Ep 110: How AI is Changing The Tech Industry

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a distant concept of science fiction. It has become an integral part of our lives, revolutionizing industries and transforming the way we work. In a recent episode of the podcast “Everyday AI,” the extraordinary potential of AI in shaping the tech industry was thoroughly explored. This article aims to provide business owners, decision makers, and professionals with insights from the episode, highlighting the significant impact AI is having on our world today and the transformative power it holds for tomorrow.

The Changing Landscape of Technology:

The rapid advancements in AI technology have given rise to new possibilities in the tech industry. One noteworthy change is the emergence of Copilot AI technology, which is set to revolutionize the way people work, much like calculators and graphical user interfaces did in the past. Young professionals entering the workforce are growing up with AI technology as a second nature, paving the way for a future where human-machine collaboration becomes the norm.

Redesigning the Design Process:

One striking example of how businesses are leveraging AI to improve processes is the use of AI and the Metaverse in the design industry. By harnessing the power of GPT models and chat interfaces, companies can now expedite their design process, bringing together designers, engineers, and marketers for seamless collaboration. Ideas can be generated swiftly by inputting criteria into a computer, igniting creativity and innovation. Moreover, with the integration of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies, the visualization of designs in the physical world becomes a tangible reality.

The Rise of the Metaverse:

The concept of the Metaverse has gained significant traction in recent years, serving as the bridge between the digital and physical realms. With products like Microsoft Mesh gaining traction, we are witnessing the dawn of a new era where immersive technologies and AI blend seamlessly with our reality. Digital twins, both of people and things, play a crucial role in constructing this interconnected environment, creating AI replicas of leaders and enabling entire buildings to automate tasks based on user interaction and environmental conditions.

The Responsibility of AI:

With the increasing prevalence of AI, it is crucial to approach its implementation responsibly. Integrating AI into our workflows can revolutionize efficiency, but we must remain conscious of the ethical implications involved. The podcast episode highlighted the importance of considering AI’s impact on individuals, coworkers, and the safety of the company. Building digital ethics practices, collaborating with experts, and investing in thorough research can help navigate the complexities of AI implementation.

Addressing Environmental Concerns:

While AI offers immense potential, the tech industry also needs to proactively address environmental concerns arising from its widespread usage. The growing consumption of computer services has made the internet one of the largest polluters. Recognizing this, organizations like Avenatt, Accenture, and Microsoft are pioneering initiatives such as the Green Software Foundation to mitigate carbon emissions and promote sustainable practices. By embracing green software and prioritizing the reduction of environmental impact, we can ensure that our technological advancements do not come at the expense of the planet.

Conclusion:

As AI continues to shape the tech industry, it is essential for business owners, decision makers, and professionals to embrace its transformative power. By recognizing AI as a tool that can enhance efficiency, increase innovation, and create new opportunities, we can unlock a world of possibilities. However, it is equally crucial to approach AI implementation responsibly, considering the ethical implications and environmental considerations. With knowledge and intentionality, businesses can harness the true potential of AI and make a positive impact in their industries and beyond. The future lies in our hands as we embrace the age of AI and all that it brings.

Topics Covered in This Episode

1. How companies can implement AI
2. Digital twins and the metaverse
3. Ethics behind AI innovations
4. What the future holds for AI in tech

Podcast Transcript

Jordan Wilson [00:00:17]:

How will AI change the tech industry? Right? We talk about AI every single day here on the show, but how is it going to change that industry? How long until we all have digital twins? Should we be buying real estate in the Metaverse? I don’t know. That’s why we bring on experts on the show who can answer these hard hitting questions for us. So, more on that later. But welcome to everyday. AI. This is your Daily Livestream podcast and the free DLA newsletter. Can’t forget about that. Helping everyday people make sense of what’s going on in the world of AI.

Daily AI news

Jordan Wilson [00:00:52]:

Because there’s a lot. And then how we can use all of this information, all of these new technologies and advancements, how we can use that to grow our companies and grow our career. So if you want to know how AI is changing the tech industry, stick around. And if you’re joining us live, actually get your questions in now. This is going to be a great show. I’m extremely excited for our guests today. But before we get started, like we do every single day, let’s run down what’s going on in the world of AI. News because it’s a lot to keep up with.

