THE Chief Executive Officer (CEO), PressOne Africa, Mayowa Okegbenle, has said that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has demonstrated that it is not just a trend but a core business driver.

He said this when the School of Computing at Babcock University hosted him as the keynote speaker of its 25th anniversary celebration at the BUTH 600-Seater Auditorium.

Speaking on ‘The Past, The Present, and The Future of Artificial Intelligence,’ Okegbenle addressed faculty members, students, and industry stakeholders on the evolution of AI and its expanding influence across business, work, and society. He was invited for his practical industry experience and the department’s recognition of his ability to provide valuable insights to the academic community.

Okegbenle shared PressOne Africa’s journey deploying AI to solve customer operations challenges. He explained how early attempts to scale through large customer service teams proved unsustainable, prompting the company to explore whether AI could deliver consistent value at scale. This process resulted in Juliet, PressOne’s intelligent employee that now manages thousands of customer conversations.

He noted that while humans handled about 50 per cent of conversations in Juliet’s first week, today that figure is below five per cent.

Juliet now outperforms any human team the company could have hired, demonstrating that AI is not a trend but a core business driver.

As part of the celebration, Okegbenle also launched two major departmental initiatives – the Babcock Compendium and the new Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, designed to strengthen advanced research and hands-on learning in intelligent systems.