We’ll begin with a welcome and introduction from Jon Cocker and Ian Wright, followed by a fast-paced tour of what’s been happening in the world of AI and housing since we last met.

In DIN’s first AI Forum of the year, we’ll give members fresh insight into the rapidly evolving AI landscape – from practical use cases and strategic thinking, to how you can reduce implementation risk and get real value from early adoption.

This is a chance to hear what others are doing, learn from outside the sector, and explore how AI can reshape the way your organisation thinks, decides and delivers.

What the session will cover

We’ll dive into a series of focused segments, including:

• AI market update – What’s been happening in housing AI since we last met
• AI Pulse – Launch of DIN’s longitudinal research project tracking AI rollout across the social housing sector
• Learning from outside housing – How Warwickshire Police is approaching the design and deployment of AI
• Small language models (SLMs) – Are SLMs the key to success in the housing sector?

We’ll also explore how AI can reshape organisational thinking and performance:

• AI and organisational behaviour – How AI should change risk awareness, decision speed and behaviour in care and housing (for good)
• Systems first, then AI – Why the biggest risk is accelerating bad systems, and why leadership attention must go to redesigning those systems first
• Reducing cognitive overload – How AI can reduce frontline burnout and leadership fatigue by externalising memory, pattern recognition and coordination

And we’ll ground this in real-world examples:

Case study: Thirteen Group – Moving from tactical to strategic AI adoption (strategy, trust, adoption) with a personal account of a leader’s AI journey

Freeing up colleagues’ time – How small-scale deployments (summarisation, data extraction, letter generation and more) can quickly add up to significant time and resource savings

Our speakers include:

• Chair: Jon Cocker, CIO, Platform Housing Group
• Stephen Russell, Director of Data, Strategy and Technology, Warwickshire Police Service
• Julia Mixter, Executive Director, Business Services, Anchor
• Hassan Bahrani, IT Director, Thirteen Group
• Phil Nichols, Microsoft 365 Developer Lead, Thirteen Group
• Dr Rob Rowlands, Curator of Curiosity

Who should attend?

Anyone interested in (and that should be everyone) the development of Ai will get value from joining the forum and attending the sessions. Whether it is CEOs, Exec Directors, Heads of Service in whatever department in a housing business understanding Ai is now an imperative and this will be a great way to gain those insights in a supportive and friendly environment.