The AI Corner

Mike Bayly

Spotlighting Kiwis moving the local and global AI ecosystem forward.

  1. 22 hrs ago

    How Fibre Fale helps Pacific communities navigate AI | The AI Corner Ep 57

    Join host Mike Bayly and guests Julia Pahina, CEO and co-founder of Fibre Fale, and Eteroa Lafaele, co-founder and head of AI and culture, to explore how they left global and corporate tech paths to build a Pacific-led technology organisation. They unpack why Pacific participation in tech is still so low, how AI could widen existing inequalities, why trusted community spaces matter, plus their work with ministers, small businesses, boards and values-led organisations. It is a practical conversation about confidence, culture and self-determined AI adoption. In this episode we discuss:• 00:00 – Intro & guest bio• 01:16 – Eteroa’s path into technology• 03:58 – Julia’s global tech journey• 07:43 – Pacific participation and AI risk• 11:52 – Shifting mental models around AI• 18:08 – Teaching AI to Pacific ministers• 24:43 – Moving upstream into AI governance• 30:11 – How Fibre Fale teaches AI• 35:20 – Tools, workflows, and values-led adoption• 39:15 – Stories of confidence and change• 46:47 – Outro & next steps JULIA'S LINKEDIN: https://nz.linkedin.com/in/julia-arnott-neeneeETEROA'S LINKEDIN: https://nz.linkedin.com/in/eteroa SUBSCRIBE TO STAY AHEAD:NZ AI News: https://theaicorner.co.nz/subscribe

    47 min

  2. 7 June

    Trade Me's people-led approach to AI transformation. Loren Thomas on governance, training, and change | The AI Corner Ep: 56 Loren Thomas

    Join host Mike Bayly and guest Loren Thomas, Head of People Strategy and Experience at Trade Me, to explore how one of New Zealand's most iconic tech companies is navigating AI transformation from the inside. Loren shares how she took the initiative to drive AI adoption without formal authority, why foundational training was the real turning point, and how Trade Me's "blast radius" framework is bringing governance to a fast-moving space. Plus: the identity crisis facing skilled workers, reimagining roles for an AI-native workforce, and why the jobpocalypse narrative may be overblown. \In this episode we discuss: 00:00 – Intro & guest bio02:10 – Trade Me's AI journey from 2025 to now05:30 – Why AI transformation is a people initiative09:15 – Foundational training and the adoption spike14:40 – The blast radius governance framework20:05 – Hackathon design and what worked26:30 – Identity shifts for skilled workers31:20 – Junior talent and the apprenticeship problem36:00 – Measuring ROI and outcomes40:15 – Future of roles and workforce fluidity44:30 – Outro & next stepsLOREN'S LINKEDIN: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/loren-thomas-58947a53/⁠ SUBSCRIBE TO STAY AHEAD:NZ AI News: ⁠https://theaicorner.co.nz/subscribe⁠NZ AI Events: ⁠https://theaicorner.co.nz/p/ai-events-in-new-zealand⁠

    41 min

  3. 1 June

    Why Most Custom AI Agents Are Already Obselete | The AI Corner Ep: 55 Nyssa Waters

    Join host Mike Bayly and guest Nyssa Waters, founder of possibl.ai, to explore how a consulting firm of builders and engineers grew across New Zealand, Australia and beyond into the Gulf, the US and India. You'll hear why Nyssa argues agile is dead, how she forecasts the "black art" of token spend after months north of fifty grand, and why getting your scaffolding right beats building dozens of throwaway agents. Plus a look under the hood of RCRT, her agentic backend platform, the coming Ritual consumer product, and why she believes the next wave of AI innovation is coming from the East. In this episode we discuss: • 00:00 – Intro & guest bio• 02:30 – From consulting to builders and doers• 06:00 – Strategic AI versus baby steps• 10:00 – Why Claude Skills wipes out point solutions• 14:00 – The black art of forecasting token spend• 18:30 – Agile is dead, intent-driven build wins• 22:00 – Skilling engineers and the technical analyst gap• 26:00 – Why the real tsunami comes from the East• 31:00 – RCRT, Ritual and the seed raise• 34:30 – Outro & next steps 🎧 Subscribe for NZ's AI news: https://theaicorner.co.nz/subscribe

    34 min

  4. 10 May

    Justin Flitter reveals why NZ businesses keep stalling on AI, the literacy and confidence gap, and how to shift from ChatGPT-as-Google to AI in the loop | The AI Corner Ep: 54 Justin Flitter

