Sharing Our Knowledge

CogX is an annual festival of inspiration, impact and transformational change with the tagline of “How do we get the next ten years right?”. This year marks its 7th edition, and for three days, occupied the O2 arena in London with hundreds of speakers and leaders in their field, addressing big questions and offering fascinating insights. AI was a central theme, but also the “future of industries” and “global leadership”. Some other notable themes include a changing world full of uncertainties yet possibilities, sustainability, and flexibility.

We’re all about knowledge sharing here; learning new things is vital to who we are and what we do, but sharing that knowledge with our clients and anyone who will listen is equally important; after all, that’s how we maintain continuous growth and development and an agile state of mind.

We got to share some of our stories on the Founder’s Stage, hosted some talks on the workplace of the future, and also gave insight into AI and the world of eCommerce with an insightful debate surrounding whether AI is evolutionary rather than revolutionary when it comes to tech developments.

With so much to absorb - multiple stages, thousands of delegates, meet and greets, discussions and hosting our own suite, we couldn’t possibly listen to what everyone had to share. Read on to discover some of our highlights from the three days.

AI & Robotics

There was a range of topics in the AI and Robotics sphere, from trends in robotics, AI, automation and supply chains to generative AI and human potential and regulating AI within political bodies. Below are some of our favourite highlights.

Stephen Fry on Utilising Technology as a Force for Good

Fry’s talk was truly fascinating and took us on a tech history tour as he highlighted the astonishing technological advances over recent decades, founded by Moore’s Law.

The late Marvin Minsky, arguably the father of AI, talked a lot about the “AI winter”. Initially coined in the 1970s, there have been many hype cycles surrounding AI (much promised but little actually realised), although now it feels very different. Everyone’s heard of ChatGPT, and ignoring the new possibilities that generative AI can offer is impossible. But how do we balance giving AI too much independence and retaining human control?

He compared the above problem with Prometheus giving humans the gift of fire against the wishes of Zeus, leading to human independence from the Gods (and the end of the Gods). His comparison was that if we took the Prometheus route, we could ultimately find ourselves extinct. So, the question for the human race is whether we choose to be Zeus or Prometheus.

Unfortunately, we mustn’t be fooled into believing technological advances, especially in AI, will always be a force for good. AI ‘deepfakes’ and their ability to replicate human voices and images can be used maliciously for political gain or to insight distrust or violence. Fry drew on his own experience in this matter, stating his shock in discovering that his own voice had been stolen as a voiceover for a politically motivated film. By using a machine learning model trained on listening to his narration of books, this organisation had passed off that the narration came from Stephen Fry himself. Society is ill-prepared for such things.

On using his voice in the film, he commented, “I said not one word of that – it was a machine. Yes, it shocked me. They used my reading of the seven volumes of the Harry Potter books, and from that dataset, an AI of my voice was created, and it made that new narration. It could … have me read anything…”

Some closing takeaways from Fry’s presentation were that:

• Technology such as AI has massive potential, and it is evolving fast;
• AI should know that human life is of supreme importance, or AI could come to different conclusions;
• We need to install primary directives that AI cannot transgress (linking closely to another talk at CogX titled “Regulating Pandora's box: How can government keep up with the pace of AI?”, noting how European regulations are coming on AI along with a US Bill of Rights.);
• There is overwhelming support for AI regulation from major public and political players, but regulation can only regulate nations willing to respect it;
• Climate change and technological advances are on their way, and they are ungoverned and ungovernable, and we can only hope the benefits will outweigh the downsides.

How Generative AI Will Unlock Humanity’s Potential

The founder and CEO of Stability AI, Emad Mostaque, delivered a passionate presentation championing the democratisation of AI, declaring that the lack of public access to information is shameful. Emad is a big advocate of open models; users should not accept ‘black box’ solutions that someone else has built to amplify their intelligence.

Emad strongly believes in giving people agency, “Providing infrastructure for humanity”, as he put it. He drew attention to how, while human beings are creative, we have been through an era of consumption which isn’t positive. AI could exacerbate this if not put to good use and appropriately moderated.

Trends in Robotics, AI, Automation and Supply Chains

Tim Lawrence, Programme Director at Digital Catapult and Amolak Badesha, CEO of Orbital Composites, lead this insightful talk on the future of supply chains and digital manufacturing.

In recent years, the industry has made significant advances in robotic stock picking, and now, with continuing technological advances, the focus is moving to robotic delivery carts. Increasing investment is being made in making these more intelligent, with Lawrence predicting this lies just around the corner; the next four or five years will see a maturing of this capability. With supply chains becoming increasingly stressed, there is a greater need for it, and organisations should be prepared to embrace it.

As a specialist in digital manufacturing, Amolak Badesha spoke of building robotic gigafactories, not just on our planet but in space! Discussion also focused on building on and improving current manufacturing technologies with advanced sensor technology, automation and machine learning.

