Redmond Citizens Prepare for the Intelligence Era
REDI recently hosted 282 guests at the Middle Sister Conference Center at its Annual Luncheon. The event featured an economic update from Business Oregon Economist, Damon Runberg and REDI Director Steve Curley. Futurist and AI Expert, Steve Brown presented the Keynote address. Part of REDI’s objectives in building community prosperity is to hold events like this to cultivate learning, provide networking opportunities, have fun, and spur connections that build business and personal relationships which help make Redmond and central Oregon thrive.
Economic Updates:
Business Oregon Economist, Damon Runberg, and REDI Director Steve Curley had a conversational interview updating the community on Redmond’s outstanding economic development growth. In their interview, Runberg and Curley presented some comparisons on indexes in other communities such as Deschutes County, Bend, and metropolitan areas in the west valley which showed attendees just how far Redmond is the outlier.
According to Runberg, Redmond saw impressive growth in 2023. The city saw a 2.8% growth rate in all industries compared to the state of Oregon which saw only a 1.1% increase. Singling out manufacturing, Redmond saw employment increases of 6.3% compared to a 2.7% decline across the state.
This trend isn’t new, however. Runberg was excited to share the pace of growth in Redmond has been off the charts for the last four years with huge increases in all industries at 27.8%.
Curley reported some of the Redmond indicators which show its growth trajectory is not stopping. In Redmond’s business growth pipeline, there are 33 projects with a potential for $908,893,000 in capital investment that would support 3,378 jobs. To support the growing workforce in Redmond, it takes available housing as part of the equation where people can live and thrive in the community. There is good news on the horizon, as there are 400 to 450 housing units scheduled to come online each year over the next two to three years including a development in the northwest part of Redmond which will support 500 homes. This will keep pace with the population growth and is a needed component for our local workforce to keep them local. Runberg and Curley also shared some headwinds such as housing affordability, Demographics, and infrastructure growth for shovel ready land. Curley listed a few tailwinds providing us some momentum which is housing production, the sought after Central Oregon lifestyle and middle wage jobs of companies hiring.
Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work:
Steve Brown: Futurist and AI Expert gave a talk on Navigating Generative Artificial Intelligence and prepared business leaders with information and tools to use in the present, and a look ahead into what AI will look like ahead in the next six to twelve months.
"There is no putting this genie back in the bottle,” Brown told the audience.
In his talk, Brown opened the discussion by introducing: why is AI Such a big deal? Most of today’s AI is Narrow AI, artificial intelligence built for a single task like playing chess, scanning through emails for spam, or making shopping recommendations. Recent AI advances like ChatGPT are the beginnings of more general intelligence, able to do anything a human can do. The ultimate destination is Artificial Super Intelligence, AI that’s smarter than any human, and able to help us solve really complex problems.
Brown gave the audience a pathway to the future of work along the AI transformation Journey. Currently, we are in the beginning stages of the Intelligence Era. However, to survive the next five years, businesses will need to address how to boost productivity and how to deliver value to clients in the most effective way using these new concentrations in artificial intelligence. Every business and organization will need to evaluate its current processes and ask these tough questions: What tasks are best done by humans? What is best done by robot? What can be best done by AI? And finally, what can be best done with AI + human paired together? An immediate pairing of humans and AI is the road to success. Brown encouraged us to embrace AI, use it in our businesses, and train our work force how to use it.
More work is also being done around robotics than has ever been done before. Several companies are now using AI in robots to complete a variety of jobs from moving objects to sniffing out safety hazards and violations.
AI touches all aspects of life beyond the workplace. On a more serious note, Brown emphasized the importance of critical thinking and safety. First, he warned attendees they need to teach their children critical thinking skills. “Teach them to think for themselves,” Brown said. “This will be very important as they grow and learn along with AI.”
Secondly, there has been a spike in ransomware attacks where the caller sounds like a child or a loved one stating they have been kidnapped and to send money. “You need to have words only you know that you haven’t posted on the internet or social media,” he said. “These words in a time of crisis can tell you if the call is real or not.”
Conclusion:
Like it or not, Generative AI is something that cannot be undone. It is here to stay, and the next level AI is fast approaching us everywhere like a runaway locomotive.
"More change is going to come in the next 5 to 10 years than the last 50 years,” Brown said. “We need to embrace the AI Age.” A transformation of this magnitude is everyone’s job over the next decade.
Brown gave attendees a fair warning: AI alone will not replace one’s job. However, someone using AI will. His advice: have a “possibility thinking” attitude and a “change-ready” culture. Be curious, try new tools and make time to learn. Ask yourself the question: would you rather work with a company who is using AI, or one that is without it?
Links to the keynote AI resources and more below:
Casemark
Hirelogic
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