Welcome to the 11th issue of In Pursuit of Quality.
Last week, I led a workshop about artificial intelligence (AI).
Wait, come back! I get that people are tired of hearing about the promise and perils of AI and the corporate dramas that keep bubbling up around them. Yeah. I'm pretty sick of it, too. But I hope to offer a unique perspective to the conversation—and I promise that I'm not a bandwagon-jumper.
AI is part of my academic past. I earned my Ph.D. in cognitive science nearly 20 years ago, focusing on language. The work was far from glamorous, but my research has implications for the large language models that underpin modern successes like ChatGPT.
So, don't worry. I'm not a programmer, and I personally find the technical details of how AI works pretty boring.
Instead, I talk about what it means to develop a point of view—a POV—about how we hope to incorporate AI into our work and lives. Artificial Intelligence is foundational technology. Understand it or not, it will permeate every corner of our professional and domestic worlds. So I think it's important to have a solid POV around how you want to use it.
The idea for this workshop came about because I kept hearing how every business is looking to capitalize on AI to increase efficiency, productivity, and profit. Companies are foaming at the mouth to do something, anything, to put AI front- and-center to their operations. There's urgency. And with it, confusion, fear, and FOMO. It's a mad dash toward thoughtless execution in service of keeping up with the Joneses. I'm guilty of it, too—at least the FOMO part.
Yet I'm reminded of a quote I often reference in my own life:
"A problem well-defined is a problem half solved." 1
While it's tempting to jump to solutions, I find that taking time to think about the problem leads to better quality outcomes. This seems particularly relevant right now, as AI-mania escalates.
Three Things.
What goes into defining a problem when it comes to AI? What does it take to develop a POV? I think it's three things:
Ambition
Ethical Commitments
Communication
Ambition is about intention.
When I worked at Spotify we released Discover Weekly—music playlists, based on AI, delivered to users in a way that feels unique to each of them. We were solving the problem of giving millions of people something that feels like it's just for them; personalization at scale. Discover Weekly was based on our ambition to use AI as a tool to augment creativity and innovation.
Ethical commitments are about agreements.
Spotify thrives on data—how, when, and where are people using the product? But we made an early commitment to use personal data responsibly. We agreed to prioritize data based on core values. And then committed to using data to hold up a mirror to playful behavior, not to scrape for personal identifiable information.
Communication is about accountability.
An essential part of any AI POV is talking about ambition and ethical commitments; internally, so employees agree with them, and externally, so the rest of the world gets it. It's as simple as putting your ambition into words and then communicating what commitments you'll make toward achieving that ambition. People are confused. Communication reduces uncertainty, making them less confused.
Beyond Business.
This isn't just about business. Having a POV—setting ambitions, making commitments, and being held accountable to your word—are part of any quality life. This is about making sense of a chaotic world and making choices that align to your subjective values. So, I think this is far beyond crafting your corporate POV.
Companies are racing to unlock new technology as a driver of productivity and efficiency. But so are we. In just one year, ChatGPT has captivated over 180 million users. We're using advanced chatbots to write our emails, do our homework, create our lesson plans—and we're pushing the limits to what's possible as these systems get increasingly powerful.
This is awesome! But it can feel overwhelming to keep up with how fast and furious things are moving, with no indication of things slowing down. Like companies, we're at risk of getting caught up in a dash toward thoughtless execution just to keep up with the Joneses.
More, more, more. But not better, better, better.
A Call-To-Action.
So this is your time to develop a solid POV. We're at the dawn of a new AI explosion. Although things are speeding by, we've got time to take a breath and think deeply about how best to use this technology.
What role do you want AI to play in your life? Do you have a clear ambition of what you want from it? Are there things that are in- or out-of-bounds for you, ethically? And, importantly, are you talking about these things to the people you care about?
This is how we get out of the rapid onslaught of AI mayhem.
It's how we move from quantity, AI taking over our lives, to quality, smoother integration of technology in service of better human outcomes and flourishing.
At least that's my POV.
I don’t know who really said it, but this quote is often credited to Charles Kettering, who lead research for GM from 1920-1947.