Tuning into the Future: Board Member Andy Masters on AI and Agile Work

Artificial intelligence is dominating headlines, but very few people are actually living it the way Andy Masters does.

Andy, who joined the Canterbury Tech board in 2024 to lead our Membership & Engagement portfolio, recently joined the Work Vibes Only podcast. He shared his professional journey, his predictions for the regional tech landscape, and a few mind-blowing insights into his personal tech stack.

If you want to know where the tech sector is heading, you need to look at where Andy is operating right now.

From Child Chess Games to 1990s AI

Andy’s obsession with technology started at just eight years old when his grandfather taught him to play chess. Hooked on the strategy, a young Andy became determined to write a computer program capable of beating his grandad. That childhood spark eventually led him across the world to study computer science and artificial intelligence at Edinburgh University in the 1990s.

Though an unexpected health detour left him just short of his official graduation, the experience forged his trademark drive for continuous, self-directed learning. In 2011, Andy brought that relentless curiosity to Christchurch, where he has since contributed to local tech staples like Jade Software and Onside. He currently serves as a Solutions Architect at Alliance Group, acting as a vital bridge between deeply technical systems and human teams.

Living the Future: 8 AI Agents, 24/7

While most professionals are still figuring out how to prompt ChatGPT, Andy has already automated his day-to-day. On the podcast, he revealed that he keeps a suite of eight custom, autonomous AI agents running locally on his desktop 24/7.

These agents act as his digital co-workers, handling specific operational tasks, managing data, and even reminding him to log his lunch or drink water. By leveraging open-source models that run directly on his own hardware, Andy ensures total data privacy while exponentially scaling his personal productivity.

Flipping the Script on Business Models

Because Andy is riding the crest of this exponential wave, his predictions for the future of work are vital for local business leaders.

“Currently, business models are shaped around the idea of scarce intelligence—you only have so many smart people you can afford to pay,” Andy noted. “Now, we are putting that upside down. Baseline intelligence is becoming almost free.”

According to Andy, this shift will trigger several massive changes:

  • The Rise of Micro-Teams: Slower corporate bureaucracies will struggle to keep up. The future belongs to highly optimized, ultra-agile teams of just 5 to 10 people leveraging AI tools.

  • Deflationary Value: As AI optimizes supply chains and production, the cost of day-to-day operations will plummet, freeing humans to choose how they actually want to spend their time.

  • The Agility Mandate: Companies need to rip up any static five-year plans. Success now depends on an organization’s ability to adapt to changes happening month by month.

Bridging the Technical and the Human

Through his venture, Forge Labs, Andy is actively helping small-to-medium New Zealand enterprises re-imagine how they create value in this new landscape. He strongly believes that instead of fearing AI, local businesses need to experiment with it daily.

When he isn’t busy demystifying complex engineering trends for local businesses, Andy keeps his mind sharp with competitive poker and chess. And if you ever catch him at a local comedy club, you might even see him drawing on his tech background to keep the crowd laughing on stage.

We are incredibly incredibly lucky to have Andy’s unique mix of deep technical foresight, community passion, and wit on our board as we steer Canterbury Tech into its next chapter.

Want to hear the full conversation? Check out Andy’s episode on the Work Vibes Only podcast.