Here's quick outline of the things that stood out to me at Pause Fest 2019 – a creativity and technology event for businesses.

Wow where to start. Today there were such a variety of speakers. We explored new technology advances in AI, intrapreneurs, to how we can create more sustainable and purpose driven businesses. Here are just a few that caught my eye:

‘Chasing the uncomfortable’ with Cecilia Ambros, Amazon advertising

Taking us on a journey of how intimacy can be created with artificial intelligence, Cecilia walked us through her own digital footprint and how psychology and the entertainment worlds have and are continuing to influence our relationship with intimacy. Although the future is personalised and intimate, are going to become desensitised to it? Her analogy of films like Blade Runner, HER and Black Mirror cleverly depicted the human relationship with machine intimacy, shifting it from that of a villain to one of companionship.

‘Designing for humanity’ with Billy Seabrook, IBM iX

Artificial Intelligence is moving fast. New products like the IBM Project Debater mean better learning and reasoning with less training data. So what does this all mean? Well, the IBM Project Debater allows you to have a conversation with the AI system, and in 4 minutes the machine can produce a response to rebut complex information that it has just heard. As this product develops, I see such potential for how it can be used in the workplace for learning and development on-the-job. It even constructs well-structured arguments! It could just be the solution to ‘expanding the human mind’, helping people make better decisions, walk through a process, learn best practice, or instigate a conversation. Who knows where this will go!

‘The Risk of the Intrapreneur’ with Jacyl Shaw, GHD

I’ve heard of ‘entrepreneur’, but not the term ‘intrapreneur’. Although they sound similar, the key difference is that ‘intra’ refers to people who works within large organisation to build something of value. Sometimes they might be recognised as a misfit, tepid radical, dreamer who do’s, harnesses the assets, delivers on sustainability goals. Know one of these people in your organisation? Well how can we harness their ideas and spirit to drive positive outcomes for the broader community? Jacyl shared her insights on what’s worked when pushing innovation within an organisation and how sometimes she’s the lone ranger.