Jordan Wilson [00:01:21]:

All right, so let’s start at the top. OpenAI is getting into hardware. So it was just reported a potential collaboration between Apple’s former chief design officer John Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to create some sort of hardware device. They haven’t mentioned it yet, so it should be interesting to see what comes of this potential partnership. And if you know Johnny I, probably because he helped develop the ipod and iPhone, right? A device that most of us probably use. Speaking of OpenAI, their valuation is soaring. They are in talk with investors right now for a share sale that could value the startup at $90 billion. That’s with a b $90 billion, right? Wild.

Jordan Wilson [00:02:13]:

And we’ve been talking this week also about OpenAI’s new features that are being rolled out to Chat JBT as well. So a lot of exciting things going on at OpenAI, exciting things going on in the world of Hollywood because the writers strike is finally over. So the Writers Guild of America strike has officially ended after five long months. And this is a tentative deal that approved, number one, better pay, but also included some key negotiations over AI usage. That’s why we’ve been covering it every couple of weeks here on the Everyday AI show. So the terms of the deal include that AI generated material cannot be used to, in quotes, undermine a writer’s credit. Also, companies, according to this new tentative deal, companies must be transparent with writers. When AI generated content is given to them or incorporated into a project, it’s going to be very interesting to see how that is policed and regulated, especially with how commonly available AI is.

Jordan Wilson [00:03:16]:

We have AI now coming to the operating system and the desktop, so it’s going to be interesting. Speaking of that, there is now AI on the desktop, on the operating system for I believe the first time ever. So we have Microsoft Copilot updates that were released just less than 24 hours ago. So this is a free Windows Eleven update and it brings Copilot to the desktop. So again, this isn’t the big release that’s happening November 1 where Microsoft is unveiling Microsoft 365 Copilot across Microsoft’s suite of apps. So essentially all of your different your email and your calendar and your teams meetings can all talk to each other and you can create presentations based on attachments. That’s coming out November 1 and is available at $30 per month per user. But this free update that was just unveiled yesterday brings some actually extremely impressive AI enabled updates to the desktop.

Jordan Wilson [00:04:18]:

Some of those included are AIpowered updates to paint, snipping tools, photos and more. Wow, a lot going on. I thought like Monday and Tuesday were big with AI news, but today is even more.

About Fernando and Avanade

But luckily we have an expert that can help us sort through everything that’s going on in the world, especially when it comes to the tech industry. So very excited and please help me welcome to the show. We have Fernando Mier who is the Global Emerging Experiences Practice Lead at Avanade. Fernando, thank you so much for joining the show.

Fernando Mier [00:04:54]:

No, thank you for having me. I’m excited to be here.

Jordan Wilson [00:04:57]:

All right, so much going on and I can’t wait to have this discussion. But first let’s just start at the top because I know even a lot of people out there may have not heard of Avenade. And I’m like, wait, you haven’t? This is a joint venture between Microsoft and Accenture, but give everyone high level of who Avanade is and what you all do.

Fernando Mier [00:05:20]:

Yeah, absolutely. So as you mentioned, we are a joint venture between Accenture and Microsoft. We were funded around the early 2000s, actually in 2000. Our parent company, Accenture are a service company, right? But we are the leading provider of services and innovations across the Microsoft ecosystem. And that is what makes us different because we believe that we combine the best of our parents companies, the consulting side from Accenture and the technical expertise from both Microsoft and Accenture to build custom solutions that change the way that our clients work and do things with people, right? Like ultimately we are also a people focused company. So we strive to make a genuine human impact through our work. But we are doing everything by advancing this through the power of Microsoft and the power of people. So when you think about stuff like the Copilots that you were mentioning and things coming out for the Windows ecosystem, when you think about the Azure, OpenAI, things that are out in the world or even the GitHub Copilot, right, that came out last year or again, the metaverse as you were talking in your intro.