    Join host Mike Bayly and returning guest Justin Flitter, founder and Chief AI Officer of NewZealand.AI, to unpack why most Kiwi businesses are still using AI as a glorified Google search and how to shift from scattered shadow adoption to trusted, scalable systems. You'll hear Justin's view on the literacy and confidence gap, how an engineering firm cut a three-hour reporting task to ninety seconds with a Copilot agent, plus where IT ownership of AI should sit, the case for AI-in-a-box tools, and a preview of his eight-city AI for Business Masterclass roadshow. In this episode we discuss:• 00:00 – Intro & guest bio• 01:00 – AI adoption results across NZ• 03:30 – ChatGPT as Google replacement• 06:00 – Literacy versus confidence gap• 09:00 – Are we asking too much of people• 12:00 – AI for business in a box• 14:30 – Roadshow eight-city tour preview• 17:30 – Featured speakers and case studies• 20:00 – Where IT ownership should sit• 23:30 – Engineering firm proof point• 27:00 – Building momentum through proof points• 30:00 – Outro & next steps JUSTIN'S LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinflitter/ MIKE'S LINKEDIN: ⁠⁠https://nz.linkedin.com/in/mikebayly⁠⁠ SUBSCRIBE TO THE AI CORNER NEWSLETTER: ⁠⁠https://theaicorner.co.nz/subscribe

    22 min

  5. 27 Apr

    Node co-founder Steven Baker on diagnosing broken workflows, the disappearing CIO role, and building an AI-native company from New Zealand | The AI Corner Ep: 53 Steven Baker

    Join host Mike Bayly and guest Steven Baker, co-founder of Node (formerly Vendor Sage), to explore how he's building an AI-native company that acts as a CIO in your pocket. You'll hear why the CIO role is disappearing in mid-market, how Node's "curiosity loop" diagnoses workflows by connecting to Notion, Slack, CRMs, and HRIS systems, plus Steven's take on why 70% of software implementations fail (and 90% of AI ones), why shadow IT isn't the real problem, and how he's building a transparent, bootstrapped business with customers like Halter, Tracksuit, and Partly. In this episode we discuss:• 00:00 – Intro & guest bio• 01:30 – From Salesforce to Vendor Sage to Node• 03:00 – What Node actually does• 06:00 – The curiosity loop and discovery• 09:00 – Mapping business goals to workflows• 13:00 – Data privacy and trust concerns• 18:00 – Avoiding regression to the mean• 21:00 – Customer base and growth• 25:00 – Shadow IT, AI sprawl, and source of truth• 30:00 – Multi-agent architecture under the hood• 33:00 – Pricing strategy and bootstrapped growth• 38:00 – Outro & next steps STEVEN'S LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-baker-395855128/ MIKE'S LINKEDIN: ⁠https://nz.linkedin.com/in/mikebayly⁠ SUBSCRIBE TO THE AI CORNER NEWSLETTER: ⁠https://theaicorner.co.nz/subscribe

    33 min

  6. 19 Apr

    AI, copyright, and why developers can't give an IP indemnity on AI‑built product anymore | The AI Corner Ep: 52 Andrew Dentice

    Join host Mike Bayly and guest Andrew Dentice, Partner at Hudson Gavin Martin, for a grounded look at the legal reality behind AI deployment in New Zealand. Andrew unpacks what AI procurement, governance and IP actually look like day-to-day, why developers building with generative models struggle to give clients a standard IP indemnity, and where agentic tools sit in the risk picture. You'll hear his take on the EU AI Act for NZ exporters, the shift from intelligence work to judgment work inside law firms, and why AI is quietly widening access to legal advice. • 00:00 – Intro & guest bio• 01:20 – What Hudson Gavin Martin actually does• 03:20 – Procuring Copilot vs bespoke AI builds• 05:30 – Why AI IP risk is different• 08:00 – Who's liable when AI infringes copyright• 11:30 – Output risk and agentic oversight• 12:45 – Indemnity gaps in AI builds• 15:00 – NZ as a regulation price-taker• 17:50 – EU AI Act and NZ exporters• 21:00 – Intelligence work vs judgment work• 27:30 – Juniors, Harvey and AI-native lawyering• 31:30 – Future of the entry-level lawyer• 37:40 – AI widening access to legal advice• 41:30 – Outro & next steps ANDREW'S LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-dentice/MIKE'S LINKEDIN: https://nz.linkedin.com/in/mikebaylySUBSCRIBE TO THE AI CORNER NEWSLETTER: https://theaicorner.co.nz/subscribe

