Jason Langella to join Chicago gas forum AI panel

SEO Agency USA Founder Jason Langella will join a technology panel at the 38th Annual LDC Gas Forum Mid-Continent in Chicago on Sept. 15 to discuss what AI is actually doing inside energy operations. The session comes as gas and power executives weigh how AI is changing demand and workflow across the Midwest.

Why it matters: - The Chicago panel puts a practical AI question in front of more than 400 natural gas executives: what is working, what is not, and how energy companies can use AI without creating new risk. - The discussion lands as data center growth is driving new gas-fired generation across the Midwest, making AI both a demand driver and an internal operations issue for the gas sector. - The International Energy Agency says natural gas is the largest single source of electricity for U.S. data centers.

What happened: - SEO Agency USA Founder and Chairman Jason Langella will join the technology panel at the 38th Annual LDC Gas Forum Mid-Continent in Chicago on Tuesday, Sept. 15. - The panel, titled "Technology. Not A Threat. An Opportunity: Leveraging innovative technology solutions to seize opportunities and overcome challenges," runs from 1:45 to 3:15 p.m. Central Time. - Cleve Hogarth, Principal of Cleveland Advisory, moderates the five-member session. - Other panelists are Jay Bhatty of NatGasHub.com, Tom Quinn of PowerGEM, Scott Vogan of nGenue, and Dhruv Venkatraman of Trellis Energy Software. - The forum runs Sept. 14-16 at the Westin River North in Chicago.

The details: - The session is framed as a working discussion rather than a product showcase. - The panel will focus on using technology to improve the bottom line, automate repeatable work, reduce security risk, and change day-to-day workflow and workforce practices. - Langella brings a cross-sector perspective because SEO Agency USA works across power generation, natural gas, electric utilities, and renewables. - SEO Agency USA builds AI agents and implements workflows, giving Langella a view into what worked and what failed in other sectors. - The discussion will also cover low-code and no-code agent platforms. - The session will point attendees to free AI education from Harvard, MIT, Google, Oracle, and Anthropic. - Langella said the strongest use cases include first drafts, first reads, first alerts, intelligence briefs from market and regulatory sources, contract and RFP work, and agents that monitor and route repeatable tasks. - Langella said AI fails when organizations hand over decisions to the model. - Langella said stalled deployments usually come down to unreadiness in data, a pilot with no owner, a strategy with no workflow, or employees using consumer chatbots without sanctioned tools. - Langella said organizations should choose three workflows, assign one owner to each, define human checkpoints, and deploy within 90 days. - The full write-up and five free courses are available in SEO Agency USA's announcement. - Forum registration is open at LDC Gas Forums.

Between the lines: - Langella is positioning AI as a workflow tool, not a decision-maker, which mirrors how many regulated industries are trying to adopt the technology. - The panel also signals a gap between vendors building AI products and operators trying to make those tools usable inside day-to-day commercial work. - By highlighting free courses and low-code tools, the discussion lowers the barrier to entry for gas companies that have been hesitant to start. - The broader forum agenda shows AI is no longer a side topic in energy. It is tied to demand growth, infrastructure planning and workforce change.

What's next: - Chicago is the fourth stop in SEO Agency USA's 2026 LDC Gas Forums sponsorship, after Southeast in April, Northeast in June and Rockies & West in August. - The sponsorship continues with the Gulf Coast Energy Forum in New Orleans in October and the NatGas to Power Forum in Austin in November. - The forum will also feature a keynote from James Pearson of ConocoPhillips, a Mid-Continent market panel, infrastructure and coordination discussions, a keynote lunch with Wendell Dallas of Nicor Gas, an all-women panel, and a gas buyer panel. - The 38th Annual LDC Gas Forum Mid-Continent brings together local distribution companies, pipeline operators, producers, marketers, utilities, end users and regulators at the Westin River North.

The bottom line: - The Chicago panel is trying to move AI in energy from theory to workflow, with a focus on small, measurable deployments that operators can start now.