{"id":237733,"date":"2026-07-21T12:59:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T22:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=237733"},"modified":"2026-07-21T16:01:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T02:01:52","slug":"jeff-huis-guide-to-the-ai-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/21\/jeff-huis-guide-to-the-ai-era\/","title":{"rendered":"Just tinker: Entrepreneur-in-Residence Jeff Hui\u2019s guide to the AI<\/abbr> era"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Two
Jeff Hui, Gray Stecher<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jeff Hui serves as the entrepreneur-in-residence at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa’s Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (PACE<\/abbr>) in the Shidler College of Business. Drawing on his extensive background running growth teams at major tech companies, Hui now mentors UH<\/abbr> students and guides them in harnessing artificial intelligence (AI<\/abbr>) to bring their ideas to life. In addition to running accelerators (programs that fast-track the growth of early stage businesses) and office hours, Hui has been doing public presentations to demystify AI<\/abbr>. In a recent interview, Hui expanded on his core philosophies for success in an AI<\/abbr>-driven world.<\/p>\n

Everyone is an entrepreneur<\/h2>\n
\"10
Top from left: Kealohilani Bloom, Dounya Bilal, Ernest Bethe IV<\/abbr>, Gray Stetch. Bottom from left: Tawanza Farmer, Macy Ferguson, Sophia Franco, Tracy Taira, Jeff Hui, Sarah Benimana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Moving forward is the only option. Keep trying new things and stay proactive. It’s not as simple as it was five years ago, when the path was to study computer science, join a software company, and earn a salary. Today, you must be entrepreneurial. To me, an entrepreneur is simply someone who makes things happen. That is the true origin of the (French) word, entreprendre. It isn’t about raising venture capital or launching a major business; it’s about being a doer. You could be working on side projects to demonstrate your ability to build. Some of my students securing AI<\/abbr> jobs are simply those who tinker on their own. With AI<\/abbr> technologies, you must forge your own path and create your own opportunities.”<\/p>\n

We’ve been here before<\/h2>\n

“People are anxious about the future. While I do expect some jobs to be displaced, we have navigated major technological revolutions before, and the economy has always rebounded. The Internet and Industrial Revolutions were challenging for employment, yet they created roles we previously could never have imagined—such as prompt engineering (giving specific instructions to AI<\/abbr> to get the desired output). Let’s examine historical precedents before concluding that this is the end of the workforce. I don’t believe AI<\/abbr> robots will replace all jobs; rather, they will displace certain roles, and we will adapt to find new ways of earning a living.”<\/p>\n

What’s happening in the market<\/h2>\n

“I reached out to 15 to 20 friends working at various private companies, startups and late-stage firms, and asked them, ‘What are you doing?’ I discovered some remarkable things. First, no one is certain of the path forward; everyone is experimenting. This reinforces my point that we are all entrepreneurs now. These individuals are on the business side—not natural engineers—yet they are all building. They may not know if these projects will be worthwhile, and they might even discard them, but they have the freedom to try and build. This is a significant shift. Previously, launching a project required dedicated engineering resources, potentially costing $100,000 in internal capital, which necessitated rigorous evaluation. Now, someone in marketing can simply build a product for themselves.”<\/p>\n

Just do it yourself<\/h2>\n
\"Two
Jeff Hui, Ernest Bethe IV<\/abbr><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“I practice what I preach by constantly tinkering. In my presentation, I demonstrated how quickly one can build a website, as I frequently encourage students to use AI<\/abbr> for this purpose. There is a growing sentiment in the tech industry that traditional presentations are becoming obsolete. If you need to provide an update or show a mockup, you can simply create a website immediately; HTML<\/abbr> is becoming the new PowerPoint. I find this to be accurate—I created a website for the Lychee Man in just a few minutes.”<\/p>\n

Back to fundamentals<\/h2>\n

“At the university, I teach the lean startup methodology: at its core, it’s about listening to your customer, understanding their needs, and iterating rapidly. If you have an idea, talk to your customers and build something. That is the extent of it—no extensive planning or research needed, as talking to customers is<\/em> the research. We don’t need to conduct giant market studies or assess viability upfront. Talk to customers; if they have a problem, solve it. The beauty is that anyone can now solve these problems using AI<\/abbr>. It all boils down to whether you understand what your user wants. That skill is more important than ever because, with technical barriers removed, everyone has the ability to build.”<\/p>\n

Future PACE initiatives<\/h2>\n

“At PACE, we are expanding our efforts significantly. Our most significant project is our AI<\/abbr> innovation initiative at RISE, called AIR. We are hiring a new team focused on connecting students with local businesses and organizations to help them solve real-life problems. We will be hosting workshops on ‘vibe coding’—a software development approach using natural language prompts to have AI<\/abbr> generate and iterate code—and on using agents, which are autonomous software systems that make decisions and take actions to achieve specific goals. Our goal is to connect students with university departments or local businesses and say, ‘Tell us your problem, and let’s see if we can solve it for you with AI<\/abbr>.’ Ultimately, we want to teach students AI<\/abbr> skills and connect them with organizations to address real-world challenges.”<\/p>\n