For the third episode of Akoni Tech Talk’s, we sat down with cybersecurity content creator and international student, Ronan Takizawa. Known online as RonanTech, he posts software development and cyber security related content online, while also studying a Computer Science degree at Colorado College. Ronan shares that it was his studies that first kick-started his content creation, as he initially created his videos to make notes on his studies, hold himself accountable for his learning journey and improve his digital marketing skills. 

Over time his content, such as discussing ‘AI deep fakes’, ‘best AI tools for coding’ and ‘mental health advice for computer science students’, has not only generated a high engagement rate from like-minded students and tech enthusiasts, but also led to over 100,000 followers across his social media channels. Ronan highlighted that there was once a great lack of cyber security content available on TikTok, which also lead him to focus on making this his content niche. 

‘One of the goals I had was I just wanted to gather a lot of skills and the more untouched and the more like unconventional they are I feel like the more they might be demanded’ 

Alongside his online content and studies, Ronan tells us about the external research and projects he’s a part of within the IT and Tech space, from building a free course on web security, which gained around 2,800 students, to currently working as an active developer for a cyber security focused project at NYU. 

When discussing the benefits of using emerging AI, Ronan praises its ability to improve productivity and accelerate decision making accuracy by writing faster code, integrating existing libraries, providing intricate calculations and rapid task feedback. 

However, Ronan does continue to mention that, where content creation is concerned, the performance of artificially generated photos and videos does not yet seem to perform better online than authentic human content. 

Tune in to Akoni Tech Talks for the full conversation and more insights from industry leaders – available on Spotify Podcasts, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.