The AI Corner

Spotlighting Kiwis moving the local and global AI ecosystem forward.

The AI Corner is a technology podcast hosted by Mike Bayly, with 67 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Mike Bayly hosts The AI Corner, a technology show with 67 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  The AI Corner

  Inside Air NZ's approach to AI Engineering | The AI Corner Ep: 60 Jackson Lee

  Aug 9, 202628 min

  Join host Mike Bayly and guest Jackson Lee from Air New Zealand for an inside look at how one of New Zealand’s most recognised businesses is approaching AI engineering. Jackson shares how Air New Zealand embeds AI engineers directly into business teams, why engineers are spending less time writing code and more time reviewing, architecting and applying judgement, and how the airline thinks about getting AI safely into production. You’ll hear why strong software engineering fundamentals still matter in an age of coding agents, how Air New Zealand uses eval-driven development and domain experts to test AI systems, and why communication, influence and business understanding are becoming increasingly important skills for the next generation of AI engineers. In this episode we discuss: • Air New Zealand’s approach to AI adoption • Embedding AI engineers directly into business teams • Moving beyond AI training towards redesigning how work gets done • Governance across security, privacy, legal and digital integrity • How coding agents are changing software engineering • Why engineers are shifting from writing code to reviewing and architecting • What AI means for junior engineers and the traditional apprenticeship model • Why software engineering fundamentals still matter • Eval-driven development for production AI systems • Building golden datasets with business domain experts • How Air New Zealand assesses and hires AI engineers • Why communication and influence now matter alongside technical ability JACKSON’S LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackson-lee-372338a3/ SUBSCRIBE TO THE AI CORNER NEWSLETTER: https://theaicorner.co.nz/subscribe

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  The AI Corner

  Ipsos AI Monitor 2026: why 65% of Kiwis are nervous, only 21% trust AI outputs, and sentiment has not moved in three years | The AI Corner Ep: 59 Carin Hercock

  Jul 26, 202630 min

  Join host Mike Bayly and guest Carin Hercock , Country Manager NZ at Ipsos , to explore what the June AI Monitor study of 32 countries and 1,000 New Zealanders reveals about a country that keeps learning more about AI and keeps getting less excited about it. You'll hear why 65% of Kiwis report nervousness against only 40% excitement, why just 21% trust AI outputs enough to skip double-checking them compared with a 31% global average, and why only 35% believe the benefits to society outweigh the environmental cost, one of the lowest results measured anywhere. Plus her view on the Anglosphere cluster that puts New Zealand alongside Canada, Britain and Australia and far from the more enthusiastic markets in Asia and Latin America, the data sovereignty trade-off nobody has connected to the data centre debate, and why government and employers now carry the job of framing AI as something other than a payroll reduction exercise. In this episode we discuss: • 00:00 – Intro & guest bio • 00:45 – How the AI Monitor is run: 32 countries, 1,000 Kiwis, 18 plus • 01:30 – 65% nervous, 40% excited, 72% claim they understand AI • 02:00 – "Sceptically optimistic": why understanding rises as excitement falls • 02:30 – Power used for good or ill, and the time spent checking outputs • 03:30 – Saving time at work but expecting a worse job market • 04:00 – Consultancies dropping graduates and government headcount messaging • 05:00 – The growth-opportunity case the headlines miss • 06:00 – Framing AI as a leadership failure rather than a technology problem • 06:53 – Reskilling tasks versus losing whole jobs • 07:30 – The Anglosphere cluster: NZ, Canada, US, Britain, Australia • 08:00 – Economic growth potential and ageing populations as explanations • 09:00 – Leapfrogging: why less legacy infrastructure means faster adoption • 10:00 – NZ plateaued while Canada, Britain and the US went backwards • 11:00 – Anthropic's Economic Index: NZ ranked fifth of 121 countries • 12:00 – Super users snowballing while others feel left behind • 13:00 – Only 21% trust AI enough to skip double-checking outputs • 14:00 – Testing and tricking the model, and AI plus human intelligence • 15:30 – Legacy distrust from earlier models, and knowledge decay worries • 16:30 – 35% say benefits outweigh environmental cost, against 49% globally • 17:30 – Data centres, energy draw, and protecting the tourism economy • 18:30 – The data sovereignty trade-off nobody has joined up • 19:30 – Only 39% trust companies to protect their data • 20:30 – Where Kiwis accept AI: research and restaurant orders versus hiring and health • 22:00 – Disclosure: 85% want AI use declared up front • 22:30 – The biggest surprise: three flat years against soaring AI valuations • 24:00 – "We trained the team and gave them the tools, but nothing changed" • 25:00 – Why individual training alone will not shift an organisation • 26:30 – Trench or trend: where sentiment goes from here • 28:00 – Where to find the report and get in touch • 28:45 – Outro & next steps CARIN'S LINKEDIN: https://nz.linkedin.com/in/carin-hercock-20118313 SUBSCRIBE TO NZ'S AI NEWS: https://theaicorner.co.nz/subscribe

