The second MEO Empresas Talks - a series of events aimed at informing and alerting Portuguese companies to current issues of great interest to their business - began at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 17, with Nuno Nunes, Chief Sales Officer B2B at Altice Portugal, opening the central theme: Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Under the motto of how AI can boost Portuguese business, Nuno Nunes highlighted the importance of the variable of time combined with technology, stating that this combination increases the competitiveness of companies. Altice Portugal's B2B Chief Sales Officer assured that "AI is not a choice, but a must-have that will be part of our daily lives".
Next up was Adolfo Mesquita Nunes, Partner at Pérez-Llorca, who launched the topic of the risks and consequences of using AI. The lawyer said that "AI is not an IT issue, it's much more strategic than that". The speaker also addressed the European Artificial Intelligence Regulation (AI Act), which comes into force in August, and obliges companies to follow a TV show of essential ethical requirements when using AI. In this sense, he revealed the importance of training employees, knowing the Regulation and which behaviors are high risk, carrying out a risk analysis and mapping the AI processes that the company is using.
He concludes that "this is not the time for companies to be afraid of AI, to be frightened by the risks that AI causes, or to be worried about the fines they might pay - I mean, be frightened, but that's not the point. We have two years to prepare companies, but above all, what this Regulation will bring is a new way of looking at AI and being aware of the risks they run."
The panel discussion featured Adolfo Mesquita Nunes - Partner at Pérez-Llorca, Jorge Sousa - Head of Business Communication at Altice Labs | BOTSchool - Conversational AI Platform, Miguel Pinto - Managing Director of Continental Advanced Antenna Portugal. "Is your company ready?" was the question that kicked off this edition's round table, marked by a conversation that covered points such as: employee vs AI; the competitive advantages of AI, for example in terms of productivity and environmental sustainability; the autonomous future of AI; the impact of the European Artificial Intelligence Regulation on Portuguese SMEs; the functionalities of generative AI; the benefits of AI in the time-to-market; among other topics.
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