It’s official! The shovel is mightier than the gavel, at least when it comes to a debate about AI between engineers and lawyers.
Team Engineers gained around 75 per cent of votes in a surprise virtual crowd poll to decide the winner of our great ‘mock’ debate – arguing that AI was not fundamental to project success.
The hotly contested Brisbane Club event saw IPS’ own Sarah Parrish team up with Amy Wood from Jacobs and Daniel Field from The Stratoship Group to take on Janelle Kerrisk, Emily Taylor and Jonathan Miliszewski from Helix Legal.
More than 100 guests attended the free event, enjoying a great night of laughs along with unexpected twists and turns.
Esteemed host Andrew ‘Chappy’ Chapman from Queensland Major Contractors Association got into the spirit early, donning a KC’s legal wig and offering plenty of jokes and jabs at the expense of both professions.
An AI version of the affirmative team’s second speaker Emily Taylor made an appearance, while the real Emily later raced and AI program to see who was fastest at reviewing a contract. Team Lawyers also rolled out an AI version of Chappy to pre-emptively declare themselves the winners.
Meanwhile, Team Engineers made a largely unsuccessful attempt to train AI to write sentences that made sense and even the now world-famous Raygun made a cameo appearance.
IPS Director and civil engineer Sascha Kurz was delighted to see the engineers claim victory but said the biggest winner from the event was the positive alliance between the two professions.
“This was a great opportunity to get some of Brisbane’s sharpest minds together in the same room to consider one of the most important topics facing everyone in business,” she said.
“Thanks so much to everyone involved, especially Engineers Australia’s College of Leadership & Management QLD, for making the night a huge success.
“Whether it’s a debate or some other format, we’re now hoping to make this an annual event.”
Helix Legal CEO Janelle Kerrisk said that being litigation lawyers they were excited to have fun and be creative in the mock debate. “It’s not every day that we can step out of our usual roles and approach a challenge with a blend of playfulness and strategy,” she said.
View all news
