Last week I was privileged to participate in the Australian Artificial Intelligence Sprint Demo Day and Awards Ceremony.
The programme was jointly supported by the National AI Centre (CSIRO) Stone and Chalk and Google Cloud.
Over 250 start ups applied to enter the Sprint and they were assessed over 3 rounds leading to the final that included 10 outstanding young companies.
Each of the finalists we given 3 minutes to present to a live audience which included over people 600 on-line.
There was much to be impressed by the imagination creativity and street smarts of the finalists and I was assured by the judges that there were many more of the applicants who had amazing products or services developed with the assistance of AI. Another element I loved was the breadth of sectors on display and disruptions that you could see materialising before your eyes.
Here is my too brief summary of the finalists.
CONJA- automated home care package assessments for home modifications that included VR tools for the measurement of the clients and their facilities with visualisations of change options that can be modified by non-tech savvy clients.
CX Guardian- guidance guiderails and governance to assist people to understand the potential of genAI at work including assessing AI use cases. Aim is to democratise AI – GO CX I say!!
Getmee – services to assist people to improve English competence and their employability skills- great for new migrants and students.
Kopi Su- aim to turn the existential threat AI can pose to musicians by supporting artists use of AI with plans to establish a marketplace for artists digital products.
Neo Cave- digital assistants to support disabled and elderly people to live longer at home. Capability to recognise human and other noises such as distress.
Planoverse- a product to assist with retail store layouts by providing 3D models and using data models of customer behaviour to position products.
Insight-Wise – (won the people’s choice award) An AI reasoning engine based on data models to provide companies with analyses and reports- potential to disrupt the consulting market and lower costs so that small businesses may benefit.
Empathetic AI- (3rd Place)developed an AI Tax copilot called ‘Luna’ trained on the ATO database. Can identify relevant legislation in a particular client case and undertake analysis and summary reports- potential large time and cost saver.
Kindship- (second place) disability system navigation tool to assist clients and their families.
Dragon-Fly Thinking (first place) another consulting industry disruptor complex problem analysis, decision support tool and a risk reward and resilience framework- already undertaking a reform programme in the Australian public service.
Again I am sure I haven’t done justice to these terrific companies but this summary does I hope give readers a sense of the vast potential scope of AI applications – its as broad and deep as your imagination. Think about your own sector interest where can AI make a difference?