Published by Splash247

The maritime industry’s struggle to separate artificial intelligence reality from AI hype has prompted the launch of a new leadership-focused think tank aimed at helping shipping executives navigate one of the sector’s biggest technological shifts.

Further Ventures, unveiled during Posidonia by consultancy Further & Further and Greek shipping executive George Xiradakis, describes itself as a forum for maritime leaders to tackle the strategic, governance and accountability questions emerging from the rapid adoption of AI.

The initiative comes as shipowners face mounting pressure to deploy AI tools while grappling with fundamental questions over decision-making, risk and responsibility. According to Further Ventures, maritime companies are making AI investments even though many executives still lack the expertise needed to properly evaluate, govern and manage the technology.

One of the driving forces behind the project is Emma Collier, founder of Further & Further and a former executive at George Economou-backed EVIDENT, the startup that tokenised what was widely billed as the first maritime asset, a $100m LNG carrier.

Speaking with SplashTech, Collier argued that AI is following a familiar technology adoption cycle.

“Like the cloud and blockchain, I agree the best expressions of AI will sit invisibly but palpably behind the scenes without needing to announce themselves any longer,” she said.

“We need the killer apps first, however, and to get there it seems like we’re going to lose a lot of money because that’s what people like to do in hype cycles.”

Collier said Further Ventures was created partly to help the industry cut through the noise and focus on practical outcomes rather than marketing buzzwords.

“That’s part of the impetus for this think tank for maritime leadership,” she said. The goal is to explore issues such as “who is responsible for the consequences of AI-influenced decisions”.