Kathy Gibson reports from Pinnacle TechScape, Durban – AI is changing the way we work, learn and create – indeed, it is changing the way we live our lives.
That’s the word from Yesh Surjoodeen, MD of HP SA, who believes the industry is on the cusp of massive opportunities.
“This era of innovation brings about many challenges,” he stresses.
The world is experiencing two big shifts. The first is the way people work, with a generational shift driving a desire for flexibility while companies need to drive growth and productivity.
The second big shift is the rise of generative AI. We are still in the early days of changes that will fundamentally reshape the role of technology in our lives, Surjoodeen says.
To date, a lot of the conversation has been about AI in the cloud, but it will also play a big role at the edge, he adds.
The first thing we need to understand is how people’s relationship with work has changed.
An HP survey shows that just 27% of workers have healthy relationship with their work. Meanwhile, 22% of hybrid workers say they are thriving and 90% of workers believe access to the right technology leads to a positive work experience. A massive 83% of knowledge workers are willing to be paid less if they can work in a hybrid environment.
At the same time as this is happening, AI adoption is growing. Business leaders recognise that training and support will be key: 73% want their company to hold proper training; and 66% of knowledge workers agree.
On the technology front, AI is rapidly moving on to the edge rather than running mostly in the cloud – and the neural processing unit is key to this.
Vendors and partners need to understand where their customers are in their adoption journey and how they should best address various customers’ needs.
HP defines the steps of the AI journey as consistent, exploratory and progressive.
“At HP we are saying its not just a new era for PCs, but a new era for HP,” says Surjoodeen.
The first priority is that the industry needs to take AI to the edge with optimised hardware that makes endpoint inferencing the most cost-effective option. This also increases latency and privacy.
There can be no doubt that AI empowers work adding productivity.
“AI isn’t new to us,” Surjoodeen stresses. “It has come in many shapes and formats, not necessarily labelled as AI. New technology innovations have added more AI, and are bringing it closer to the user.
And this AI is going to have massive impact, including on people’s jobs.
McKinsey, however, shows that AI will create a $4-trillion economy – so whatever it creates compared to what it replaces will be positive. “I am confident it is an enabler rather than a distracter,” says Surjoodeen.
AI will also have a big impact on endpoint security – on both the attack and defence front.
AI will intensify cybercrime, making it more efficient, more effective and more accessible.
But, at the same time, cyberdefenders will harness AI to enhance threat detection and response, continually scanning for and automatically remediating potential threats.
So, as AI increases the speed and sophistication of attacks, organisations need built-in, robust endpoint security that extends across the software, hardware and firmware levels.
The threat is real: major South African entities like City Power, Transnet, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development demonstrate how cyberattackers can hit organisations of all sizes – with potentially devastating effects.
HP’s Wolf Security unites all of HP’s endpoint security innovations under one security platform.
And HP has led in the introduction of AI-enabled PCs, built on NPUs, that make work more efficient, better managed and more secure.
Importantly, HP is also equipping its partners for the age of AI, offering role-based partner training and certification, and ensuring its employees have the skills needed to succeed in the AI-enabled jobs of the future.
“We believe HP will deliver where no-one else can,” says Surjoodeen. “We have the technology and product stack, it is secure and we won’t default on that, and they are fun, goodlooking devices that work well. And through alliances with partners, we ensure we bring new technology to you.”