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  How Halter supports its sales and customer support with AI agents | The AI Corner Ep: 58 Pouria Asghari

  Jul 12, 202637 min

  Join host Mike Bayly and guest Pouria Asghari , Head of GTM Ecosystems & AI at Halter , to explore how a fast-scaling agritech unicorn builds an AI engine that runs its go-to-market from first support ticket to field sales visit. You'll hear how Halter triages farmer queries through a RAG pipeline over nearly 500 knowledge modules, why animal-welfare questions trigger instant escalation to a human, and how the sales team dictates voice notes in the ute that Whisper and Claude turn into clean CRM records. Plus his view on why customer experience beats cost so they run on Opus rather than Sonnet, why specialists beat rare full-stack unicorns, and why the real prize is killing the copy-paste admin tax rather than replacing people. In this episode we discuss: • 00:00 – Intro & guest bio• 00:45 – What "Head of GTM Ecosystems & AI" actually means• 02:30 – Was the function built from day one, or a response to scale?• 04:00 – The breaking point: support tickets 3-4x as onboarding grew• 05:30 – Deciding what to automate versus keep human on animal welfare• 06:53 – Testing internally, then piloting with four or five farmers• 08:00 – The 96% CSAT bar and low threshold for escalation• 08:37 – Behind the scenes: how the support agent is built• 09:20 – "How do I draw my first virtual fence?" walked through end to end• 10:00 – The decision tree: knowledge, escalation, data, or sales query• 11:17 – When cattle break the boundary: instant escalation• 12:21 – Contextualising answers by where the farmer is in onboarding• 13:44 – Two-way clarification when the RAG match score drops below 70%• 14:25 – Why they chose RAG, and rethinking the pipeline as they scale• 15:23 – Model strategy: an Anthropic house, Whisper for voice• 16:25 – Fable for planning and code, and the week and a half it went dark• 17:27 – Managing cost: over-indexing on quality, no routing to Sonnet• 19:00 – Field sales voice notes turned into CRM records in the ute• 20:03 – Meeting recordings with speaker separation for farmer context• 21:03 – Learning loops: feeding ticket data back to product and training• 24:25 – Team shape: product, engineering, and a dedicated content arm• 26:17 – Building GTM AI teams: MarTech and Salesforce roles still matter• 28:43 – Specialists over unicorns, and why data must come before automation• 31:21 – Why you buy the CRM and build the intelligence layer on top• 32:15 – The vision: reducing admin so teams get hours back• 34:20 – Key takeaways: the copy-paste tax and quality-first models• 35:47 – How to reach Pouria and Halter's open roles• 36:19 – Outro & next steps POURIA'S LINKEDIN: https://nz.linkedin.com/in/pouria-asghari SUBSCRIBE TO NZ'S AI NEWS: https://theaicorner.co.nz/subscribe

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  The AI Corner

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

  Jun 28, 202647 min

  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-neenee ETEROA'S LINKEDIN: https://nz.linkedin.com/in/eteroa SUBSCRIBE TO STAY AHEAD: NZ AI News: https://theaicorner.co.nz/subscribe

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

  Jun 7, 202641 min

  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 bio 02:10 – Trade Me's AI journey from 2025 to now 05:30 – Why AI transformation is a people initiative 09:15 – Foundational training and the adoption spike 14:40 – The blast radius governance framework 20:05 – Hackathon design and what worked 26:30 – Identity shifts for skilled workers 31:20 – Junior talent and the apprenticeship problem 36:00 – Measuring ROI and outcomes 40:15 – Future of roles and workforce fluidity 44:30 – Outro & next steps LOREN'S LINKEDIN: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/loren-thomas-58947a53/⁠ SUBSCRIBE TO STAY AHEAD:NZ AI News: ⁠https://theaicorner.co.nz/subscribe⁠ NZ AI Events: ⁠https://theaicorner.co.nz/p/ai-events-in-new-zealand⁠

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