AI Appreciation Day 2026: Has AI Hype Made It Harder To Have Honest Disccusions On Regulation And Risk?

We know that Artificial Intelligence now has its own Appreciation Day…

The wording itself starts from a positive position before any discussion has even begun. Organisations can easily feel expected to celebrate AI before asking where it genuinely belongs, what risks come with it and what rules should govern its use.

We’re seeing AI everywhere now… In business, government, public service – even in our HR departments. Investment continues and adoption continues, leaving many organisations feeling expected to show enthusiasm for the technology. That can encourage public displays of commitment before difficult discussions about accountability, regulation and risk have even started.

Many of the people building AI are making a different case. They want organisations to spend less time celebrating AI and more time deciding where it delivers real value, where it falls short and how it should be governed.

 

Does Appreciation Leave Less Room For Critique?

 

Darren Anstee, CTO for security at NETSCOUT, believes AI Appreciation Day offers value, especially for cybersecurity, yet his comments spend far more time discussing responsible use than celebration.

He said, “AI Appreciation Day is an opportunity to recognise how AI is transforming industries for the better, including cybersecurity, and to explore how organisations can optimise its use. As attackers increasingly leverage AI to automate and accelerate threats such as DDoS attacks, defenders are also harnessing the technology to strengthen their own defences.”

His comments soon turn towards the reality facing security teams. AI can help security professionals respond to automated attacks, but success depends on careful design and reliable data instead of excitement surrounding the technology.

Anstee said, “One of AI’s greatest strengths in cybersecurity is its ability to help organisations keep pace with increasingly sophisticated threats. Enterprises cannot defend against a machine speed, automated adversary with manual responses alone. The most effective way to keep pace with AI enhanced DDoS attacks is employing intelligence driven automated defensive strategies. Ideally, solutions need to use cloud scale AI derived intelligence, combined with local machine learning to both detect and block attacks before they cause business impact. Security professionals must recognise the need to adapt their defensive strategies and technologies, just as threat actors are evolving their tools.

“To truly realise the benefits of AI, it’s important to remember that, if businesses fuel AI powered defence systems with poor quality data, they will invariably get poor quality security outcomes. To counter this, organisations need to feed their AI with consistent, high fidelity packet derived collated and curated data to get to the ‘ground truth’ of what is going on. Data of this kind allows AI defences to deliver accurate and actionable insights, enhancing an enterprise’s security posture.”

 

Is AI Hype Creating Pressure To Celebrate?

 

Research from McKinsey says AI adoption is accelerating in many sectors, yet many organisations continue trying to turn early experiments into measurable business value. Excitement can easily run ahead of proven results.

Anshuman Singh, CEO of HGS Europe, believes organisations should stop treating AI as something worthy of praise and spend more time making sure it solves genuine business problems.

He said, “Great AI isn’t defined by the size of its development budget, but by the precision of its design. To drive tangible value, especially in critical areas like the public sector, where we must balance strict fiscal responsibility with the need for modern, secure citizen services, businesses don’t need multi million pound investments. They need intentional architecture.

“In the private sector, the true measure of AI isn’t its novelty, but its realised return. Just like great architecture, impactful AI isn’t about throwing multi million pound budgets at flashy structures, it’s about precise, intentional design that solves real world operational friction. To drive tangible commercial value, businesses don’t need expensive tech hype, they need a pragmatic blueprint that seamlessly integrates focused AI workflows into existing infrastructure. When properly architected, AI stops being an experimental cost centre and becomes a realised engine for growth, efficiency, and superior customer experience.”

His closing comments leave little doubt about his priorities.

“This AI Appreciation Day, let’s focus less on the expensive tech hype and more on how we can practically deploy smart, focused AI workflows to solve real world operational challenges and unlock genuine value for the public good.”

 

Can Appreciation Exist Without Losing Sight Of Regulation?

 

The UK Government’s latest AI adoption plan for financial services spends very little time celebrating AI. Most of the document discusses regulation, accountability, resilience and governance.

The plan says the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s AI Adoption Survey found 21% of businesses in financial and real estate had adopted AI. Surveys from the Financial Conduct Authority and Bank of England also found adoption in financial services at around 75%.

Much of the document concentrates on regulatory guidance, consumer protection, oversight of AI providers, resilience, skills and clearer rules for AI generated financial advice. That emphasis shows appreciation should never replace careful oversight.

AI Appreciation Day may encourage positive thinking about the technology. Honest discussions about regulation, accountability and responsible use deserve exactly the same level of enthusiasm.

