Stop using AI, start running your business on it. A free Leeds Digital Festival breakfast talk on running a business on AI.

Most people in tech now use AI every day. Very few are running their business on it. This early-start session on the first morning of Leeds Digital Festival is about the gap between those two things, and how to close it.

A few months ago Jonny Ross was a heavy AI user and still the bottleneck in his own business. Every output needed him to carry the context. The tool was brilliant; the business ran on his memory. Today his agency runs on an operating system where AI holds the memory, sits in defined roles, and follows the rituals that used to live only in his head. One of those roles is a CFO that reviews his pricing. It has no problem telling him he is charging too little.

By the end, you'll leave knowing:

The three layers that turn AI from a clever tool into an operating system: memory, roles and rituals

Why "what role would do this in a well-run business?" beats "what can AI do?"

Where running your business on AI goes wrong, and how to stay out of the ditch

One honest, real example of what it changed, and what it did not

This is for you if:

You run or help run a business and already use AI

You want more from AI than a faster way to write emails

You are curious how an operator actually wires AI into how a business runs

You don't need to be technical. You do need to run something.

This is not for developers or prompt engineers after deep technical detail, or anyone hunting for a list of tools or a magic prompt.

Your speaker

Jonny Ross is a Fractional CMO with more than 27 years in marketing and growth, embedded in the leadership teams of scaling businesses across Yorkshire and the North, and the founder of Fleek Marketing. He runs his own agency on the AI operating system this talk unpacks.

What people say

"An inspiring speaker, a gifted mentor and an excellent authority on this ever changing and fast moving area." Andrew Batty, Managing Director, Creative Marketing Services

"First rate content and presenting style, and consistently top feedback marks from delegates." James Michael May, CTA

The takeaway

Everyone who comes gets the AI Operating System blueprint, a one-page guide to putting this to work in your own business, sent through after the session.

Free, part of Leeds Digital Festival's open community programme. Seats are limited to 55, so book early. Come for the 8am start on day one, and leave with a system, not just ideas.

Tea and coffee provided from 8am, courtesy of the NatWest Accelerator.

Description supplied by the event organiser.