In a partnership with the University of Victoria, AI adoption reached 93% across the organizations surveyed, with 77% achieving true financial returns as a result of AI, and 91% achieving efficiency.
“Organisations and businesses in all sectors, including media, engineering, education and local government, have less administrative burden and increased productivity,” she said.
The cost of implementing AI tools has dropped dramatically. 75% of organizations spent less than $5,000 on setup costs.
Previously, 30% of the organizations surveyed spent over $50,000 on AI setups, but now less than 7% spent on expensive bespoke tools.
When she first began the role more than three years ago, large organizations who wanted to employ AI in their business were looking at millions and investments, Newman said.
The price drop means it makes it more accessible, but there was little I could do myself without coding.
AI is undoubtedly creating productivity gains, helping organizations with more or more with what they already have, Newman said.
In the first two studies, 7% of organizations reported unemployment as a result of AI. That figure has doubled to 14% over the past six months.
“When organizations become more productive, they tend to free up resources. It's not surprising that the current economic challenges will reduce the number of staff as businesses face,” she said.
The number of new recruits for new roles also decreased as they were able to do more with the staff they had. This trend has been steadily increasing over the past year.
“Leaders say using these tools means that existing staff can focus on higher value jobs,” Newman said. “It also means we need to support the Kiwi to adapt to the rapid and widespread changes driven by these emerging technologies.”
If a company matures its existing staff, then staff gains career mobility and the organization already has people who know the business, so “everyone wins.”
Alumni are now beginning to emerge from university with AI qualifications, and that was another major source of talent.
Globally, due to a lack of talent for AI, the combination of thinking about existing staff and taking graduates was the best source of talent in the field.
New Zealand's productivity levels were low from an international perspective, so taking that approach gave us the opportunity to be “explosive.”
“One other thing about boosting your workforce is when people in your community have people building your skills, your skills fit your community. If it comes from somewhere else… it really doesn't fit well,” she said.
Founded in 2017, the forum brought together the New Zealand AI community, including end users, investors, regulators, researchers, educators, entrepreneurs and interested citizens.
Newman, a native of New Zealand, previously spent 20 years in the UK, working in operational architecture, helping people work with systems, processes and technology.
There were risks associated with AI, but the forum was to help people and organizations recruit AI responsibly. She said a lot of work was still being done around AI literacy and trust.
sally.rae@odt.co.nz
