Wednesday 4 December - Day One

Day two agenda pre-conference masterclass

Register

08:15
Registration and welcome coffee
08:50
Opening remarks from the Chair

Justin Flitter
Founder
New Zealand.AI

The future of generative AI in New Zealand
09:00
Transforming digital marketing and the customer experience through generative AI
  • Emphasising the importance of first-party data strategies for accurate audience targeting.
  • Implementing advanced targeting techniques based on contextual data to allow advertisers to reach audiences effectively
  • Showcasing the development of innovative AI tools and platforms that offer scalable, privacy-first marketing solutions to position brands for success in a new digital marketing era

Matt Bain
Marketing and Data Director
Spark New Zealand

Generative AI Showcase
09:30
Life after POC – AI capabilities in a production world

Fintan Blake
Founder and Managing Director
DataSing

09:40
PANEL DISCUSSION: What are the emerging threats and opportunities in generative AI over the next 6-12 months?
  • How will the evolution of generative AI impact the traditional business sector in the next 6-12 months?
  • What sectors are the ripest for transformation, and how can businesses innovate to capitalise on the opportunities?
  • What strategic shifts do businesses need to make to more fully integrate advanced generative AI technologies?
  • What ethical considerations should businesses prioritise to ensure responsible AI use?

Moderator:

Adele Marshall
Head of Data & Analytics
Oceania

Panellists:

Caroline Izzard
Head of Data and Insights
Plexure

Manvi Madan
Manager Data & Insights
Port of Auckland

Roxanne Salton
Chief Digital Officer
TSB NZ

10:20
AI’s Game-Changing Promise and Potential for Peril
  • Adopting AI for Business Growth: Explore the significant pressure professionals face to embrace AI and its potential benefits for business growth
  • Navigating AI Challenges and Risks: Discuss the importance of being prepared for the challenges and substantial risks that come with AI implementation
  • Actionable Strategies for AI Integration: Provide insights into key liabilities and share actionable strategies that can be immediately implemented within organisations to effectively integrate AI

Anthony Rees
Solutions Engineer
Airia Enterprise AI

10:40
Morning Tea and Networking
Gaining a competitive advantage
11:10
Automating tasks using generative AI to increase efficiency and accuracy
  • Identifying the repetitive administrative duties which are appropriate for generative AI deployment and where the human touch is vital
  • Utilising generative AI to handle repetitive administrative duties to free up employees' time to focus on higher-level strategic initiatives
  • Leveraging AI to create comprehensive and accurate reports to provide executives with insights needed to inform decision-making

Habib Baluwala
General Manager - AI & Data Foundations
One New Zealand

11:40
Transitioning generative AI projects from proof-of-concept to production to achieve tangible results
  • Testing generative AI solutions in controlled environments to identify potential challenges and ensure readiness for full-scale deployment
  • Defining and monitoring key performance indicators during pilot phases to provide measurable insights and validate the effectiveness of AI implementations
  • Creating robust frameworks for transitioning AI projects from pilot to production to ensure smooth integration and sustainable long-term operations

Dr Alvaro Orsi
Data Science Lead
ESR

12:10
Lunch and networking
13:10
Leveraging generative AI for increased opportunities and competitive advantage
  • Streamlining product design and development to automate the creation of design prototypes and product models to accelerate your go-to-market strategies
  • Deploying generative AI to create synthetic data to supplement real datasets to make more accurate predictions and support better-informed decisions
  • Analysing customer data to create highly personalised marketing campaigns and product recommendations to increase customer engagement

Katie Macdiarmid
Chief Information Officer
New Zealand Media and Entertainment

13:40
Accelerating AI: Transforming Legacy Data into Actionable Intelligence

Tim Boyne
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
SmartSpace.ai

Transforming quality data into successful AI & business outcomes
14:00
PANEL DISCUSSION: How can we gather accurate and relevant data and optimise it for generative AI use?
  • What strategies can be implemented to ensure the accuracy and relevance of data when using generative AI?
  • How can we address scalability issues when deploying customised large language models (LLMs) for large-scale data queries?
  • What is best practice for training generative AI to understand and respond to unique terminology and context-specific queries? 
  • How can organisations balance security and privacy concerns with the need for comprehensive data access when utilising customised LLMs?

Moderator:

Justin Flitter
Founder
New Zealand.AI

Panellists:

Rachel Harrison
Domain Lead – Decision Science & AI
ASB Bank

Michelle Burke
Director – Knowledge and Information Management
Reserve Bank of New Zealand

Dr Julian Seidenberg
Head of Artificial Intelligence
Datch

14:40
Turning data into high quality outputs to achieve business goals
  • Finessing generative AI tools with domain-specific data to improve the accuracy and relevance of generated outputs
  • Implementing effective techniques to lower resource requirements and operational expenses associated with running LLMs
  • Customising LLMs to better understand how user context and intent enhances interactions' quality

Dr Paulo Gottgtroy
Head of Decision Science & Analytics
Mercury NZ

15:10
Afternoon Tea and Networking
Working Roundtables
15:30

Discuss ideas, gain practical tips, and work through challenges faced by New Zealand’s private and public sectors as they move forward with generative AI initiatives. This is a unique opportunity to have your questions answered while you network and build relationships with people you otherwise may not have access to.

You will be able to choose three of the below to attend with each roundtable running concurrently over the allocated time:

1st round:  15:30 – 16:00

2nd round: 16:00 – 16:30

3rd round:  16:30 – 17:00

ROUNDTABLE 1: Ensuring an organisation is ready for the realities of generative AI

Dr Bryan Ng
Chief Data and Analytics Officer
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise

ROUNDTABLE 2:  Navigating evolving workplace behaviours & roles in the age of generative AI

Sarah Cawsey
General Manager – Data Services
Auckland Council

ROUNDTABLE 3: Powering organisational transformation with generative AI 

Sukanya Maharathy
General Manager – Data, Analytics & Insights
Genesis

ROUNDTABLE 4: Ensuring ethical and responsible generative AI use

ROUNDTABLE 5: Effective AI collaboration between the public and private sectors

17:00
Closing remarks from the Chair
17:10
Networking Drinks