LIHUE — The Capstone Pau Hana held on Friday at the Kuleana Workspace in Kukui Grove celebrated achievements of six members — all local small business owners — of the first AI (Artificial Intelligence) Lab cohort.
“This capstone is really a celebration of Kauai’s creativity and curiosity,” said Kim Theisen, co-leader of the Kulueana AI Lab. “Our cohort members aren’t tech companies — they’re local business owners who care deeply about their work and have worked hard to build these apps. What they’ve created shows how learning about AI can be both powerful and personal.”
Thiesen was joined by Peter Simon and Jennifer Jones-Patulli in leading the 10-week AI Accelerator program. It was developed by the Kuluana AI Lab, a project of Kuleana Work, a Lihue-based coworking space that took over the space formerly operated by a bank.
The program was funded in partnership with the Hawaii Technology Development Corporation (HTDC).
“Our program helps small business owners learn how to use AI responsibly and effectively, offering hands-on workshops, mentorship, and access to local and global AI tools,” said Jones-Patulli. “The AI Lab cohort supported Kauai businesses through a 10-week program designed to help them solve business problems with AI tools.”
During the program, each of the six members provided a presentation about their custom GPTs, or mini apps they built to support their small businesses, the problems they tackled, and the lessons learned.
The six cohort members included Mark Aqui, owner of Island Microfarms LLC; Keala Piimanu, founder and principal data strategist of Kahamanu Insights LLC; James Fobes, owner of Sun Kissed Consulting and Landscaping LLC; Christine Kurban, executive director of Bee Team; Anne Coyle, executive assistant at Malama Huleia; and the team of Sandy Poehnelt, owner, and Lynn Romero, manager of The Right Slice LLC.
Source: The Garden Island
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