NZ 49th in Govt AI readiness, hybrid working and loneliness
Kia ora koutou ITP Members and supporters, aren’t short weeks disruptive and awesome all at the same time, I hope you all enjoyed your Waitangi Day celebrations on Tuesday. My short week has been cut short even further with a loss in my wider whānau so todays pānui is briefer than intended.
The Oxford Insights report on Government AI Readiness is pretty interesting to read, released prior to Christmas and New Zealand is mentioned often ranking 49th vs Australia ranking 12th with the United States at number 1. It comes across as we could try harder with statements like “lacks a national AI strategy and ethical AI guidelines, public servants may need to work across agencies to ensure that government AI policies are consistent and clear to service users.”
I was asked recently about Aotearoa’s AI adoption by some Australian colleagues, my informal asking people at events - like the Hi Tech Awards launch last week - would indicate lots of playing with tools but limited workload refactoring to leverage the technology.
So our first survey of the year is to find out what our actual adoption is like for GenAI / AI products. It’s a quick survey, should take you 2-3 minutes max. And would be fab if you can pass this link on to others.
Last year I expressed concerns about our collective lack of investment in entry level roles - including internships, graduate roles. Then a couple of weeks ago I also commented on the number of school and higher education leavers we had apply for our team administrator role. Well Summer of Tech have now published their annual report which gives us some firm data on all of this:
- 6141 student registrations in 2023 their highest ever
- 235 of their 2964 live applicants were successful in securing jobs - yes only 235 jobs!!!!!
- 36% of their live applicants were women which is awesome but generally these numbers paint a bleak picture.
As they summarise in the report “Aotearoa’s tech industry depends on us supporting, retaining and growing new talent, we have so many keen to get a foot in the door, please join us on our mission to create”.
Blogs this week
TechBlog.nz has moved to the new ITP.nz website - larger font, more images and moving forward we will also be incorporating video content too - yay.
Peter’s editorial this week is on - Hybrid working is about trust, not mandatory office time - he rightly asks the question, if remote working has been successful why are companies now instructing staff to turn up in their offices again X days per week? Peter also talks about Apple Vision Pro, it’s eye watering price, and some scathing reviews emerging.
You will have seen media this week on the use of Facial Recognition software in supermarkets and other stores, here in Aotearoa. Peter provides us with analysis on what Foodstuffs is up to and how the Office of the Privacy Commission is monitoring their initiative - Privacy watchdog keeping close eye on facial recognition trial.
Our Guest blog this week - Neuralink has put its first chip in a human brain. What could possibly go wrong? - is about Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface designed for “people with paralysis to control external devices with their thoughts”. The future is really here it seems. As the title indicates this article explores the implications of the technology. “Long-term planning and careful use of language will be necessary to preventing harm to patients and families.”
Brendan was also inspired by the neural implant story for his cartoon today - Brainy Harry.
Digital Dilemma: Does Modern Technology Lead to Greater Loneliness? - is a short piece I wrote earlier in the week on loneliness, the role technology plays and our collective responsibility as citizens and industry folks. A timely reminder I hope to reconnect with whānau, colleagues and old friends.
Other news in brief
Roll over SiliconWelly, Queenstown is declaring itself the new technology capital with a new joint venture - Technology Queenstown - which they claim will create 3000 new jobs and boost the economy generating $1 in GDP or 10-20% of the local economy. Why do I feel like I’ve heard this before?
The new government is scrapping first-year fees free: What you need to know
Digitally altered image scandal - Channel Nine in Australia has apologised for using digitally altered image of Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell. The BBC have a quiz to see whether we can tell a fake image from a real one worth a look.
On the lookout for new games to invest in? Check out the videogames that blew our minds in 2023
The news is fading from sight on big social media platforms – where does that leave journalism?
That said - we could soon have a Digital News Bargaining Bill which is about to go through select committee, and is designed to enable news publishers to charge for content consumed on social media platforms or via AI tools.
Beware crypto scams - this article on an Australian woman who lost her retirement savings with HyperVerse
