#NedbankIMC2024: Musa Kalenga - AI, run for the hills or the opportunity to unlock value
3 Oct 2024
The Brave Group, launched Forge, an AI engine, at the Nedbank IMC this year.
Source: © Bizcommunity Bizcommunity Musa Kalenga, group chief executive of the Brave Group
“Forge will revolutionise not only what we do but how we do it as marketers,” says Musa Kalenga, group chief executive of the Brave Group.
The #NedbankIMC conference took place on Thursday, 19 September at The Focus Rooms, Johannesburg, where a lineup of international and local experts shared their knowledge with 2,000 delegates who attended virtually and in person.
Bizcommunity chatted to some of the speakers and sponsors.
“I’m a technologist at heart, and I realised that while technology was changing and growing, there wasn’t enough innovation happening, especially in agencies. There’s a lot of siloed innovation, but not much across the value chain,” says Kalenga.
It is the combination of those two factors that led to the idea of experimenting with AI, and that is how the journey to creating Forge began.
He says while technology is advancing, our appreciation of what it does is also important.
“This is what we were discussing—how we use it to become more adaptable and flexible, which is really the mindset shift we need.”
Run for the hills
He says we should remember that at every significant point in history, when there’s been a technological shift, pessimists and technophobes have always said, "Run for the hills!"
He says we are at that point again with AI.
While he agrees some scepticism is healthy, we should also be optimistic about what can be done. “Optimism is where we unlock value.”
Ethics
The big challenge with AI he says is ethics.
“Ethics will be crucial because the foundation of great AI integration is data.”
Currently, ethics are basic—focused on compliance like POPI and data storage periods - but bigger questions are coming.
“Ethics becomes a major issue, those who can navigate it while setting clear boundaries will be the ones who succeed.”
About Danette Breitenbach
Danette Breitenbach is a marketing & media editor at Bizcommunity.com. Previously she freelanced in the marketing and media sector, including for Bizcommunity. She was editor and publisher of AdVantage, the publication that served the marketing, media and advertising industry in southern Africa. She has worked extensively in print media, mainly B2B. She has a Masters in Financial Journalism from Wits.