Fernando Mier [00:06:41]:

And what does that mean for Microsoft? That is kind of like what we are working on on that digital innovation that again, we see it as a crucial tool for solving business challenges and make the world a better place.

Jordan Wilson [00:06:56]:

Now, I know and obviously people know like, hey, Jacqueline here says she goes, oh, we all know Avenade. They have former DePaul students working there.

Fernando Mier [00:07:05]:

Yes. We do.

Why use AI?

Jordan Wilson [00:07:07]:

Hey, Fernando’s local. So we’re shouting out Chicago, we’re keeping it extra Chicago. And thanks Jackie for joining us. And also this is a live show. Get your questions in, whatever you want to know about how AI can change the tech industry. Get the questions in now. So Fernando, I’m very interested because I’m sure Avinad works with clients of all sizes. And probably a common question that you all get is why should our company even use know kind of in your role, but also with what Avanade does, how do you answer know? Because I hear that all the time.

Fernando Mier [00:07:46]:

Why would I use I mean, to answer that, I’m just kind of going to split it into things, right? So when you talk about what is a global emerging experience, practice, lead, it’s actually something very new. Not a lot of people have that title. My background is on UI/UX, but before on that was on product design. And pretty much what I do is I work for our office of the CTO, heavily focusing on how and why people will use things like AI. Digital twins, metaverse screen software, or any sorts of emerging technologies in order to build, go to market strategies that will help us and our clients from all sizes. As you were mentioned. Adopt those technologies correctly and responsibly. I also work on developing relationships inside and outside of Avanade to build out our workforce and the processes needed to support those endeavors for us and for our clients.

Fernando Mier [00:08:44]:

And a fun part of my job is that I get to play a lot with the technology, right? So when you ask about how is that we’re going to be using AI, some of the things that I get to do is I get to use AI ourselves and I get to touch it before we even recommend it to someone and tell them that, hey, this is actually something that you might be interested. The other thing though, to answer the question that you actually ask is that I see that for us, AI is not new generative, AI is. And it’s pushing us to a new era on one where AI is pervasive, as in mobile phones and the internet. But again, the thing itself, the foundations or the reason why it’s so powerful is that we as the tech industry have worked on it for a while and even the gen AI portion of it, right? It’s not going to happen overnight, but the seeds for it have been already planted and now it’s on us as individuals and as a society to learn how to use the technology responsibly, right? And it’s part of what I was talking about. Like my job description is figuring out why and how people in ourselves want to use these things, even using my background as an experienced designer. So I know the transition might sound jarring for people, but in particularly as you start seeing now, copilot is even on your operating system, right? If you use Windows computers. But at the same time, think about it as when the first modern calculator was introduced, right? It appalled many when it was introduced for the general public, even though the benefits of it like the benefits of AI were clear and it wasn’t something entirely new, right? Calculating machines had existed for thousands of years with the beginning of the abacus. But when the pocket calculator was invented, we as a society originally thought that they will make people dumber by not enforcing them to do critical maths themselves.

Fernando Mier [00:10:50]:

The fear was there and people started like schools started banning it right away in order for people not to cheat. But I like to believe that the modern calculator didn’t made us cheat. It actually freed us to focus on other areas of the problems we were facing as if we were using it correctly. It actually made us quicker and better as a society, right? So that is part of what I think and how I think we are going to be using AI. And I’ll get you to that, right? We all been using it for a while, right? From the Netflix content suggestions to the facial recognition to unlock your phone again, those advancements that make our lives easier are already powered by this AI that we are talking and that has been developed for a while. So one of the things that here at the company we like to do is help our clients to understand that they do have to think on AI as an AI first and a people first mindset. And what does that mean? Well, an AI first mindset means that you have to start thinking about how is that you’re going to be using this technology, right? What data do you have? AI might not be on everything, but you should consider it for everything. Because if it’s going to make your life and your work easier and make you more efficient, why not consider it from the get go, right? Even if you don’t end up using it, the other one people first is because we know though that by applying AI, people are going to change the way that they work.

Fernando Mier [00:12:32]:

And not only that, they are going to be having some reactions, right? Like you just talk about the writer strike and the implications of it all and kind of like how people were laying out how people were going to use it. So those type of things need change management and they need organizations to adopt and think about it, right? Kind of like when the first GUI came out and it moved us from using typewriters to spreadsheets in the 80s or then the mobile devices came out and we switched from using our computers to start consuming the internet everyday in our mobile phones. Same thing can be said for AI. And that’s why having that people first perspective and thinking about the experiences that people will have, it’s very important. And we do this with a lot of clients and happy to give you examples, but I kind of want you.

How enterprises can use AI

Jordan Wilson [00:13:27]:

To be able to continue mean you just unpacked and like what? Shannon just know joining us here live eloquently delivered because I think you just took us on a very short trip on how generative AI can even be used. And one thing that you said, Fernando, that I loved is talking about kind of the history of generative AI or just AI. And now kind of this recent wave of generative AI. And it allows us the ability to focus less on the mundane. And I think that gives us more time to focus on the know. A great question here from Mike. So Mike, thank you for your question. So he’s asking what is a very common use case being deployed in enterprise.

Jordan Wilson [00:14:14]:

So I love that know, when an enterprise client comes to you or comes to Avanade and they say all right, we’re all in on gen AI, what does that actually look like?

Fernando Mier [00:14:22]:

Practically yeah. So I can give you one for example and since we were talking about the way that people work right, and this is one of the public things that I can disclose because as you can imagine there are some more public and there are some less public. So sometimes I’m not going to entirely disclose the name of the client but in this case I will. So for example Michael Page right wanted to they came to us, they talk about how through the pandemic, not even through the pandemic throughout their entire existence, they have more jobs that they can possibly post and they can possibly look at. They are a giant company, they have a good recruiting system but it’s still overwhelming for people. Right. So they wanted to see how they could leverage generative AI to drive efficiency and scale in creating those job advertisements for their business. So working with us they defined a process to develop a job advert generator leveraging our Azure OpenAI that we worked on with Microsoft to automatically generate job descriptions in app postings and in about ten weeks we deliver that solution.

Fernando Mier [00:15:41]:

So if you can think about it, it didn’t took that long that will actually allow them to by them again. Michael Page from going from 20 minutes per job advertisement creation to two minutes. So huge savings on that. Most importantly, it will also help their recruiters on the way that they work and make it a little bit more easy for them to do this all intake. Right. And ultimately by reducing from 20 minutes to two, they will be able to advertise all the jobs they currently have in their system. Right. So while the value you will think about there is in time and cost savings, there is also a lot of value on the potential conversion rate that is going to happen.

Fernando Mier [00:16:30]:

Because for what we hear, and this is a number that I saved for the very last, is that originally they were only able to post about 50% of all the jobs that they have available and now the recruiters actually have the ability to post them all. Granted, now they are also using AI to screen a lot of people. Right. And this is kind of where that emerging experience side of the equations comes in place. Right. Because we need to make sure that people can utilize this, that they find it easy to use and otherwise they will not adopt it. So that is one of the many examples that I can give you over here.

Jordan Wilson [00:17:09]:

Yeah. And there’s so many ways for right. Like there’s a great question by Mike, but there’s probably a couple dozen different ways that you can answer that, right? Because deploying gen AI in enterprise could mean so many things, right?

Fernando Mier [00:17:24]:

Yes. No, absolutely. We’ve used it in many other industries. Right. Like, one of my favorite, and I’m not going to talk about it because I can talk about it for forever. But you can go and look at it. Is we did work for SSE out in the UK, and they were using generative AI to determine where can we put wind farms in order to save the puffin population. That it’s in our little island.

Fernando Mier [00:17:50]:

Right. So like random things like that that people are not thinking it’s where we see this technology being.

Digital twins and Metaverse connection

Jordan Wilson [00:17:56]:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And if you are joining, like, don’t worry, make sure you read the newsletter. We’re going to have a lot more on the things that Fernando is talking about, some more information on Avanade like we always do in the newsletter. One thing. I want to hit rewind, though, a little bit here, and I want to go back to the beginning, because one thing that we talked about there is this kind of hot off the press news with the WGA strike ending. And one of the big things in there is they were worried about, okay, are these companies going to be using kind of this AI version of myself? So let’s not talk about it through the WGA lens and the Writers Guild lens. But I’m just curious because it’s something I get people asking about it all the time. Are digital twins a thing? Am I going to have an AI version of myself.

Jordan Wilson [00:18:45]:

What’s your take on just where that part of the industry is headed or might head?

Fernando Mier [00:18:51]:

Oh, my God. This one is one that hits home very closely because one part of my job at Avanata, as I told you, right, is to play and experiment with the technology. So, again, internally, I am playing with what it’s like to create a digital twin for a couple of our key leaders, like the C suite. And what does that really mean, right? And what are the implications of having something that looks like you, sounds like you, kind of behaves like you, but is not you, right? And even implications like what happens after they leave the company or they die, and how do we safeguard them and work around them? One of the things that I would like to say, though, around that is that internally here at Avanadet, it’s something that not only I myself been experimenting a lot with, but we are very excited, yet at the same time concerned about it. And it’s why, for example, four years ago, we hired my colleague Chris McLean, which, if you haven’t heard of his name, you should. He’s an amazing digital ethics person. We brought him over. He’s from the La area, but essentially we brought him over to create a digital ethics practice for our own internal and external use, right? Not only helping our clients deploy technologies like AI responsibly, but helping them build a rigorous digital ethics practice within their own organization.

Fernando Mier [00:20:17]:

And this is because it’s going to be very important to continue having these things going up. Now, one of the things that I like to say with digital twins, if you go and Google the term and Google probably is not happy that I just said Google the term, but it’s the fact that there is two components to it, right? Because AI twins are real. You can start seeing things like metahuman or a couple of others that are coming out there that you can start using them to recreate characters. But that’s not the only thing that is a digital twin. A digital twin can also be on IoT buildings, right? Like azure IoT. Azure digital twins actually talk about buildings that can know who you are and based on who you are and where you are in the building, they can automate different tasks based, again, on how many people do we have on an area? Do we lower the AC because we have X amount of people? Or we know that there is a meeting in this room and suddenly the sun is blasting? Can we lower the cartons automatically just so that people feel better? So, again, that is just a distinction that I want to mention between the two types of digital twins. So you have to think them about either the digital twin of a person and the digital twin of a thing. And that is kind of where Metaverse comes in place, right? Like in Metaverse, as we see it here at Avenue, is that connection between the digital and the physical.

Fernando Mier [00:22:03]:

So even if you had a virtual representation, you can see that with the Apple Vision Pro headsets that are coming out next year, that 3D scan your face. And when you do FaceTime calls, instead of showing you with the goggles, it actually shows you as a person, but it’s an AI generated 3D scan of your face. Wow. Right. Like what is appearing in the world, that 3D model. Right. You could actually make it appear in the physical world through the use of technology, or you can have it in entirely digital concepts. Right.

Fernando Mier [00:22:40]:

So this AI twins, not only are the reproduction of buildings and things, but now that means that you can also be at many places at a time, including the digital and the physical space. Right. And if I just leave you with that, think about all the implications, right? There’s so many there’s so many having something like that out in the yeah, yeah.

AI’s impact on organizations and ethics

Jordan Wilson [00:23:03]:

Like Cecilia says here, she says, I love Chris McClain’s role of digital ethics. And if you are listening on the podcast, you probably didn’t see my facial expression because as Fernando is talking about all of these different possibilities, my jaw just started to drop a little bit because it is actually okay. I think there’s a dual purpose here. There’s part of it that you think of, okay, this is amazing possibilities, right, for how companies can run how they can even, in theory, run simulations to serve humans better in the end through the use of digital twins. But on the other know, what you even brought up is there’s definitely even ethical concerns. And speaking of know, I did put out a little question yesterday to the everyday AI audience, so I wanted Matthew Kilkenny. So thanks for this comment, Matthew, yesterday. So I think it’s very relevant for what we’re talking about here, Fernando, because he says at the know, I said, how is everyone using generative AI? So he said, at the moment, I am studying all things ethics and regulation.