Rokan, Owner, NOZLOO Kitchen & Bath LLC said, “The public should be encouraged to understand AI, not appreciate it as an abstract good. In a consumer business, AI is useful when it reduces repetitive work or helps surface patterns, but that value does not remove the need to verify product claims, protect customer data, and keep a human accountable for technical guidance.

“An “appreciation” framing can make scrutiny sound anti-innovation, when responsible adoption actually depends on honest discussion of limitations and risk.”

 

Experts Share Their Thoughts

 

So, when we frame AI as something to appreciate, does it really make it harder to have honest conversations about regulation and risk? What about the hype around AI and how it might be pressuring organisations to have an abstract sense of pride and commitment to this tech?

Well, we asked more experts, and here’s what they think…

 

Our Experts:

 

• Bihag Karnani, Product Leader, Google
• Andrei Romanescu, CMO, LumaDock
• Philip Huthwaite, CEO, 5app
• Mridul Nagpal, CTO & Co-founder, Krazimo Inc
• Nick Balnaves, Founder, Threada
• James Rubinowitz, Founder, AI, IP & Personal Injury Attorney, Rubinowitz Law Firm
• Claudio Fuentes, COO & Co-founder, Comp AI
• Anna Mastykina, Co-founder & CEO, Fundraisly
• Rokan, Owner, NOZLOO Kitchen & Bath LLC
• Manu Gurudatha, VP of Engineering, PagerDuty
• Oana Beattie, Vice President Data and AI, Kyndryl
• Aaron Fulkerson, CEO, OPAQUE
• Anudeep Parhar, Chief Operating Officer, Entrust
• John Cannava, CIO, Ping Identity
• Jeff Margolies, Chief Product and Strategy Officer, Saviynt
• Jason Gladu, Chief Alliances Officer, Convertr
• Sudeep George, CTO, iMerit

 

Bihag Karnani, Product Leader, Google

 

 

“YES. And I believe that it is important to be clear on how. The way in which we present any technology as something worthy of celebration over evaluation creates a social cost for skepticism. In an instant, the individual who asks difficult questions regarding the potential biases in algorithms, or the issues with governing access to data, are no longer viewed as stakeholders who have responsibility – they are now viewed as a killjoy.

“I have seen this social dynamic take place within companies that develop products as well. Once a technology has been widely celebrated by society, there can often be reluctance from internal product development teams to identify concerns with the technology. It is not perceived as diligence, but as disapproval.

“In my opinion, there should not be a psychological difference between appreciating a technology and scrutinising a technology. However, if a technology is presented as something to appreciate, then it will become increasingly difficult to hold both perspectives. For regulation to exist, there needs to be a public who feel comfortable questioning their discomfort regarding technologies. Technology appreciation culture inhibits this ability.”

 

Andrei Romanescu, CMO, LumaDock

 

 

“At LumaDock, we actually rent out the GPUs that some these AI projects run on – so I get one number most commentators never see. Utilisation.

“For me, it tells a clear story. Leadership asks for an AI strategy, the company buys a GPU cluster to prove it has one, then that hardware sits at single-digit use for weeks because no real problem was waiting for it. The distance between how loudly a company celebrates AI and how much it actually runs is the most honest signal in the industry. High celebration next to low use is a status purchase – there are less expensive ways to brag on LinkedIn.

“That’s my issue with “appreciate” too. It’s a word for gifts and people. Once the public is told to be grateful for a product, questioning it feels rude. That soft social pressure slows honest regulation more than any lobbyist does. Mature tech doesn’t get a holiday. There’s no Cloud Appreciation Day because cloud grew up, meanwhile AI still throws the party because it’s still selling itself.”

 

Philip Huthwaite, CEO, 5app

 

 

“AI absolutely is something to appreciate, and I don’t believe appreciating AI means we can’t also talk about the need for comprehensive regulation.

“As the CEO of an AI-forward business specialising in AI-powered skills development, I’m a strong advocate for everything AI can do, but that doesn’t mean ignoring the fact that there are risks associated with AI tools, whether that’s privacy, inaccurate information from hallucinations or simply not knowing that you’re engaging with AI.”

 

Mridul Nagpal, CTO & Co-founder, Krazimo Inc

 

 

“On whether that framing hurts honest risk conversations: yes. “Appreciate AI” subtly recasts the skeptic as ungrateful rather than rigorous. But the most useful stance toward AI is neither reverence nor fear — it’s the same critical eye you’d give any powerful tool. You can be genuinely impressed by what it does and still insist on knowing where it fails.

