Griffin on Tech: AI taking more jobs, a real growth strategy, and Rocket Lab’s new launch site
I joined many people, a couple of months back, in expressing my dismay at the Government’s national artificial intelligence strategy, which itself was largely written with the use of AI but had little in the way of concrete goals, new initiatives, or a clear sense of what AI can do for Aotearoa.
Well, the Government has just dropped another strategy document, this time for the creative sector, and its inclusion of firm targets and timeframes just reinforces the sense that our political leaders are perplexed by AI and how it will impact society and the economy.
The Amplify strategy released yesterday by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage outlines three phases of activity out to 2030 with three key goals in mind:
- Growing the economic contribution of the arts and creative sectors to at least
$22 billion (of GDP), by 2030, up from $17.5 billion in 2024.
- increasing by 10% the number of New Zealanders engaging with New Zealand arts,
culture, and heritage by 2030.
- Have 5,000 more people working in the creative and cultural sector by 2030, adding to the 117,992 people in the sector in 2024.
Are they ambitious targets? Maybe not. But having something to aim for, and a phased action plan to get there gives the creative industry and the agencies that support it something to aim for over the next five years.
Firm targets around skills training in AI, investment into AI capabilities, attracting capital for AI firms etc, developing sovereign AI, and evaluating the regulatory implications of AI are what we needed in an AI strategy. So credit to the Ministry of Culture and Heritage and Minister Paul Goldsmith for landing on something with a bit more heft than what we got with AI.
With our national digital strategy long defunct, with the core initiatives, such as industry transformation plans shelved, we don’t have a guiding strategy for tech and digital in New Zealand. At least the AI strategy is being treated as a “living document” so has scope to be fleshed out as minister Shane Reti hears feedback from the industry and gets a handle on what’s needed for us to tackle the opportunities and risks AI present.
AI and the “real economy”
If nothing else in the AI space, we need a coherent focus on the implications for the workforce. My Business of Tech podcast this week featured an interview with Dr Kenny Ching, an economist and organisational behaviour expert at the University of Auckland. He told me that AI is beginning to cut a swathe through service industry jobs, many of which are easily automated with AI. But he suggests that our closer proximity to the “real economy” because we produce and ship a lot of primary sector products overseas, sees us better placed to handle AI disruption than other countries that have heavily services-based economies.
Still, only 5.2% of New Zealanders are employed in the agricultural sector, which is already highly productive, so we have plenty of people who will see their roles changed or eliminated altogether by AI in the coming years. Kenny sees a big opportunity for New Zealand to embrace AI in the agritech space to become a global powerhouse in data, software, and hardware for AI-driven primary sector production.
Agritech is a fast-growing sub-sector of our tech sector, so he’s not wrong in identifying that as a key opportunity. Smart cow collar company Halter just reported around $71 million in revenue for the last year after raising $165 million in capital earlier this year.
But, like most countries, we have many people in the private sector and government departments doing work that will be automated to some degree. We’ve given little thought as a nation to how we reskill and prepare these workers for what is coming. Kenny hails from Singapore, where the government there gives every Singaporean credits to upskill to stay digitally literate and embrace AI. We need more action on that front, and quickly.
The AI Forum’s latest AI in Action report, which surveys businesses every six months on their use of AI revealed the increasingly disruptive force AI is. The data show that 14% of organisations are now attributing job losses to AI, up from 7% six months ago, while 45% of AI adopters report a reduction in new hires, a trend that has increased by 40% from six months ago.
At the same time, 55% of respondents said AI had created new career opportunities, “reinforcing the importance of upskilling and career mobility for the current workforce,” according to the AI Forum.
Gearing up for Neutron
I just watched a livestream of Sir Peter Beck give a speech on stage at Launch Pad Three, the complex Rocket Lab has developed at Wallops Island, Virginia, specifically for its medium-lift rocket Neutron, which the company has told the market will take its maiden flight before the end of the year. That’s a big milestone on the way to Rocket Lab being able to get Neutron off the ground - literally.
Its new rocket is vastly bigger than the existing Electron rockets it launches from the Mahia Peninsula, allowing a total payload of 13,000kg, versus 300kg for Electron. Rocket Lab recently showed a video of another test fire of the Archimedes engine, nine of which will power Neutron. So momentum is building for one of our most successful startups. Neutron is so big it can’t enter Wallops Island by road, so will have to be barged in to the launch pad, which has logistical issues in itself.
But here’s hoping we see SpaceX’s successful splashdown of its Starship rocket this week followed up by Rocket Lab proving what Neutron is capable of.
