If you read only one thing about AI/LLMs this week, make it this:
July 28, 2023
If you only read one thing about AI/LLM this week, make it this: On Holding Back the Strange AI Tide by Prof. Ethan Mollick
• Generative AI already has transformed everyday life and work, much more than other hyped new technologies — think crypto, NFT, Metaverse, etc.
• The kneejerk response to new tech (especially in organizations) is to deny that anything has really changed (Ignore It); others prohibit it to minimize the damage (Ban It); even those who do embrace it (Centralize It) aren’t fully embracing it, because the implied changes to teams, workflows, etc are just too large to digest.
• Workflow innovation needs to be driven by workers who are able to experiment with new ways of accomplishing their goals with LLM help; rather than trying to control this process, companies should give workers the psychological safety (and the incentives!) to really rethink their jobs and transform their roles, with the company’s support.
• There are great reasons for companies to be cautious about LLMs in their environment — data security being the most obvious — but by exerting control, companies send the signal that a) we’re watching you, and b) this is a tool to do the job we pay you for, not reimagine how to do it.
• LLMs present the greatest opportunity in many years for workers to rethink and reshape their own roles, and companies can derive great benefit if they empower and listen in the right ways.
• Tides can be dealt with in many ways — you can hold them back (at great expense), get swamped and die, or use them to generate power! Letting the tide wash through your organization, understand it, experiment with it, and ultimately harness it for your benefit can be frightening for leaders, but it’s the only way to build a strategic advantage in the long term.