I just attended an AI event run by Business Canterbury, supported by Westpac and MintHC. The theme was AI is not a toy. Forget the gimmicks, AI is a powerful business tool.
Futurist Lee Parkinson opened the session by grounding the conversation. AI is not the end of human civilisation, but it is reshaping how we work. His advice was to follow the “1% approach,” focusing on small, practical improvements that add up over time. He challenged us to identify our biggest pain points and ask: where could AI help?
A few key takeaways stood out:
- Start small. Pick the lowest-hanging fruit where AI can save time or resources.
- Quality matters. Garbage in, garbage out, AI is only as good as the data you feed it , in short it’s all about the INPUT!
- Becoming AI-ready. Organisations should establish AI champions to guide adoption and keep the benefits front of mind.
- Balance benefits and risks. Brand reputation, security, privacy, and regulation all need careful consideration.
The panel discussion brought those ideas down to the real-world level. One strong message was trust. In an age where AI can mimic voices and faces, you cannot simply trust your eyes or ears. Businesses need clear verification processes, especially around finance.
Equally, there was a reminder that AI does not understand emotion. In sales and marketing, where 80% of success comes from emotion and only 20% from logic, AI should assist, not replace, the human touch.
Practical tips from the panel included:
- Always keep a human in the loop.
- Ask AI how confident it is in its answers.
- Request sources and reasoning to better judge reliability.
The event reinforced that AI should not be treated as a side project. It is a tool to solve real business problems, boost productivity, and open new opportunities, if used wisely and responsibly.