Christchurch Artificial Intelligence

5:30–6:00 pm — Drinks & Networking
6:00–6:45 pm — Pamela Simpson — Human Judgement in an AI World
6:45–7:30 pm — Caelan Huntress — AI Implementation in Business
7:30–8:00 pm — Drinks & Open Q&A

Human Judgement in an AI World — Pamela Simpson
As artificial intelligence transforms how knowledge is created, shared, and applied, organisations need a deeper understanding, an "epistemological literacy" of how we decide what to trust, what counts as expertise, and how we actually "know" things in a hybrid world.

Pamela Simpson, DBA Candidate at the University of Otago, will share initial insights from her research involving 43 subject-matter experts across professional, corporate, and government sectors throughout New Zealand.

Rather than focusing on technical specifications, Pamela will explore the human side of AI adoption: the shifting tensions between human judgement, professional expertise, and machine-generated outputs.

Key Points:
• The Exploration Mindset: Is the most effective AI collaborator: a "generalists" with the imagination to synthesise competing ideas or 'expert' to validate outputs?
• Enhancement vs. Transformation: Is AI just making existing work faster, or is it enabling genuinely new forms of organisational knowing?
• The Expertise Paradox: How to use AI to boost productivity without falling into the trap of "cognitive atrophy" or eroding the professional formation of the next generation.
• Governance as a Knowledge Problem: Why effective AI governance must preserve epistemic integrity, professional standards, accountability, and trust.

Who This Is For:
This presentation is designed for a broad range of professionals who recognise that successfully integrating AI is ultimately a "people change, not a technology change". Join us to discuss how we can navigate this new landscape not just as tool-users, but as a new society of explorers.

AI Implementation in Business — Caelan Huntress
As AI moves from optional to operational, the challenge is teaching AI agents how the business actually works. The workflows, standards, decisions, rules, exceptions, and institutional knowledge need a digital Company Brain.

Caelan Huntress will explore what practical AI implementation looks like inside a business, with a focus on onboarding agents, transferring workflows, and creating internal structures of responsible adoption.

This session will demonstrate how organisations can train agents to participate in repeatable business processes, and gradually take responsibility for clearly defined work.

Key Points:
• Teaching Agents Your Workflows: How to document a process, provide the right context, define success, and train an AI agent to perform useful work without constant supervision
• The Onboarding Interview: Deploying an AI agent is closer to onboarding a new team member than installing a piece of software
• Ship an AI Working Group: How to assemble an internal group that can identify high-value use cases, test workflows, establish standards, and share lessons across the organisation
• Assessing AI Readiness: How to evaluate your organisation’s workflows, knowledge, capabilities, and culture before investing heavily in implementation

Who This Is For:
Business owners, leaders, consultants, operations teams, and professionals who are ready to move beyond isolated AI experiments and begin building repeatable systems.

Attendees will leave with practical frameworks for onboarding AI agents, handing off workflows, and launching an internal AI Working Group.

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When: Monday, 14 September 2026, 5:30–8:00 pm
Where: EPIC Innovation, 100 Manchester Street, Christchurch

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Sponsored by the AI Coaching Academy. Come have some beer and wine, and raise a glass with your local AI community.
https://ai-coaching.academy/