And so to the question, "What does a warehouse look like in 30 years?”:

• The intelligence isn’t in the physical robots. It’s in the systems behind them.
• It’s not human replacement; it’s human augmentation; it is not just about cost-cutting.
• The ‘last mile’ has been squeezed out. The ‘mid mile’ is much more challenging, and local manufacturing reduces this problem.
• Significant changes can be made by improving logistics and working better together, i.e., connecting the nodes of the supply chain better.

FashionTech

FashionTech is one of Mindera’s verticals, with many leading brands as clients and over 250 Minders knowledgeable in this industry, so we’ve pulled out a couple of topics that particularly caught our attention.

Let’s Get Phygital: How the World of Shopping is Changing

We touched on this in our Day 2 CogX Round-up, but it deserves expanding. Unsurprisingly, eCommerce is permeating more and more areas, and Dirk Hoerig, Co-founder and CEO of commercetools (a platform we know well) gave the example of Audi, which is bringing commerce “in-car” with subscriptions.

Adam Warne, CIO of retailer River Island, commented on their goal of being a fashion retailer “with a twist”, much more than just a bricks-and-mortar business with a marketplace model, and franchises abroad. The key being “unified commerce”, which requires building common capabilities to leverage across all channels. ‘Self-checkout’ was cited as an example of this, having recently launched in some River Island stores. It improves the customer experience and allows staff more time to interact and assist customers more meaningfully, adding a personal touch to the shopping experience.

The consensus on AI in retail is that we need to wait and see what retailers are doing with Generative AI. AI is no magic bullet (just yet!), and good use cases are actually somewhat limited, which we’ve also touched on before. Warne commented that AI has yet to really solve personalisation in eCommerce but that time-saving applications such as enriching product catalogue information are helpful, albeit with supervision, which very much echos the points made by Fry and Mostaque and many other presenters at CogX.

As to the future of fashion retail, the answers lie in the pockets of Gen Alpha. Every generation interacts differently with brands, with notable differences in consumer habits, and businesses should be preparing now to reimagine the user experience that these digital natives will expect.

Tech-Driven Responsibility: Guiding Fashion's Future

It’s no secret that climate change is an increasing concern, and the fashion industry certainly has a role to play to combat the significant contribution it makes to global waste. There is an ever-pressing need for sustainability, which, thankfully, Mindera is really seeing evidence itself in technology plans and increasing investment across many of our clients.

Krishna Nikhil, CEO of Pangaia, Veronica Chou, Founder & CEO of Harris and Zei; and Ozwald Boateng, Founder and Creative Director of Ozwald Boateng, were unanimous in their judgement that the industry as a whole needs to be doing more. Simple changes like cutting down on supply chain-related travel are eminently possible, e.g. less, visits to producers, manufacturers, warehouses, etc. However, striving for new standards across the industry is a more noble aim, standards everyone observes, with industry leaders leading by example.

On the topic of AI and its uses in the fashion industry, the opinions were very much in line with what we’ve described above: relatively limited and focussed on time-saving applications such as generative product images. Boateng was more sceptical, seeing AI as “interfering with what is an emotional process”. A valid point, and it will be interesting to see how well this genuinely holds up.

Steven Bartlett on Stress

Fearne Cotton and Steven Bartlett offered insight into “Living the Real You” - a heartfelt exchange of personal experience and wisdom centred on handling stress.

By referencing neuroscience and Dr. Tara Swart, Cotton and Bartlett referred to how stress comes down from the top and is contagious; it presents itself through hormones and can even leach out of pores and ‘infect’ others, making stress a shared enemy that can impact colleagues and loved ones. Even the language we use, however subtle or unintended, can trigger stress and so should never be overlooked.

Bartlett emphasised the importance of a sustainable lifestyle, balancing the intensity of work with consistency in personal health and wellbeing. Mindfulness, affirmations, and positive thinking are crucial.

He went on to highlight how humans need challenges; without a goal, we experience decline, but we should never face these challenges alone, drawing attention to physiological bonding that is rooted in our tribal ancestors and therefore wired into our DNA, stating how “the answers lie 10,000 years go”.

Overall, the conversation resonated strongly with us. Caring and well-being are something we hold very dear at Mindera; collaboration, taking care of each other, and working together are vital parts of our handbook and core principles.

Wrapping up

So, to the question posed by CogX about “how do we get the next ten years right?” it’s clear that AI plays a huge part in this new epoch in technological evolution. However, it’s still in relative infancy, and there is much to contend with to ensure it is a force for good while also appealing to the next generation's expectations. Considering Fry’s reference to Prometheus and Zeus, humanity must decide which route we take or, rather, how far regulations must go.

With the AI genie now out of the bottle and the implications of this yet to be fully understood, uncertain times lie ahead, and we need to be reminded of our primal instincts - that we are sociable creatures that must connect, collaborate, foster communities to support one another and overcome challenges together. Personal resilience and adaptability will be critical.

As we reflect on these themes, it reinforces our beliefs in self-organisation, autonomy and strong networks of communication, collaboration and care at all levels to encourage personal growth. These things are foundational to Mindera’s culture.

If anything in this article has got you thinking about your business and the future, check out our tech & consulting services so we can help you with your business goals!