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Techday NZ
15-07-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Industry leaders stress AI progress with focus on trust & impact
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has seen an evolution from theoretical promise to practical, daily impact across a broad spectrum of sectors, as highlighted by technology leaders in observance of AI Appreciation Day. Across industries ranging from home security and digital infrastructure to cloud computing and enterprise IT, voices within the tech community have come together to reflect on AI's advances, current applications, and the challenges ahead. Nick Nigro, Vice President Sales Australasia at Reolink, said AI is fundamentally reshaping the way we approach and experience home security. "It has moved us beyond legacy security cameras that are limited to basic recording, motion reaction, and alert spam, towards intelligent systems that deliver smart, context-aware detection capabilities that reduce false alarms and focus on alerting users to meaningful activity." He said advances in artificial intelligence are transforming every aspect of security cameras, improving both their core technology and everyday usability. "The development of new AI features, including intelligent detection, virtual boundaries and AI video search are just some examples of how AI is beginning to be adopted into security cameras. With intelligent detection that accurately distinguishes between people, vehicles, animals, and objects, AI greatly reduces the likelihood of false alarms and ensures users receive only the most relevant alerts. "Another advantage of AI is customisable perimeter protection, which allows virtual boundaries, monitoring zones, and linger alerts to be tailored to the specific security needs of any site. This, paired with advanced features, such as AI video search, makes it simple to quickly locate important moments, eliminating the need to sift through hours of footage. "At Reolink, we are harnessing the power of AI to create security cameras that set a new standard for protection and convenience. By continuing to integrate advanced AI technology, our cameras will be able to perform tasks in seconds that once took our customers considerable time, streamlining everything from real-time alerts to intelligent monitoring. We're committed to expanding our AI capabilities so that we are able to continue supporting busy parents, pet owners, homeowners, and travellers in protecting what matters the most. "With AI at the heart of modern security cameras, home protection has become more intelligent, intuitive, and personalised than ever before. Today's systems do more than just watch - they anticipate, adapt, and empower individuals to take control of their safety. As technology evolves, so too does our ability to safeguard what matters most, making security a seamless part of modern living." Sonia Eland, Executive Vice President and Country Manager for ANZ at HCLTech, said AI is no longer just a future promise; it's a present force, driving real impact across businesses and society. "Over the past 18 months, we've seen a rapid evolution from cautious experimentation to large-scale adoption. As confidence in AI grows, organisations are going beyond surface-level use cases to unlock deeper, enterprise-wide transformation. The idea that AI is overhyped doesn't hold when you see the tangible outcomes: millions in cost savings, valuable time reclaimed from manual tasks, and entirely new revenue models created at speed. "Looking forward, emerging trends such as agentic and multi-modal AI, industry-specific models, and unified data strategies are set to redefine how businesses operate and innovate. Yet, as we accelerate into this next phase, our commitment to building ethical, secure, and human-centric AI systems must grow in equal measure. At HCLTech, our focus remains on delivering AI solutions that drive measurable ROI. On AI Appreciation Day, it's clear that while progress has been significant, we've only just begun to tap into AI's full potential. "To truly appreciate AI, we must also appreciate the responsibility it demands. That means investing in skills development, creating inclusive innovation frameworks, and ensuring regulatory alignment as adoption scales. Only then can we unlock AI's benefits in a way that is sustainable, equitable, and future-ready." The inexorable rise of AI has also introduced new challenges, such as security and trust. Suvabrata Sinha, CISO-in-Residence at Zscaler, pointed to findings from the ThreatLabz 2025 AI Security Report, which analysed more than 536 billion AI transactions. He said, "Our research revealed both the enormous potential of AI and the growing complexity of its misuse.... As we celebrate how far AI has come, it's also an opportunity to reflect on how we're safeguarding its future." Sinha underlined the need for industries to prioritise trust, governance, and resilience alongside innovation. From an infrastructure perspective, Amit Luthra, Managing Director at Lenovo ISG India, called attention to the pressing need for robust technology foundations to enable AI. He highlighted the trend towards hybrid and on-premises environments for AI workloads, noting that 63% of enterprises in India favour these models for their scalability and security. "India's AI journey is still emerging, with 49% of organisations currently evaluating or planning adoption. This signals a shift from hype to tangible impact," Luthra said. Application security and operational reliability were highlighted by Pratik Shah, Managing Director India & SAARC at F5, who stressed the importance of securing AI-powered applications in a rapidly evolving digital ecosystem. His comments echoed the view that AI now forms the core of business operations and that platforms must deliver both flexibility and security to keep pace with demand. Mayank Baid, Regional Vice President for India & South Asia at Cloudera, celebrated the widespread adoption of AI agents in Indian enterprises, referencing survey results indicating that 84% of organisations have taken such steps within the last two years. "We are committed to enabling organisations to integrate any AI model with secure and governed data across hybrid environments," Baid stated, welcoming the synergy between AI innovation and India's digital development goals. Another key element in the AI ecosystem is search, according to Karthik Rajaram, Area Vice President & General Manager at Elastic India. He explained how search drives not only AI applications but also operational efficiency and enhanced security. By harnessing structured and unstructured data through advanced search and AI, Rajaram believes businesses make better decisions and enrich customer experiences. João Moura, CEO at CrewAI, focused on the collaborative potential of AI and humans through agentic workflows, where intelligent agents work autonomously and integrate closely with business objectives and human decision-makers. He emphasised that trust, orchestration, and oversight are essential as AI moves from experimentation to mainstream integration. For Amit Agrawal, President at Techno Digital, AI's transformative power is only as potent as the digital infrastructure supporting it. He detailed efforts to decentralise AI by building expansive networks of data centres and embracing regional diversity in model training, with the goal of enabling equitable AI innovation across all communities in India. Finally, Jay Modh, Founder & CEO of described India as an emerging global powerhouse in practical AI application, citing economic forecasts that estimate AI could contribute USD $500 billion to India's economy and USD $4 trillion globally in the near term. He maintains that the challenge now lies not in adoption but in orchestrating AI's responsible scaling, ensuring trust, and focusing on measurable business outcomes. These perspectives converge on a common theme: AI is at an inflection point where responsible innovation and robust digital infrastructure must underpin continued progress. As AI becomes ingrained in everyday life and enterprise, questions of ethics, security, trust, and inclusion are paramount. On AI Appreciation Day, industry leaders are united in both celebrating AI's successes and acknowledging the responsibilities that accompany its integration into the fabric of modern society.
