Renewables in Action
Welcome to Renewables in Action, where you can explore the exciting world of Renewable Energy. Hosted by Tony Tiyou, a former Automotive Engineer turned Clean Energy Entrepreneur, this show provides a comprehensive look at the trends, business models, and insights of the Renewable Energy sector. Whether you're seeking to understand the challenges and opportunities in the industry or looking to grow your business in this new world, Renewables in Action offers valuable insights and guidance to help you realize your full potential. Join us on our journey to discover the amazing world of Renewables and discover how you can make a positive impact on the world.
Renewables in Action
"You Already Have AI. Who's Managing It?" (Shadow AI with Simon Bransfield-Garth)
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
If you think your company hasn't adopted AI yet, it probably has. You just haven't met it.
In this comeback episode of Renewables in Action, Tony Tiyou sits down with Simon Bransfield-Garth: Cambridge AI researcher from the neural-network days, founder of pay-as-you-go solar pioneer Azuri Technologies (around 250,000 homes powered), and now CEO of Akili AI.
Simon explains "shadow AI": the AI that gets into your business through software updates you never reviewed, and through staff pasting confidential data into free ChatGPT. He walks through a spreadsheet that gives a different answer every time it's opened, and a media company that complained about AI firms taking its content while its own journalists were handing that content over.
He also takes on the "Californian narrative" of AI. In Africa, he argues, the money isn't in replacing workers. It's in removing the friction that makes a bank account take six weeks to open. And Africa doesn't need to build foundation models to win, just as it didn't need to own the fibre-optic cables to benefit from the internet.
The takeaway for every board: assume AI is already inside, assess your readiness, and build a bottom-up opportunity matrix based on real ROI.
Chapters
00:00 Intro
03:09 Simon's journey: Cambridge AI, Azuri, Akili AI
04:48 Lessons from the pay-as-you-go solar waves
07:06 Why California's AI narrative doesn't fit Africa
12:24 Where AI is hiding in your organisation
15:30 Shadow AI: hallucinations, data leaks, board risk
19:46 The first steps for CEOs
24:19 Governance that scales, from a 15-person firm to a bank
25:56 Is Africa moving too slowly?
29:52 Creator or consumer: Africa's AI window
32:21 Simon's one message to African boards
Free AI readiness check: akili-ai.com
Keep updated and connect with Tony here...
Youtube - Renewables in Africa Channel
LinkedIn (Tony) – Tony Tiyou
Instagram - Renewables in Action