“Knowledge work is being replaced by generative AI.”
Skip Howard
Founder and CEO
Spacee
.…via D CEO 
Dallas-based Spacee brings next-gen retail tech to life with virtual touchscreens and “invisible” inventory robots powered by AI. As its founder and an AI expert, Skip Howard sees knowledge work being quickly replaced by generative AI.
“It’s not there today,” Howard told D CEO’s Ben Swanger for a report how gen AI will change the way M&A deals are done. “But it’s moving so fast it will literally be there tomorrow.”
To see how that could impact the future of mergers and acquisitions, Swanger also spoke with private equity partner Scott Parel, co-managing partner for Sidley Austin’s Dallas office, and Hank Olken, a local computer scientist and COO of consulting firm Highwire Ventures.
A key point made by Olken in an inflationary era for M&A deals: “One of the best combatants to inflation is technological innovation—it is inherently deflationary. Generative AI can absolutely spur M&A activity in a slow cycle.”
On LinkedIn, Howard said he thinks “the next two years is a major opportunity” using AI in M&A.
Read more on the topic in the D CEO story.
For more of who said what about all things North Texas, check out Every Last Word.
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![Erica Kosemund, Chief Brand Officer, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; Gillian Breidenbach, Chief Partnership Officer, North Texas FWC Organizing Committee; Chief Gary Batton, Chief of Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; Monica Paul, Executive Director of Dallas Sports Commission and President of North Texas FWC Organizing Committee; John Hobbs, Senior Executive Officer of Communications, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; and Heidi Grant, Senior Executive Officer of Commerce Administration, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, celebrate Choctaw Casinos & Resorts becoming an Official Dallas World Cup 2026 Host City Supporter. [Photo: North Texas FWC Organizing Committee/Choctaw Casinos & Resorts]](https://s24806.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/FIFA-Choctaw-dec-2025-75x69.jpg)
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