After my initial conversation on the Leaders in Tech podcast, the host asked me to come back and follow-up with more of my thoughts on AI and the future of work and what we humans will or won’t still want or need to do in the future. We discussed what we can learn from the study of the human brain, and in particular how the pattern-matching cerebral cortex is distinct from the goal-oriented “old brain”, the latter of which is still largely missing from the AI models we’re building. While a lot of knowledge work will undoubtedly be augmented if not replaced by AI over time, we reflected on how much of being an effective leader in tech (or in most professions) still comes down to innately human characteristics of passion, empathy, group coordination, and so on, as well as how we will continue to be driven by work that affords us autonomy, mastery, and purpose, even if it becomes disconnected from how we provide for our basic needs.
Throughout the interview, you will hear why I am still fundamentally optimistic about “team human” and our potential to thrive in a world of technological abundance, which AI can help us usher in (if we don’t mess things up in the meantime, of course!).