    43 min

  7. 12 Apr

    How a Napier creative agency is using AI to rebuild pre-earthquake Pā sites and tell Holocaust survivor stories | The AI Corner Ep: 51 Dan Browne

    Join host Mike Bayly and guest Dan Browne, creative agency owner in Napier with 16 years in video production, to explore how AI is reshaping the creative industry from the inside. You'll hear why Dan treats AI as a strategic tool rather than a sales pitch, how node-based workflows are collapsing VFX budgets, and where Nano Banana, Seedream and Kling 3 Omni are delivering real creative gains — from bringing pre-earthquake Napier Pā sites back to life for Ngāti Pārau, to helping tell the stories of the last remaining Holocaust survivors in New Zealand. In this episode we discuss: • 00:00 – Intro & guest bio• 02:00 – Twofold AI: senior leadership coaching vs creative production• 04:30 – The Ben Lick / Netflix shift and creative identity• 05:00 – The "handcrafted furniture" analogy for human-led creative• 07:00 – Jevons Paradox and why the pie grows• 09:00 – AI slop, LinkedIn's authenticity algorithm and pushback• 10:30 – The Ngāti Pārau project: pre-1931-earthquake Napier• 14:00 – Cultural consultation, IP and the decision not to show faces• 17:00 – Inside the Krea node-based workflow• 18:30 – Landscape extension, colourisation and Kling start/end frames• 20:00 – Prompting LLMs to write your prompts• 22:30 – Model selection: Kling over Runway, Veo, Sora and Luma• 25:30 – Fireflies to reverse brief: the end-to-end agency workflow• 27:30 – The drone-through-a-logo shot that used to need a VFX budget• 29:00 – Why AI never leads the pitch — and why margins go up• 31:30 – The karaka seed and kete scene with the historian• 36:30 – The Holocaust documentary and the 102-year-old survivor• 40:30 – Working around Nano Banana and Seedream guardrails• 43:00 – Advice for creatives: experiment, stay grounded in craft• 45:00 – Outro & next steps DAN'S LINKEDIN: linkedin.com/in/dhtbrowne/?skipRedirect=true SUBSCRIBE TO NZ'S AI NEWS: https://theaicorner.co.nz/subscribe

    46 min

  8. 22 Mar

    From data scientist to enterprise AI leader at NZ Post | The AI Corner Ep: 50 Tom Lintern

    Join host Mike Bayly and guest Tom Lintern, Head of AI at New Zealand Post, to explore how a data scientist with experience at homes.co.nz and Trade Me is now driving AI transformation across one of New Zealand's oldest and most complex logistics networks. You'll hear why Tom treats governance as a value accelerator rather than a risk barrier, how being a late AI adopter creates strategic advantage through selectivity, and where parcel image classification and process automation are delivering real operational gains. Plus his view on the evolving data science role, why waiting for perfect data is organisational avoidance, and how agent commerce could reshape the logistics industry. • 00:00 – Intro & guest bio• 01:00 – Why Tom chose NZ Post and the complexity of logistics• 02:30 – Legacy data systems and the modernisation journey• 03:15 – AI maturity at a state-owned enterprise• 06:00 – Governance as value-first, not risk-first• 08:30 – Avoiding pilot purgatory and proof-of-concept traps• 10:00 – Building AI literacy and managing expectations• 13:30 – Productivity AI versus engineered process transformation• 16:00 – ROI beyond email summarisation• 19:00 – Parcel image classification and foundation-building• 22:00 – Building an AI centre of excellence• 26:15 – The changing role of data scientists• 31:00 – Why waiting for perfect data is avoidance• 36:30 – What NZ Post looks like in 10 years• 41:00 – Agent commerce and machine-readable logistics• 43:00 – Advice for new heads of AI• 46:15 – Outro & next steps TOM'S LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomlintern/ SUBSCRIBE TO NZ'S AI NEWS: https://theaicorner.co.nz/subscribe

    39 min
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Spotlighting Kiwis moving the local and global AI ecosystem forward.

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  • Creator
    Mike Bayly
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    64
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Mike Bayly
  • Show Website
    The AI Corner