“On hype pressuring organisations: I see it constantly — companies adopt AI to signal they’re modern, not because it solves a real problem. That abstract sense of pride is exactly how you end up with pilots that impress in a demo and never ship. Appreciation should be earned by outcomes, not assumed.”

 

Nick Balnaves, Founder, Threada

 

 

“Appreciation sounds harmless, but it can turn a tool into a cause. Once support for AI becomes a badge of optimism, reasonable questions about safety, jobs, privacy and regulation can be dismissed as negativity.

“The hype also creates pressure inside companies. Leaders can feel they must announce an AI strategy or demonstrate enthusiasm before teams have agreed on a useful outcome. That is how experiments become expensive commitments: adoption becomes part of the company story before anyone has defined success.

“The better thing to celebrate is evidence. Show that AI saved people time, improved a service or reduced errors—and show how the result was checked. Understanding creates durable adoption; abstract enthusiasm creates governance debt.”
 

 

James Rubinowitz, Founder, AI, IP And Personal Injury Attorney, Rubinowitz Law Firm

 

 

“I appreciate AI likely more than most people. I lean on it every single day and I build with it, so I am not here to wave it away. What I see on the ground is messier than it should be, but it’s for good reasons.

“A lot of people are quietly uneasy about the Big Brother side of this, and even more are simply worn out from being told to master another tech system that changes on them every few months. Most of the adoption I watch is driven by fear of falling behind rather than any real conviction, so a firm buys the tool and then never puts in the hours to run it well enough to save anyone a minute of their time.

“And the cynical part is that the public is already ahead of Washington here. Ordinary people see the risks and want sensible regulation. The reason we still do not have it is that the biggest technology companies lobby our government relentlessly to keep it that way.

“The issue is that AI is going to keep growing no matter how anyone feels about it. I don’t see people changing their mind about this technology. I believe the disconnect between people being afraid of the technology, yet knowing they have to use the technology is going to continue to grow. Unless regulators step in sooner rather than later to reign in the technology companies’ control, it might lead to some type of public reckoning in the near future.”

 

Claudio Fuentes, COO And Co-founder, Comp AI

 

 

“Honestly I don’t think appreciating AI and being honest about its risk are in any tension. I run a compliance company, so I watch this play out every day. The teams actually shipping AI into regulated industries are the ones taking the risk most seriously, because that’s the only way anyone lets you near their data. The “either you love the tech or you want to regulate it” framing is mostly an online fight. In practice it’s the same people doing both.”

 

Anna Mastykina, Co-founder & CEO, Fundraisly

 

 

“I don’t think framing AI as something to appreciate makes honest conversations about regulation and risk more difficult. AI Appreciation Day should not be understood only as a celebration of the technology, it is also an opportunity to reflect on its limitations, acknowledge the risks, and discuss the safeguards needed for its responsible use. Recognising AI’s achievements and addressing its risks are not contradictory; both are essential to understanding its real impact.

“The growing involvement of regulators and legal experts in discussions around AI is a positive trend. The conversation is increasingly shifting from celebrating AI’s potential alone to demanding accountability and bringing innovators, policymakers, and legal professionals together to develop responsible governance frameworks.”

 

Manu Gurudatha, VP of Engineering, PagerDuty

 

 

“We shouldn’t have to choose between appreciating AI and scrutinising it because they’re two sides of the same coin. Hype serves a real purpose in that it paints the art of the possible and breaks the inertia that could otherwise stop organisations from capturing AI’s genuine value.

“But enthusiasm has to be matched with verification, and “Trust, but verify” is the right instinct. Innovation without guardrails can be dangerous, and speed without inclusion can create chasms and disparity. As AI grows more autonomous, organisations need to scrutinise where and how it’s used, especially the data it can access and the actions it can perform.”

 

Oana Beattie, Vice President Data and AI, Kyndryl

 

 

“Appreciating AI doesn’t mean being uncritical. There are powerful use cases, from helping clinicians spot cancers to supporting researchers in identifying new drug candidates faster. There are also unintended consequences, mistakes and the risk of bias being applied at scale.

“Understanding AI matters more than simply appreciating it. A truly informed user can see where AI creates value, where it introduces risk, and what controls are needed before it is trusted with decisions affecting people, customers or critical operations.

“Kyndryl’s People Readiness Report found that 79% of leaders are concerned AI adoption will outpace their workforce, governance and operating model. Just 23% believe governance and compliance are ready to support AI adoption.

“AI deserves recognition for what it can help people achieve, but trust has to be earned through transparency, oversight, guardrails and practical readiness. Impressive technology is not the same as appropriate use. Always exercise caution where anyone uncritically praises a new technology.”

