Business leaders are reluctant to discuss AI publiclyNew

Posted October 29, 2026 at 9:56 AM, Filed Under: All News, Front Page

By Greg Pearson

Richmond BizSense offers numerous panel discussions for educating the metro business community and often too many business leaders volunteer to serve on those panels. But one topic -— artificial intelligence —fails to attract qualified speakers to serve. That’s what BizSense founder Aaron Kremer told those who gathered at the October meeting of the Brandermill Region Men’s Club (BRMC). While it is obviously a hot topic of discussion nationwide, AI appears to be a subject local business leaders don’t want to offer their experience and opinions on.

Attendance at panel discussions, paid subscriptions for its weekday emails and ads on the company’s website are the three ways BizSense generates revenue. Now with five full-time reporters and launching a second news service in Denver, Colorado, business appears to be quite good. A staple of its business reporting includes high profile lawsuits, businesses changing hands or going out of business, new businesses being created, commercial zoning cases and building permits.

Kremer began the digit-only news service here in January, 2008, coinciding with the decline of the daily paper. Prior to that, he acknowledged being disappointed when joining The Richmond Times-Dispatch as a reporter and being assigned to report on area businesses. He indicated back then business news was considered to be a wasteland for daily newspapers. But he grew to love it and see the value in business reporting, so he started his own digital business. In addition to the local daily, Kremer’s journalistic endeavors have also appeared in Slate, Reuters, The LA Times and The Street. He graduated from UVA with a major in philosophy before taking courses at the graduate level in journalism from the University of North Carolina.

Chesterfield’s Director of Parks & Recreation, Neil Luther, is the scheduled speaker for the November 5th BRMC meeting. He is expected to outline the numerous programs within his department and forecast new parks yet to be built. To round out the calendar year, Economic Development Director Garrett Hart will speak on business development in Chesterfield at the December 3rd meeting. He is retiring from the county at the end of the year.

BRMC meetings are held on the first Thursday of the month, excluding July and August. All meetings are held at the Brandermill Church starting with free coffee and pastries at 9:15 am followed by the speaker program and short business meeting at 10 am.