Jordan Wilson [00:24:07]:

And he said, there is none. They are still being drafted. So I do just want to hit on that point. Fernando, whether it’s companies implementing this themselves, whether it’s Avenad’s approach, how can we tackle this piece of know, taking advantage of kind of this generative AI wave? But then it’s like, hey, when we talk about things like digital twins, the metaverse, these immersive experiences with gen AI, so how do we take advantage yet balance this ethical and regulatory side?

Fernando Mier [00:24:41]:

Yeah, no, absolutely. And I can answer that two ways. So I can answer it in an Avenue perspective, which I will just go and say first, because this matters for an organization, right? So think about the first response is in an organization perspective, roles. Again, like the one that we hired Chris McLean for about four years ago, or even the recent announcement that Florence Rotar is now our chief AI officer, which is an entirely new title, as well as Patrick Lowendall being our head of our metaverse service hub. Those type of roles that you are starting seeing at different companies are being created so that we can start drafting this ethical and organizational considerations, right? Because a big part of AI is going to change the way we work and even these digital twins, right, are changing the way that we work and we interface. I mean, you even think about Copilot, and I’m not going to derail us a little bit on that, but just mention it, it has its own personality, right? So even though it’s not a digital twin like what we were just talking, you are talking about technology having a personality. And again, what are the digital implications of that and can AIV mean? Can AIV not mean what does it mean to even have a personality? So again, in an organizational perspective, if we go into that AI first approach, people first approach that I mentioned earlier that we utilize and we made it our core mission, you have to think about those implications, as I was mentioned earlier, of what does it mean for the people working? What does it mean for your coworkers? What does it mean for the safety of our company? Right. In order so that you create the right processes around, but also around what it means for us as an organization, on an ethical outside of the organization perspective, right? And this is where you see those roles that I mentioned or even our involvement in the Green Software Foundation as critical roles.

Fernando Mier [00:26:54]:

The creation of Green Software is in order because, for example, and I’m just going to drop a random number there, but if the internet was a country by itself, it will be the fourth largest polluter, right? And when Avenat saw that, they were like and this is just by energy that is consumed, right, that produces carbon. So when Avenatt saw that alongside with Accenture and Microsoft and a couple of other companies that are part of the Green Software Foundation, we were all like, oh my. Like, if we want to go into our carbon neutral goals, which we were already thinking about using AI for, can we be ethical to say, oh, we’re going to be carbon neutral, but we are going to consume more computer services which will generate more electricity, which will ultimately generate more carbon. Is that really ethical to say that we are carbon neutral, right? So there is regulations and things going at that. Now, the other answer, the personal answer to that question that you ask is as a technologist, particularly if you are very lucky, like I consider myself on being in a role where you are allowed to experiment with things, but even if you do it in your own free time. You have to have a sense of if you’re going to be using this technology for good or if you’re not going to use it for good, right? And those are very intentional. Like, if you can see over, like, one of the motives that it makes me stay at Avanade. And one of the things that I like is that they say do what matters.

Fernando Mier [00:28:28]:

And for me, the do what matters really mean changing the way that society uses passionate. I’ve always been my family’s. It support person, right? Like something breaks, they call me and they’re like, hey, how can we fix this? And all my life has been around, how can I make it simpler for them to use? So it’s the same thing with this digital implications, right? If I personally think that this is going to create conflict, I try to think about like, okay, how do I get that point across or go to that goal that I want without creating this and at the same time connect with people. And that’s one of the main things that I think we need to do. As technologists as we’re building this, we cannot just work on it on Silos, number one, because otherwise nobody’s going to adopt it. And number two, because you need to think about, okay, I’m coming to this podcast to talk about AI, right? And I’m going to say some things. How is that going to be perceived and then how the people that are listening are going to take those learnings and use them themselves. So digital implication there or random things on my day to day life.

