From AI basics to how local companies are using the technology, three panelists shared their views on AI during the Greater Wilmington Business Journal’s Power Breakfast on Thursday.

The panel included Vantaca CEO Ben Currin, Morris Nguyen, founder and CEO of Predicate, Donald Permezel, nCino’s VP of data and AI. Each company employs AI in different ways in its daily operations.

Vantaca, which provides management software to HOAs and community associations, began using AI models to help more quickly retrieve information, understand it and get work done, said Currin. But the company’s “lightbulb moment” came when it partnered with and later acquired pioneering AI technology provider HOAi.

“That's just accelerated by an order of magnitude (in) our ability to get work done for our customers,” he said. “Instead of a human to have to push along a process, you can say, ‘Hey, I want these invoices to be received, coded correctly and paid within X amount of time,’ and delegate that work to an agent to really give leverage on technology for our customers.”

Nguyen’s company is working to build foundational AI models, including a predictive model for the onset of sepsis. Last year, Nguyen won the Business Journal's Coastal Entrepreneur of the Year award for his work with Predicate. The company's model takes in data from a patient’s wearable sensor along with symptoms reported by the patient to develop a diagnosis.

“What we’re doing is taking information in real time,” Nguyen said, “and being able to come up with a confident diagnosis.”

For nCino, AI has helped the cloud-based banking platform automate certain workflows, Permezel said. The ongoing development of AI technology has pushed those in the financial services and banking industry to take a hard look at which operations can be automated – but trust plays a key role in the technology’s adoption. 

“What we see the market demanding is a lot of trust,” Permezel said. “You really need trusted partners who aren’t going to muck it up when it comes especially to these emerging technologies.”

Each panelist acknowledged that their definition of what AI is evolving. They also said they expect the technology to make certain administrative tasks quicker and easier while giving workers more time for human interface and connection. This is especially true for the health care field, Nguyen said.

“Looking through the lens of health care, AI is not going to supplant the human in that same process,” he said. “We still need humans to take care of the patients where AI will be there to accelerate and make those humans more efficient.”

Permezel said nCino views AI as a “force multiplier for the banker,” allowing the automation of certain administrative tasks to give bankers more time to interact with clients. For Vantaca, AI helps streamline certain tasks, like paying invoices, Currin said. 

He cited a recent example of Vantaca’s work with a customer who employed seven full-time employees to manage the thousands of invoices they received each month. After implementing an AI agent, the agent could process about 95% of invoices, with one employee reviewing the other 5%. Currin said that introducing the AI agent substantially reduced the average time it took to pay an invoice and gave employees time to interact with customers.

“That was transformational for them,” he added, “and it's just kind of a very narrow workflow, but that's kind of possible throughout the business.”

Permezel said the increasing use of AI technology in the workplace will force a “mindset shift” for workers. 

“It's a slightly different mindset, and when I think about nCino, some people who work at nCino are actually going to be really good at the new way of working, and some are going to struggle a little bit,” he said. “So (it) just changes the profile a little bit, as technology always does.”

Currin said he believes AI, like past new technologies, has the potential to disrupt existing jobs but will also create new types of roles and industries.

“This is going to change the efficiency of how we get work done traditionally,” he said, “but there's a whole new world of possibilities and new things that people will be able to do, that they want to do, that didn't exist before.”

The panelists encouraged workers and business owners alike to remain open-minded about implementing AI technologies into their workflows. Currin recommended that businesses look at investing in AI technologies for the future.

“I think we should just be willing to react to the world around us and to new information and to be agile,” he said.

Nguyen said he believes Wilmington could be a leader in the Southeast with companies employing emerging technologies like AI because of its growing tech sector and local colleges and universities.

“Wilmington is an area ripe for innovation, especially with AI,” he said. “I would love to eventually be able to build a data center right here, to be able to bring all that in and have multiple companies contribute to that. So that's the dream.”

Currin said the area's high quality of life could attract companies and workers focused on AI to the region in the coming years.

“I actually think the best what Wilmington can do in this kind of era and in this age to support things like companies embracing AI and building AI and all these things is by being a tremendous place to live and raise a family and work,” he said. “I think that's maybe the most important thing you can kind of do these jobs anywhere.”

Watch the Power Breakfast's panel discussion here: