Before joining Pet Circle as the VP of Engineering in November 2021, Tony Abi Khalil worked across Digital, eCommerce and Technical Consultancy in other well-known Australian businesses including Commonwealth Bank and Woolworths.
We put these Fast Five questions to Tony about AI.
Why is AI important in your career?
Without showing my age, when I made the call to go down the path of technology, it was because I wanted to build skills and knowledge that I could then use to make other people’s jobs easier and more productive. I liked the idea of minimising or removing the manual effort and introducing automation wherever possible.
What aspect of AI are you most interested in or passionate about?
I would have to say I love how AI automates repetitive learning and discovery through data. Instead of just automating manual tasks, AI can perform frequent, high volume, computerized tasks, and it does this in a reliable way and without fatigue! This allows for humans to focus their energy on setting up the systems and asking the right questions.
In your daily life, what are the positive impacts of AI that you see playing out in our society?
Our society will gain countless hours of productivity, just with the introduction of autonomous transport, for example, and how AI can help influence traffic congestion in cities around the world. This innovation will be crucial in offering commuters stress-free commutes to in their daily lives by providing features like live traffic reports whilst driving and real-time destination timings.
Why do you think it is important to empower young Australians with access to AI/Tech education?
Like everything in life, the early bird gets the worm. As our lives move more and more down this path, it’s imperative that our young generation has the front foot in the door from an early age so that they can continue to learn and innovate in this field and harness the power and opportunities AI has to offer.
What advice would you give young Australians who want to learn more about and eventually work in AI/Tech?
I want young Australians to know that it’s so much fun working in this space and every day is a new day- you learn new things all the time! Be brave and push forward into a field that has endless opportunities to innovate and make a difference.
Learn more about Tony and his role at Pet Circle by following him on LinkedIn! LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyabikhalil/
Pet Circle is a proud corporate supporter of the Day of AI Australia.