Mint
01-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
The renewable-energy sector's relative winners and losers in the megabill
The Senate's latest version of the megabill caught the renewable-energy sector off guard with a new tax on wind and solar projects that, together with the quick end of lucrative tax credits, would devastate the industry. Clean-energy companies say the U.S. risks a slowdown in power delivery during the global artificial-intelligence race by ending the tax credits that were part of former President Joe Biden's landmark Inflation Reduction Act. The U.S. is also poised to cede advances in technologies from solar panels to batteries and electric vehicles to China. 'The big-picture outlook for energy is we are going to be less competitive because of this law," said Nick Nigro of Atlas Public Policy. 'Ten years from now we could look back on this moment as the time in which the U.S. pulled back and essentially lost the transition to clean energy." With each new version of Trump's 'big beautiful bill," the outlook for the renewables sector has shifted. These are the relative winners and losers in the current version: Not only did Senate Republicans outline plans to phase out tax credits for wind and solar projects more quickly, they proposed a new excise tax on future projects. The tax would apply to wind and solar projects completed after 2027 if those projects use a certain percentage of components from China, the industry's primary supplier of everything from critical minerals to batteries. Jason Grumet, chief executive of the American Clean Power Association, called the plan a 'fundamental break in the compact between Congress and the private sector." Meanwhile, large-scale wind and solar projects would qualify for tax credits only if placed in service by the end of 2027. A prior version of the bill allowed projects to qualify based on their construction start date, a timeline that is easier for developers to control. They have less influence over when their projects connect to the power grid, where lines are long. Republican Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley of Iowa, along with Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have proposed repealing the excise-tax proposal and delaying the phaseout of the credits by maintaining them for projects that begin construction by the end of 2027. Solar and wind power make up more than 60% of the generation capacity that is expected to be added to the grid this year in the U.S., according to the Energy Information Administration. The proposed wind and solar excise tax could offer salvation to companies that have been investing in U.S. factories for wind, solar and battery components. Mike Carr, executive director of the Solar Energy Manufacturers for America Coalition, or SEMA, said the tax might encourage project developers to continue ordering domestic equipment. Companies making factory investments have been worried that without a reason to do so, U.S. developers would return to buying the cheapest solar panels on the market, likely those subsidized by China. 'It is the only lifeline on offer right now in the bill," Carr said. 'Panicked manufacturers are drowning." Shares of U.S. manufacturer First Solar climbed Monday. The struggling rooftop solar industry faced a potentially fatal blow after the version of the bill passed by the House of Representatives called for sunsetting tax credits by the end of this year. The latest Senate version is a little more generous. It instead would extend the credits for leased solar projects to the end of 2027, giving rooftop-focused companies more time to regroup. Tax credits for those who buy their own systems instead of leasing would phase out at the end of this year. That's likely a smaller portion of the population, however. Guggenheim Securities has estimated that about 70% of the residential solar industry is supported by leasing or other financing arrangements. Shares of residential solar companies Sunrun and SolarEdge Technologies popped Monday. Hydrogen also caught a break in the latest version of the bill. Projects can qualify for a tax credit if they begin construction before 2028. Under the House version, that deadline was the end of this year. The Senate version would also make hydrogen fuel cells, which use chemical reactions to generate electricity, eligible for tax credits. Shares of hydrogen fuel cells makers Plug Power and Bloom Energy soared Monday. Beyond its regular uses in oil refining and ammonia for fertilizers, hydrogen is viewed as a fossil-fuel alternative for industries including transportation, power generation and shipping. Widespread use has remained elusive because of cost, but new projects are under way along the U.S. Gulf Coast and in Saudi Arabia and Europe. Big oil-and-gas companies are among hydrogen's backers. The Senate bill would end tax credits for the purchase of EVs after September. That's even quicker than the House version, which called for eliminating them for the most part by the end of the year. That would lead to higher EV prices, analysts say, when the auto industry already faces a slower EV market. Elon Musk, whose relationship as a key adviser to the president recently unraveled, called the latest version of the bill 'utterly insane and destructive" on X. He didn't advocate for the EV credit but said that damage to the solar and battery industry would 'leave America extremely vulnerable in the future." He also railed against the legislation's potential increase to the deficit and renewed promises to form a new political party. Late Monday, Trump shot back on Truth Social. 'Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa. No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE," Trump wrote.
