Businesses urged to embrace use of AI Whangārei forum hears how tasks can be automated as new tech slowly adopted
The majority of Whangārei businesses are trying out Artificial Intelligence (AI) but are still not entirely comfortable with the rapidly advancing technology.
That was the finding of a straw poll at the Robot Revolution, a business talk on AI and smart manufacturing in Whangārei on Tuesday.
Run by Sudburys and the Employers and Manufacturers Association, the event attracted about 60 people in person and 20 online.
Of those who took part in the poll, 49 per cent said they were dipping their toes into the use of AI but were not “swimming” yet.
A further 33 per cent said they knew they needed AI but didn’t know where to start, while just 14 per cent said they had implemented AI and were “rocking it”.
While no one voted “what the heck is AI?” about 4 per cent voted “run for the hills” because AI scares them.
The event included a talk by NewZealand.AI founder Justin Flitter, who gave a quick rundown of AI, including its “remarkable” progress over the last 12 months.
“For the first time in human history, we are creating something that’s more intelligent than us.”
Businesses should embrace the technology, without worrying about jobs disappearing, Flitter said.
“Will AI take my job? Probably not but someone who’s better at using AI than you might.”
Flitter outlined ways businesses could use AI, including automating the most mundane tasks and emails, and using it to create video content each time businesses want to update their customers.
AI could unlock a company’s data simply by asking it a question, he said. A chat bot could answer questions from staff and some of that information could be available to customers online.
Flitter said the next step in AI development was “AI agents” who will do tasks for people, as instructed, by working across different websites and platforms — potentially even using their credit card to pay for items.
When questioned by the audience, he agreed security was an issue and said businesses need security protocols in place to protect themselves, including privacy settings and two-step or three-step authentication.
Flitter was also asked how companies can protect their content from being manipulated, such as videos being altered in a deepfake, which he agreed was a real issue.
“If you’re creating a digital avatar or putting any video on the internet, somebody can create a deepfake — it’s way easier than ever before.”
His advice was to take steps to make videos more difficult to manipulate, such as using multiple camera angles, adding different visuals and adding background noises over speaking.
The Robot Revolution also included a talk from Jonathan Furniss from LMAC, who showed how Auckland company Nautech transformed its company by creating a smart factory.
The automated factory not only sped up processes but allowed the business to accurately monitor all of its stock and give customers accurate information about when their orders would be ready, he said.