AI & the Future of Work in New Zealand

Topic: AI & the Future of Work in New Zealand

Description: Across Aotearoa, AI is moving from optional to operational. Productivity gains are real—but so is the whiplash. Roles are shifting. Junior pipelines are changing. The definition of "senior" is up for grabs. This session is for the people who want a clearer read on where this is all heading. In this seminar, Caelan will connect global signals to the New Zealand context. He’ll unpack the tensions shaping the next decade of tech work: speed versus craft, automation versus apprenticeship, and productivity versus purpose. This is about the shape of the work itself—what gets automated, what gets amplified, and what stays uniquely human.

Speaker: Caelan Huntress

Caelan Huntress is an AI Educator who teaches beginner and intermediate workshops through the AI Coaching Academy, a community for ambitious professionals to practice using the tools of the future. He is an author, public speaker, and business coach based in Christchurch who spent ten years running an online business while traveling the world with his young family. A dual citizen in the US and New Zealand, his book ‘Marketing Yourself’ has helped thousands of personality-based businesses to create content that converts attention into revenue. With 25 years of experience in storytelling - first as a theatrical performer, and then as a marketing automation strategist - Caelan helps people learn how to use new technology to tell stories that matter, by finding the uniquely human work that robots cannot do.