from BC Woods, appreciated the opportunity to contribute. The symposium, he said, is about “being able to make our voices heard with our [poster] presentations. BC takes the time to go and show off the work that students are doing.” As a presenter, Petran felt that a big part of the experience was learning how to talk about AI to colleagues and stakeholders: “You never want the first time that you’re talking about something you’ve done to be in a [job] interview.”
Gina Occhipinti, a student in applied economics, also presented a poster. “I got to present my poster on AI-powered early diabetes detection,” she said. “That was really cool to share my insights and also learn from the speakers and see how professionals are using AI in the world today.”
Other topics presented by students this year included:
- Hurricane Sandy’s effect on home prices in New Jersey
- How refugees are migrating
- Models predicting solar power production
- Measuring the sentiment of YouTube videos about the impact of tariffs
This aspect of the symposium is a point of pride for Tomic, who said: “We put our students front and center and give attendees a chance to see them in action, to talk to them about their work.”
Join a Cutting-Edge Program: Earn Your Master’s Degree at BC Woods College
The Analytics and Industry Symposium is one of many opportunities for on-campus and online students to enhance their experience at BC Woods. “That classroom exposure, that project work exposure, the industry symposium exposure, all of that leads to them building a strong insight into AI and learning how to leverage that to build to become better analysts — to basically go there and be ready on day one,” applied economics professor Arvind Sharma observes.
Events like the Symposium complement coursework at BC Woods and help students stay ahead in a rapidly evolving tech landscape. With a hands-on, industry-focused curriculum, BC Woods College prepares students for the workforce of today and tomorrow. Ready to learn more? Request information or start an application for the BC MS in Applied Economics and MS in Applied Analytics programs. A dual degree option is available.