Fernando Mier [00:29:38]:

Like, as I told you, I play a lot with AI twins, and I have to think about, hey, this thing is very powerful, and yet while it’s still very early and clunky, people can actually hack in my computer. Granted, we have safeguards as the organization not to do that, but now I have the likeness of certain key people of the company, and we can actually use it for misinformation, right? So what do I do? Not only I go to the Chris McLean’s and the Florence rotars of the world, but I also involve our lawyers right away, which at first they were like, why are you calling us? And I’m like because I’m working on this. And then that grabs their attention, right? And then that actually moves at some point into regulations. In my previous life, I actually work on a lot of regulatory work to pass what became the first over the counter hearing AIDS. So while it’s not AI, I can tell you that that entire work, I can kind of relate it, right? Like you start making your connections internally and then you have to start familiarizing them out in the real world. Right. When we work on that hearing aid and it was at a previous company, we had to then at some point go and talk to people out. There in the world and do user research.

Fernando Mier [00:30:53]:

And then when we had that user research, we had to go and bring it to the FDA and show, hey, we have technology, in this case AI technology, as well as manual controls through mobile phones that we can be using in order for people to have better hearing and not having to spend a lot of money. So why is this not available? And again, it’s advocate and advocacy and advocacy. It’s just fighting for what you really believe in, right. And overall, after doing that for a couple of years and having the support of amazing people, we were able to make it right. And I can tell you that I see a lot of that kind of stuff happening at Avande. Right. I brought up the puffin situation with, like, it’s at the very core of what we do in this. Do what matters.

Fernando Mier [00:31:44]:

Right? Like, yes, as a company, we can always talk to you about sustainable energy and why we will create a digital twin for a wind farm and look at all the efficiencies and how they run and where do we put it. But if we were to just deploy that technology out in the world without any consideration, in the case of SSE, right, like particularly where they are, we will kill an entire animal population. And while it will be good for humans, it will not be good for the planet. So with partnering with a client like that that had that vision, we were actually able to create something very unique that not only was at the core principles of the Green Software Foundation, at the core principles of Azure IoT, but ultimately also something that for their society and for their island, was going to be great, because he was going to bring them affordable, reusable energy without affecting their landscape. Right. So again, all the digital ethics, things that come on that are important.

The future of tech with AI

Jordan Wilson [00:32:46]:

Wow. Fernando in this episode, if you’re listening, if you’re watching live, this has been an all encompassing episode. I love it because we’ve talked everything from generative AI implementation in the enterprise, digital twins, ethics and regulations. We’ve even talked on environmental impact. We’ve covered it all. But I do want to wrap up here, Fernando, by by getting your hot take on something so kind of like what Brian said. Brian’s asking, hey, any insights on how the Metaverse AI may come together? But I’m going to broaden it up a little bit. So I’m going to say, what is your quick hot take on just the future as we look 2345 years out, specifically when it comes to kind of these emerging AI pieces? How will AI change the tech industry in the next couple of years? What’s the hot take?

Fernando Mier [00:33:40]:

Yeah, and I can talk to you very quickly about this, right, but I think and you touch upon it early on the news that one of the biggest changes that we will see outside of the digital twin thing is that again you will be able to interact with technology, which for me is very interesting, right? Because now you can be able to say, hey, a brand, you can behave or befriend a brand like you will befriend a person because they will have their own personality. But outside of that, which I think is very interesting, I think the biggest change for the tech industry itself is on the Copilot pieces that are coming out, right? Like here at Avenue in 2015, we started building what then became the group that it’s going to be working on AI related technologies and we were very actively working with Microsoft on the GitHub Copilot that came out and then the Azure OpenAI announcement that they did in 2021. And ultimately we really believe that and I really believe that Copilot is going to change the way we work. Just like as I mentioned earlier, the Calculator did or the first GUI did when we moved from that to spreadsheets and then later mobile phones, right? Why? Because, and this is kind of where I’m going to take the answer in an interesting way because traditionally you will think about like, well, yeah, we’re talking about how people are working and how people are doing things. But if you think about the digital implications that we were just talking in the next as an organization or as individuals, we just need to realize that in about five years we’re going to have a group of young professionals joining the job market that had used gen AI through their whole four years college experience. And the reason why I say five and not four is because right now universities are restricting it. And even though they are restricting it, you know that they’re going to use it. So why do you even restrict it? Our job, right, in the tech industry and with things like Copilot and others is to figure it out.

