Why Kelowna businesses aren’t scrambling to use AI as quickly as you’d think

In Kelowna, some day soon you might call to make a reservation at a restaurant, and AI will pick up the phone. When you get there you could get a mushroom soup with ingredients harvested by AI while talking to your friends about an article you read that was generated by AI.

But the situation isn’t quite there since companies in the Okanagan haven’t jammed AI into every part of their business, yet.

Kelowna Chamber of Commerce CEO George Greenwood said businesses are slowly using more AI because it’s getting built into tools they already use, but it will be a while before it takes over.

“They use it because some of the applications they use have AI functions built into them. It could be a chat bot as part of their website or things like that,” he said. “Many people are using ChatGPT to write memos and emails. We’re still not seeing a great deal of uptake in them using AI to integrate with their operations to save them time, save them money.”

Greenwood said it’s hard for companies to figure out how to integrate AI further than using popular tools like ChatGPT, so the chamber is working on a plan for an AI training program in the new year.

“There’s tools out there that can be used right away,” he said. “A lot of the smaller businesses don’t have the time and they’re not making the time to do it. They need somebody to show them step by step.”

Greenwood said it will take time for businesses to figure out how AI fits into their operations, but he said the first thing will be administrative tasks like giving customers quotes or answering basic questions quickly.

“The AI can provide you with the quote. It can respond to your email. It could then flag things for the owner to address more quickly,” he said.

Some businesses have experimented with AI beyond administrative tasks.

Peachland restaurant Gasthaus on the Lake briefly used AI to take phone reservations, but decided to go back to having a person answer the phone. The restaurant declined to answer questions about the decision.

KelownaNow created an AI influencer “Elle” with an Instagram account that made sponsored posts promoting BC companies. Elle launched in the spring, but since then its account only has 13 posts.

Thompson Rivers University used AI to generate a picture of its new president, and happened to leave that detail out of the news release that included the image.

Not to mention the AI generated news from the conservative online publication Thompson Current, which is run by former Kelowna Conservative MP Tracy Gray’s husband and conservative strategist Larry Gray.

There are local companies making AI a bigger part of what they do.

A Salmon Arm-based company, 4AG Robotics, uses AI to help autonomous robots pick mushrooms. They were ahead of the AI boom and have been working on these robots for years.

In the summer, 4AG’s CEO Sean O’Connor said robotics and AI have real practical uses in agriculture.

“In just two and a half years, we’ve gone from asking farms to trial our technology to having deposits for over 40 additional robots. As one of the first companies to fully automate the human hand in produce harvesting, we’re ushering in a new era for mushroom farming,” O’Connor said previously.

A recent poll by Angus Reid found that most British Columbians are concerned about AI.

It found that more than 90 per cent of people surveyed fear that AI will create problems with misinformation and privacy concerns, while only 28 per cent think it will make life easier for everyone.

Greenwood at the Kelowna chamber is part of that 28 per cent who thinks AI will be a net positive.

“I see it as more of a bright spot in the future, as opposed to something to be afraid of,” he said.