The intersection of data, networks, sensors and computing muscle occupied delegates on the second day at Thinking Digital at the Sage, Gateshead, UK.

I spoke with Katie Moffat, an old friend and Thinking Digital regular, about some of the highlights from the conference.

We both left the conference with the impressive that artificial intelligence would become a reality in our lifetime thanks to a session by Google’s Blaise Agüera y Arcas on developments in machine intelligence.

Networks are empowering people and communities, enabling big issues to be solved. On Wednesday we heard from Sean Carasso about how Falling Whistle has mobilised people around the world to strive for peace in the eastern Congo.

Today Jonathan O'Halloran spoke about his early stage company QuantuMDx based in Newcastle that is aiming to track the progress of viruses through the combination of networks and low-cost DNA sequencing devices.

There was an undercurrent of caution throughout the conference about personal privacy and the conflict between free web services and data.

Aral Balkan sounded an alarm bell yesterday and the trio of Jemima Kiss, Christian Payne, and Meri Williams continued the theme in a panel session this afternoon, urging delegates to be more aware of the issue.

It’s certainly an issue that I plan to explore, starting with the film Terms and Conditions May Apply that was much referenced throughout the conference.

Katie also spoke about how organisations are adopting digital and her own use of social media. Despite the potential of technology, digital for a lot of organisations remains a web site and a bit of Facebook or Twitter. We've a lot to do.

You can connect with Katie via her website prandsocial or Twitter @katiemoffat.

Podcasting

Podcasting is a relatively new thing for me. I’ve started recording short interviews like this with people that I meet or who are part of my network. You can access it on Soundcloud, via your favourite podcast app, or iTunes. Let me know what you think and thanks for listening.