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A big takeaway from last week’s Haverhill AI Summit is how to best embrace the technology to avoid getting left behind.
The afternoon-long conference June 18 brought together a cross section of the community, from residents, students and workers to educators, businesses and community leaders.
“The risk is not simply AI taking away jobs,” said Haverhill City Council Vice President John A. Michitson. “The risk is being outcompeted by people, businesses and communities that know how to use it. The summit was about helping Haverhill prepare, adapt and lead.”
UMass Lowell’s Scott Latham, a keynote speaker, said artificial intelligence is already changing workplaces.
“Communities that understand the scale of this change and prepare their people and businesses will be better positioned to compete in the decade ahead. I have talked about AI disruption across the U.S. over the past year, and this is the first time I have seen a regional city hold such an important event. I commend Haverhill leadership for spurring such an important and timely discussion, and for getting ahead of the AI curve.”
Likewise, Merrimack College’s Dan Sarofian-Butin said residents and workers must develop confidence, explaining, “They need curiosity, guided learning, trusted support and practical first steps.”
Topics included AI’s impact on jobs and industries, guided learning, free Grow with Google AI training, business productivity, workforce alignment and responsible adoption.
Uncommon Catalyst President and CEO Seth Cordes urged organizations to use practical safeguards to address concerns over data exposure, AI hallucinations, deepfakes, unauthorized agents and automated attacks.
Support Forge’s Perry Bailes gave examples of AI-powered business applications, showing how small and mid-sized businesses and manufacturers can use AI to improve productivity, operations, customer service, documentation, training and quality.