New Zealand

A hammer helps you build. A violin asks you to learn a phrase. AI is closer to the violin. We often hear AI described as a tool, a neutral extension of human intent. Something you pick up, point, and apply. But that language downplays its nature. Tools don’t talk back. Instruments, on the other hand, respond. They shape the way you play, reveal new sounds you didn’t expect, and demand practice to master. If we keep calling AI a tool, we miss the more interesting truth: it’s an instrument. ...

Today I want to talk about Shadow IT. Not Shadow AI — I’ll cover that another day. Shadow IT is those tools and systems folks spin up outside IT’s blessing: sprawling Excel workbooks, legacy Access databases, SaaS apps bought quietly. They’re not always reckless — most of the time they’re born from urgency and ingenuity. I recently heard an anecdote that gives the flavour. A payroll specialist, wrestling with a tedious task, asked if their company could buy Python. They had asked Gemini how to solve the problem, and the model suggested Python. Taken at face value, it is a ’lack of context’ problem but it also reveals a powerful instinct: people will chase any tool that promises a quick fix, even if they don’t quite know what they’re asking for. That impulse — the creative scramble — is the heartbeat of Shadow IT. ...