Recap: Winter Silverstripe CMS meetup

Our recent Silverstripe CMS meetup marked a special milestone: a packed house and the very first CMS meetup in our new Pōneke office. Testing a fresh late-afternoon slot (4:30pm to 6:30pm), it turned into a vibrant evening of sharing knowledge and bringing old friends and new faces together.

Here is a look back at what happened, along with the main points from our speakers.

The theme: AI FTW!

The theme of the night was "AI FTW!" (AI For The Win).

If you missed the live talks or want to watch them again, you can check them out here:

Talk highlights

We were lucky to hear from two fantastic tech leaders in Aotearoa. They shared their thoughts on the practical opportunities for both increased technical performance and human creativity that responsible AI use brings.

Here are some highlights from their presentations:

Sam Minnée — CTO at Ask Astro, and Silverstripe co-founder:

Sam’s talk title was ‘Making sure the humans win’.

• AI works best when front-line workers shape its use for real-world tasks, not when bosses mandate it to save money.
• Use the superpowers thoughtfully — or spend them keeping up with a world that only spins faster.
• The real value is what machines can't take from us: trusted relationships, and they work better at a smaller scale.
• Build a world where everyone does more of what most matters to them. Make something uniquely kiwi — and use AI like we should use every new technology.

Stephen Makrogianni — CTO at Silverstripe:

Smak’s talk title was ‘Making content management simpler with AI-assisted tools’.

• We’re trying to make the work easier, faster, and better governed for editors, authors, translators, and developers.
• AI suggests. Humans decide. The CMS governs.
• There are four new Silverstripe CMS modules available now, with future official support to be considered based on adoption and feedback. Those modules are:

AI Compose(opens in new tab): Start with a first draft.
AI Refine(opens in new tab): Improve against a style guide.
AI Translate(opens in new tab): Create reviewable translations.
AI SEO(opens in new tab): Optimise for discovery and machine readability.

• While we’re enthusiastic about the potential of AI, we recognise it isn't consequence-free. We remain deeply committed to investing in people while upholding rigorous standards for data privacy, environmental impact, accessibility, and cultural awareness, and more.