Fernando Mier [00:35:47]:

How is that we’re going to serve them, right? Because we’re going to have them in like four to five years now working for us. Again, people who has done their whole college experience on it. Not to say that even this year we’re already hiring people that are using it even on their last year of college, right? But if we don’t think about that and the AI implications of it or the workforce implication of it, we are just going to be left behind. We need to think that these young professionals are going to come with certain expectations to the workplace and to continue being competitive, we will need to adapt our tool set and processes or again be left behind. And this is where Microsoft big emphasis on advising AI and immersive technologies space with things like, again, Copilot that I mentioned, the digital twins that we talked to, or even Microsoft Mesh, which is their new Metaverse enabled product that actually is having a public release as of yesterday, that we’ve been working on it for a couple of years now. That is going to be very important, right. And we are starting to see it even in the way that people works, right. One of our clients, it’s a large automaker.

Fernando Mier [00:37:04]:

Again, I cannot talk about all of them. They were having issues right, on how long and drawn out their design process was. It’s very lengthy, it’s very costly. And to create new design ideas that are actually unique. They did not know what to do and they were like, hey, what is this gen AI thing coming out and how can we use Metaverse or how can we use that in order to make it better? So in a matter of days, we spawn a new service for them that brought again together the designers, the engineers and the marketers to use GPT models to inspire new product designs via a chat interface that had a personality. And this was not only about the tech, but it shifts also the way that how people work in being inspired, right? Like moving the starting of the line of the process of again, this complicated design process that was full of meetings to just be able to put something in your computer and ask, hey, I’m creating this, or I have this idea, can you help me out and generate design ideas from that? Right. So overall, I think that is the type of things that you are going to start seeing. And I don’t know if I took the question where you thought, but I mean, in this case, you’re talking about not only be able to see the signs and produce the signs that way, but also actually be able to then look at them in the actual physical world through AR, or putting a headset and looking at them through VR.

Fernando Mier [00:38:37]:

So when again we think about Metaverse, one of the things that I want to say is that it’s part of AI, right. Or AI is going to be part of it. So don’t just consider them separately. And as long as you think about if there is a thing that is both digital and physical at the same time, like that car manufacturing process that I mentioned, it’s actually Metaverse. And I know some people will challenge me about that. That is what I believe.

Jordan Wilson [00:39:06]:

Wow, Fernando, even just on that one question, we just got such a detailed look of what the future, especially in the tech industry, might look like with generative AI. Hey, even what Mike said right here, he said, hey, you got to ask Fernando to come back from time to time because this was an amazing in depth look. Fernando, thank you so much for joining the everyday AI show.

Fernando Mier [00:39:30]:

We seriously appreciate your no, no, I appreciate it. If I’m going to go and keep looking at the comments and I’m going to go and try to respond as much as I can. But no, thank you for having me and Susie, whenever you want me back. This is a blast. I’ll hold you accountable for doing a Chicago meetup in person.

Jordan Wilson [00:39:49]:

Let’s go.

Fernando Mier [00:39:49]:

Hey.

Jordan Wilson [00:39:49]:

Well, we’re both in Chicago so neither of us can what? Hey, Fernando was talking about Microsoft. We just did an episode on Monday. Super excited about that. And if there was just too much good information for your fingers to type for you to jot down. I’ve even heard that people have their own Everyday AI notebooks at home where they take notes. That’s amazing. Don’t worry, we’re going to have a lot more on what Fernando was sharing more information on Avanade. So just make sure you go to your Everyday.com.

Jordan Wilson [00:40:20]:

Sign up for that free daily newsletter. We’re going to be recapping this episode and a whole lot more. Fernando, thank you for joining us everyone. Thank you for your great questions and input and we hope to see you back tomorrow and every day for Everyday AI. Thanks y’all.

Follow Us

Ep 110: How AI is Changing The Tech Industry