Appsforum London: The AI Sessions That Go Beyond the Usual Conversation

AI is everywhere and something that is becoming increasingly prominent within the apps industry. As the conversation develops, however, the questions facing leaders are becoming more difficult and more important.

It is no longer enough to ask “How can we use AI?” The real questions are: Are we building what users actually need? Is AI creating genuine value? And what happens to the app itself when AI starts changing how people discover, choose and use products?

At Appsforum London, these are the questions we’re putting at the centre of the conversation.

Across a series of sessions, the event will look beyond the usual AI discussion to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping product discovery, user behaviour, app experiences and the future of the ecosystem.

Moving beyond AI for AI's sake

The rapid development of generative AI has made it easier than ever to build new products and features. But faster development does not necessarily mean better products.

The session Jobs to be Done, Supercharged with AI tackles this challenge head-on, exploring how product teams can use AI not simply to accelerate what they build, but to better understand why users need it in the first place.

Drawing on Memrise's work with Jobs to Be Done creator Bob Moesta and its experience with more than 80 million users, the session will explore how AI can be incorporated into the product discovery process, helping teams identify genuine user needs and turn those insights into product-led growth.

It is a crucial distinction: AI can help teams build faster, but the real advantage comes from building the right thing.

Asking whether the app itself still matters

AI isn't just changing how apps are built. It could fundamentally change how people interact with them.

That's the question at the heart of Is the App Dead?

As LLM-powered assistants increasingly become capable of booking flights, ordering food, managing information and completing tasks on behalf of users, the traditional app discovery model is being challenged.

Why open an app if an AI assistant can simply do the job for you?

This panel will explore what this shift means for app businesses, from discovery and distribution to trust, differentiation and long-term user relationships.

Rather than assuming that AI will either destroy or transform the app ecosystem, the discussion will tackle both possibilities. For some businesses, AI could represent an opportunity to reinvent the app experience. For others, it could raise much more fundamental questions about whether users will need to interact with their products directly at all.

Better AI doesn't automatically mean better experiences

There is another challenge emerging as AI becomes embedded throughout the customer journey: what if the technology works exactly as designed, but delivers the wrong outcome?

That's the focus of The Alignment Advantage: Why Better AI Isn't Enough.

The session will examine what happens when AI optimises for the wrong objective and why alignment between technology, business goals and genuine user needs is becoming critical.

For app businesses, this has implications far beyond product functionality. Poorly aligned AI can affect trust, retention and loyalty, while well-designed AI experiences have the potential to strengthen the relationship between users and products.

The next generation of successful apps won't necessarily be those with the most sophisticated AI.

They'll be the ones that understand where AI genuinely improves the experience and where it doesn't.

A different conversation about AI

Together, these sessions reflect what Appsforum London is designed to offer: a deeper conversation about the forces shaping the app industry, rather than another collection of predictions about the future of AI.

From understanding what users actually need, to questioning whether the app remains the primary interface, to exploring how AI can create long-term value, the programme tackles the strategic questions that product, growth and technology leaders are facing right now.

Because the biggest AI questions for apps aren't necessarily about what the technology can do.

They're about what it should do, who it should do it for, and what the app industry looks like when AI changes the rules.

Join us at Appsforum London to be part of the conversation.

See the full agenda here