The man who helped bring Apple computers to the world says we're on the verge of an artificial intelligence revolution.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak told an innovation summit in Brisbane artificial intelligence would be the next big disrupter, separate from the digital revolution that changed the world with personal computers and smartphones.
Speaking via video link from the US, "The Woz" described AI as "machines acting like human friends".
"Until recently … artificial intelligence really didn't make much difference in life but now we're getting to the point where we're getting closer to what the brain is," he said.
"I looked at the brain my whole life thinking we would never understand how it's wired, never know what consciousness is, we would never know what intuition is.
"And now we're seeing so many signs that are getting so close - we speak to our phones, we can get answers."
The tech icon was helping launch the Advance Queensland Innovation and Investment Summit on Thursday, where the government hoped to foster the seeds of the next Apple, Google or major AI player.
"A machine doesn't yet say 'what's an obstacle of the world, what's a problem of the world that needs solving and what is an approach I could take to solve it?' " he told the audience.
"We're just at the verge of where the machines may take off and go much further than even we humans could make them go.
"It is a new revolution in my mind, the revolution of artificial intelligence, machines that will learn, that will be able to do things much better than we know how to tell them."
Mr Wozniak called out virtual reality and self-driving cars as the other two major tech innovations waiting to happen.
There was evidence of that in another room just a few metres away, where everyone from government departments and NGOs to university students and private enterprise were trying to find ways to use the latest nascent VR technology.
Earlier on Thursday, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had announced Queensland's largest start-up hub and an $8 million plan to lure global entrepreneurial talent to the state.
"We will support successful start-ups and expats with up to $100,000 to base themselves in Queensland for at least six months to pursue their businesses and help grow our entrepreneurial sector," she said of the Advance Queensland Hot DesQ program.
The $4 million start-up hub would be in Fortitude Valley's TC Beirne building, which the city's first privately-run start-up hub, River City Labs, had already announced plans to move into in November last year.
Ms Palaszczuk said the Steve Baxter-backed operation would be one of the hub's first tenants.