 

Aaron Fulkerson, CEO, OPAQUE

 

 

“AI Appreciation Day should come with a reminder: AI’s future depends on whether people can verify its actions, not just trust promises they’re asked to accept. Public skepticism around AI is not a communications problem. It’s an architecture problem.

“As AI agents touch more sensitive data, make more decisions, and act across more systems, the industry can’t keep running on a ‘trust us’ model. The early web faced a similar turning point when HTTPS replaced promise with proof. AI now needs the same shift.

“To truly appreciate AI as a force for progress, we need collaboration across the ecosystem to make verifiable privacy and policy enforcement foundational to how AI is built, deployed, and used.”

 

Anudeep Parhar, Chief Operating Officer, Entrust

 

 

“AI is becoming more intelligent every day. The bigger question now is whether organisations can trust it with greater autonomy.

“Organisations are using AI to accelerate innovation, drive growth, streamline operations, and unlock new levels of productivity. At the same time, AI has enabled threat actors to create deepfakes, synthetic identities, and increasingly convincing scams that can compromise sensitive information at scale.

“As organisations rapidly adopt agentic AI, existing models for identity, authorisation, governance, and accountability must evolve to support machine-scale activity.

“Even in a more autonomous, agentic future, some level of human-in-the-loop oversight will remain critical, particularly for high-consequence decisions and actions.

“As AI continues to evolve, trust will be the challenge of the next era. It’s on organisations to understand the risks and integrate AI safely, with trust as the foundation.”

 

John Cannava, CIO, Ping Identity

 

 

“Organisations are increasingly deploying AI agents across the enterprise, and the opportunities for innovation and efficiency are tremendous.

“These systems are doing more than just responding to prompts. They’re making decisions, taking actions, and even spawning new agents with increasing autonomy and speed. That evolution is transforming how work gets done, and it’s also reshaping the security landscape.

“Now the challenge is that many organisations are adopting AI agents faster than they can establish clear identity, accountability, and governance for them. When you can’t definitively answer what an agent did, why it did it, or under whose authority it acted, you create unnecessary risk and uncertainty.

“This is why identity for AI must become a foundational priority. Every agent needs a verifiable identity with clear permissions and continuous oversight, just like any human user or service account.

“By building trust, visibility, and accountability into AI from the start, organisations can unlock the full potential of autonomous AI while managing risk and strengthening security.”

 

Jeff Margolies, Chief Product and Strategy Officer, Saviynt

 

 

“AI Appreciation Day is a reminder that AI is becoming a powerful tool for helping organisations move faster, make smarter decisions and manage complexity at scale.

“As AI adoption accelerates, enterprises need the right governance and identity controls in place so teams can use it confidently and responsibly. The fundamentals have not changed. Strong visibility, effective access controls and rapid risk reduction are still essential to building trust in the AI era.

“What has changed is the pace of change. Organisations that act now will be better positioned to innovate securely and with confidence.”

 

Jason Gladu, Chief Alliances Officer, Convertr

 

 

“On AI Appreciation Day, it’s worth reflecting on how far this technology has come, and it’s also worth asking a harder question: can you actually trust the data your AI is running on?

“Over the past couple of years, most businesses have spent a lot of money on models and automation, and far less effort making sure the data feeding those systems is accurate, permissioned, and up to date, which is usually the piece that gets skipped even though it’s the piece that matters most.

“If the data going in hasn’t been governed, you’re asking AI to make decisions on information you can’t stand behind.

“Clean, governed data is what actually lets AI deliver better decisions and better outcomes for customers, so before we celebrate what AI can do today, it’s worth taking stock of what it’s actually running on.”

 

Sudeep George, CTO, iMerit

 

 

“AI Appreciation Day is an opportunity to recognise how rapidly AI has evolved, but also to raise the bar for what meaningful progress looks like.

“As AI agents move from answering questions to taking actions across enterprise systems, the real test is not whether they perform well under ideal conditions but whether they behave safely and reliably when information is incomplete, workflows break down and the consequences of an error are significant.

“There’s a fundamental difference between AI that appears correct and AI that is operationally correct.

“The next phase of agentic AI will require more than static benchmarks. It will require real-world ‘driving tests’ that evaluate how agents handle ambiguity and edge cases, remain within defined boundaries, recover from failure and recognise when human intervention is needed.

“Human experts remain essential to designing these evaluations and defining what safe behaviour means in a specific context.

“AI delivers its greatest value not when it acts alone, but when rigorous evaluation and human judgment make its actions dependable and trustworthy.”