Source: Radio New Zealand
Sandy, the AI assistant at the AI cafe in Nelson. RNZ/Samantha Gee.
A Nelson cafe is offering customers the chance to get to grips with artificial intelligence tools over a coffee.
The initiative by the Nelson AI Sandbox has set up in a corner of the Halifax Cafe in the city.
Nelson AI Sandbox co-founder Richard Brudvik-Lindner said the aim of the AI cafe was to make the growing technology more accessible.
“It’s a place where you can come and learn for free about AI, have a hands-on experience, have a tutored experience if that’s what you like, come as a group and make it a social experience.
“At the same time, if you want to have a bit of food or a bit of drink, what we are really trying to do is make this a very accessible experience, because AI can be intimidating for so many people.”
The former Microsoft executive, who spent more than two decades working in Silicon Valley, moved to New Zealand with his family in 2010, changing careers to become a secondary school teacher.
He said he wasn’t an “AI evangelist” and, while the technology had its downsides, he felt it was important everyone in the community had an equal chance to come to grips with it.
“We recognise, in the hands of bad actors, it can be quite concerning and, even in the hands of good actors, artificial superintelligence is quite a concerning concept for our society. We are probably not really truly moving fast enough to think about how our world is going to change and how our world needs to adapt.”
Nelson AI Sandbox programmes manager Sloane Bayley. Supplied
A recent EY Global AI Sentiment Survey found New Zealand is lagging in its adoption of AI. The research warned that nations slow to build AI literacy risked falling behind economically, as it became embedded in productivity, decision-making and everyday life.
“Nelson has a very high proportion of elderly people and a lot of people in low-wage jobs,” Brudvik-Lindner said. “These are all people vulnerable to being left behind.
“We look at our nation, and 70 percent of New Zealand businesses report struggling to find AI talent and New Zealand is the last country in the OECD to release a national AI strategy. We only did it nine months ago,”
In the past two years, Nelson AI Sandbox has worked with 210 non-profit organisations, and trained about 500 staff and volunteers, with funding from the Rātā Foundation.
Whenua Iti Outdoors systems development lead Geraldine Stones attended one of the first AI workshops two years ago.
“I came in quite apprehensive about AI,” she said. “I didn’t know a lot about it and was just keen to learn.
“It blew my mind, just amazing, and it improved my understanding. It is still healthy to have a fear of some of it, but it’s really great, particularly in that non-profit space.”
She now used it in her work for the outdoor education provider.
“I use it a lot for coding. I am not trained in that, but you can ask it quite complex questions in that space.
“It’s also really good at reading complex documents and answering questions about it.”
Glen Heke is the chair of the Nelson Touch Association and works for NBS (Nelson Building Society). He’s attended several of the Nelson AI Sandbox courses and said that had accelerated his use of AI.
“It was a real eye-opener,” Heke said. “Being in technology, you keep half an eye on these things anyway and I was thinking, ‘How am I going to apply this in my life? What can I use it for?’
“The first thing I did was probably build a wee tool to help me do the administration. We’re a very small organisation, so I ended up doing a lot of the work the secretary would do, if we had a secretary.”
He could now upload documents and then ask questions, record meeting minutes, have them transcribed, list action items and then have the minutes emailed out.
Deputy Mayor Pete Rainey said the idea for an AI Cafe was very Nelson.
Richard Brudvik-Lindner, one of those behind the AI Sandbox, is a former Microsoft executive. Supplied
“New technology comes along, powerful and fast-moving, and for most people, slightly bewildering, and the response here is not to hide it away in a boardroom or turn it into something that only the experts can understand.
“The response is, put it in a cafe. It’s about confidence, it’s about making sure that ordinary people have a chance to understand what is coming and how they might use it.”
He said AI had already become part of people’s daily lives, in workplaces, schools and businesses.
“If we want a fair, strong and confident community, we cannot afford to have some people racing ahead, while others feel shut out.
“We are a small city, but we’re not short of ideas. We have people here who can see an opportunity and get on with it.
Halifax Cafe owner Konica Chopra said the decision to host the Sandbox was a no-brainer.
“We know about AI, but we didn’t know it could be introduced into a cafe and we thought why not, because so many people come in here and ask us for help.
“It’s good for people. They can just have a cup of coffee, a chit chat and they can learn more about it.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand