Grand One
AI Day 2025

08:15 

Registration & breakfast

08:45
Opening words for Morning Session by host Matias Vaara

 

08:50

0 to 1 at a new frontier: building AI-native products

Sami Niemelä, Head of Design, In Parallel

 

Building and launching new products is inherently different when the map around you is only emerging. In this talk, Sami will share his experiences on embarking on a journey to build a new AI-native platform bottom-up, and the lessons learned so far, including:


 

• Why deploying forward is a must: how building AI-native products is different when the goal posts move by default

• Building sustainable value: the hidden complexity and scaffolding required for complex horizontal products.

• Why Rick Rubin was and is mostly right: why we’re in the new golden age of design and creativity, and how it is different this time

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09:20

Designing Complex Product Features with AI

Toni Järvinen, Senior Product Designer, Oura

 

How do you design entirely new health features fast, while navigating the complexity of data, AI, and real human needs?

 

In this talk, Toni shares how AI played a central role in building Oura’s Metabolic Health features, from disrupting traditional logging methods to unlocking deeper insights from health data. You'll learn how AI can expand the role of design, speed up iteration, and open the door to entirely new product possibilities.

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09:50
Designing for AI Agency

Matias Vaara, Independent Strategic Designer

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How AI Agents are redefining customer experience design?

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As AI agents begin to act independently on behalf of users, the fundamentals of customer experience design are shifting. Drawing from work with enterprise design teams and emerging cases, Matias Vaara explores how to design experiences when AI becomes an active participant in the customer journey. For designers and leaders looking to understand and shape this transformation.

 

10:20

Coffee break

 

10:35

Designing content tooling and experiences with AI
Maria Lumiaho, Head of Product Design Zalando & Vilma Sirainen, Head of Product Design, Zalando

Content is reaching new frontiers, becoming more immersive, personalized, and interactive – driven by technological innovation and evolving user expectations. This shift is about discovering novel ways to interact with information and forge significant connections through content, as it moves towards an intent-driven strategy.

In this talk, Maria and Vilma will share how AI is shaping Zalando's content experiences, from content creation and tooling to the end user experience.
 

11:05
Supercharging the Product Cycle: Practical Lessons in AI-Driven Product Design
Timo Ilola, VP Product Design, Taxfix
 

Building great products is ultimately about learning fast, and AI gives us a powerful new edge. By integrating AI throughout the product development cycle, we can accelerate learning from discovery to delivery, increasing impact while reducing the cost of iteration.

 

In this talk, Timo shares how his team at Taxfix is evolving design and research processes for an AI-first world. Grounded in practical examples and hard-earned lessons, he’ll explore:

• Adopting an AI-First Mindset: What it means, why it matters, and how to make the shift

• Shifting Focus from Tools to Use Cases: Avoiding hype and anchoring in real value

• Why Design Must Disrupt Itself to Stay Relevant: Exploring the new skills, roles, and paradigms of AI-native design

Whether you are a designer, product manager, or tech leader, this session offers concrete takeaways to help you integrate AI meaningfully into your product development process.

 

11:35

KEYNOTE
Perspective on AI Transformation of Digital Commerce

Hong Ding, Global Head of Design, Alibaba.com

AI is reshaping digital commerce at unprecedented speed, from smarter product recommendations to entirely new, AI-native shopping experiences. This session will explore how AI is being applied in today’s e-commerce landscape, what has proven effective, and how it might disrupt the way we shop altogether. We will examine the opportunities and challenges this transformation presents, and how teams and organizations can adapt to thrive in an AI-driven future. The session will also touch on emerging developments in China’s tech ecosystem as part of the broader global AI landscape.

 

12:20
Lunch & registration for Afternoon Session

Lunch is included both for Morning- and Afternoon Sessions.
 

12:50

Opening words for afternoon session by host Matias Vaara

 

12:55
KEYNOTE

Making Meaning in an AI-driven World

Johan Bello, CEO, Uncut

 

As we create more with machines, how do we ensure the stories still resonate, still feel human? Johan Bello, founder of Uncut and creative visionary behind some of the world’s most talked-about campaigns, shares his perspective on this question at the heart of modern creativity.
 

We’re entering an era where words, images, and films can be generated in seconds. AI can write scripts, design campaigns, even mimic the nuances of a director’s style. But amid this exponential explosion of synthetic content, a critical question remains: what makes it meaningful?
 

This talk explores the creative responsibility that comes with automation. It’s not enough to generate — we must curate, direct, and emotionally architect. We'll look at how creative leaders can use AI not as a shortcut, but as an amplifier of intention. And how — even in a world of endless output — the soul of storytelling lies in human insight, cultural context, and the courage to say something real.

 

13:40
Creative Control in the Age of AI

Umberto Onza, Design Director, GenAI & Product Design, TBWA\Helsinki, NEXT

 

How can AI become a meaningful part of creative teams and processes in a way that supports high-quality ideation, design, content creation, and brand consistency? This talk explores how AI is reshaping the structure and workflows of creative work. It also looks at how organizations can develop brand-driven tools—such as customized AI agents—and processes that help guide AI-generated content to align with the brand, especially when scaling the production.

 

The session also highlights the human role as a creative director and provides concrete examples and tools to help ensure that the end result remains high-quality, distinctive, and true to the brand.

 

14:10

Creativity is Going Liquid

Topi Manu, AI GTM Lead - Nordics, Google

 

Hands-on glimpses into the evolving work day of a creative professional. (Content details will be added closer to the event due to product roadmap consideration).

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14:40
Coffee break

 

14:55
From SEO to AI findability
Lari Eteläniemi, Head of AI, Senior Consultant & Partner, Hopkins
 

AI findability is the defining shift in how people discover solutions in the 21st century. Traditional Google rankings still influence visibility—but now, conversational AI tools compete for attention by citing content directly.
 

Organic traffic remains vital—but how do we maintain visibility, drive visitors, and convert them into customers when AI solves their questions directly?

SEO isn’t dead—it’s the baseline. But AI findability is the goal.

In this session, you’ll learn:

• What the essential ranking factors are in AI discovery

• How user behavior is shifting from clicks to AI-generated summaries—and what that means for measurement and strategy

• How to optimise for informational or transactional and ecom or lead generation AI-searches

• What is the one key thing in getting citations

• Are websites dead

 

15:25
KEYNOTE

The Intelligence Age: Crafting a narrative for AI

George & Tom McQueen, Executive Creative Directors, Droga5 / Accenture Song

 

AI is everywhere. But how do you make it feel empowering, not overwhelming, for 100 million people at once?

 

In this keynote Tom and George McQueen, the creative duo behind OpenAI’s first Super Bowl commercial, share the story behind one of the most talked about ads of the big game. A poetic, pointillist animation that reframed AI as not a threat, but as a tool for increasing human potential.

 

In this keynote they’ll unpack how AI didn’t just shape the message, it shaped the making. From early explorations with generative video to the realities of working with cutting-edge tools under Super Bowl pressure. Part strategy, part production deep-dive, this is a candid look at the creative tension, unexpected surprises, and real potential of human-AI collaboration.

 

For creatives and marketers alike, this talk is a case study in storytelling and designing with intent, and staying human in the process.

 

16:20

Closing words by host Matias Vaara

 

16:25-17:30

Networking & drinks

You are welcome for networking & drinks also if you just take part in the morning session.

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All presentations will be in English