Artificial Intelligence – and how to take control of it – dominated a meeting of some of the country’s biggest business and tech brains in Auckland.
On the same day that we heard of an 11-year unemployment high once again hitting young people the hardest, some of the speakers had some brutal messages on how the globe is changing – and not in favour of school leavers or graduates.
“It’s a shit show out there in the world,” said Rochelle Moffitt, co-founder of the conference ‘Revved. Engineering Change’. “We needed to bring the best of the best in New Zealand, the critical thinkers, the change-makers so that we can really engineer change that we want to see for New Zealand.”
A key theme at the Auckland meeting was the impact of artificial intelligence on jobs and communities, the influence of a few “digital oligarchs” overseas, and the need for New Zealanders to build its own AI.
Aotearoa was at a point where it needed to make difficult decisions about artificial intelligence, education and technology leader Frances Valintine of academyEX told the room.
“The algorithms and the AI tools of offshore companies with trillion-dollar valuations and zero interest in the implications for New Zealand have slid into every waking hour of our lives. I get it, my AI, your AI are highly tuned to impress us. I could open up my preferred AI on my phone right now and have a conversation with it that would make me feel seen, heard, valued and intellectually supercharged. My AI tells me I have great ideas,” she said.
She said it was not a case against AI, New Zealand needed it. But the country had to be deliberate, directional and bold.
“The question was never should we adopt AI? The question is who do we build it with?”
She took the room back to 1987 when New Zealand stood up to the superpowers over nuclear proliferation.
“But the people in New Zealand looked across at the existential threat of nuclear weapons and the testing happening in our Pacific backyard. And we said no, not here.
“We banned nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed ships from our waters. We defied the United States. We were suspended from Anzus and we faced immense political and economic pressure.”
She called the decision a “defining moment in our development as a nation. A determined assertion of national sovereignty and self determination.”
Now we face another uncomfortable question.
“Which is harder? Our future Aotearoa, New Zealand shaped by global companies, big tech, bigger money and external values, or a future that we actively curate and shape based on what we want our country to stand for? Both are hard. Pick your hard.”
Founder and chief executive of south Auckland’s Fibre Fale, Julia Pahina, had a reality check for “some of the privilege” sitting in the room planning a bright new future, when a large section of the population still does not have access to the internet.
“Right now 25 percent of the Pacific population don’t have access to wifi at home. Twenty-five percent. We are the fastest-growing and the youngest demographic in Aotearoa, New Zealand. We are the future of Aotearoa, New Zealand.
“Whilst I love the conversation about AI, and we teach AI, we talk about AI a lot in our communities. I think there’s a gap between the current reality and the future.
“And that gap needs to close. We need to be solving today’s problems as well as being aware of what tomorrow’s to come.”
Nyssa Waters, founder of possibl.ai which helps businesses adopt AI, has been writing a business case for New Zealand to build its own AI.
“But doing it in a way that we control the destiny of it is really the challenge that we’re facing right now.
“At the moment we are bound by the United States and China largely in terms of models. And what that means is they can own our knowledge, own our data, own everything and turn it on and off whenever we want.”
The audience also heard from the tech company heads who are keeping their business base in New Zealand and employing young Kiwis.
Co-founder and director of Kami, Alliv Samson, spoke of building her education platform from a local start-up to a business with 17 million users.
“We’ve proven that, hey, you can actually grow a very sustainable, very influential company just being here and having your network out there.”
She said it wasn’t always easy finding young workers but she was seeing more people returning to New Zealand with strong technology and innovation skills.
Welcoming the room of 800 in Auckland, Rēnata Blair, chief executive of Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua called for bold thinking.
He introduced two rangitahi of Ngāti Whātua descent who had won a new scholarship in tech and innovation. The purpose is to ensure Māori are not just participants in the future economy but designers of it.
He said the conference was useful to his iwi.
“I think the partners will come. We are a very good – I don’t like the word brand – but we are a strong name, an important name to the city,” he told The Detail.
The head of Education New Zealand David Downs revealed the story of a young volunteer at the conference, Amelia Dore who had lost her job a month ago.
“If you need a marketing or an HR person, look me up and find Amelia and give her a job and let’s make it happen,” he told the crowd.
Gore-born Dore, 22, moved to Auckland for work but now she’s considering following her friends to Australia.
“Most of my peers are going to Australia and that’s really sad. My family says, do what you’ve got to do but you don’t want to be away from family, from whānau.”
Job hunting was a full-time job and she felt she should be using AI more but she didn’t understand how.
“I struggle because I don’t know if anyone knows the right way we should be heading with AI and policies with AI as well. I genuinely have no clue.”
Find out in the podcast if Dore gets a job offer.
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