What got me here to this place
Our journey has been sustained by the people and places we’ve connected with along the way.
It’s all led up to this moment. We’ve seen tech transformations, lived through the 20-year decline in trust.
And in anticipation of the next 20 years, we’re asking questions early and often, and kind of expecting the worst, while supporting the best.
It all started with social media
Actually, it started with the advent of blogging. Just about 20 years ago, I was involved with a tech company out of Canada who was responsible for the first instance of paying influencers to post about us. We were fortunate to work with experienced bloggers, and a very smart guy named Marc Canter, who helped us choose bloggers and craft a white-hat paybloggers program to support them to post about Marqui. It was going to be awesome.
And boy, were we surprised.
“Web logs are the prized platform of an online lynch mob spouting liberty but spewing lies, libel and invective.” - Forbes, 2005
At the time, two-way conversations on the web were brand new, and the cowboys out in the wild, wild west of blogging were crazy intelligent, incredibly full of themselves, and amazingly good writers. Their points were honed and sharp.
I joined the fray, along with my teammate, Tara Smith, and together we muscled our way through interactions where we were called pimps, our bloggers were called whores, and we were generally taken to points of snark I never knew existed. But (as they say) nevertheless, we persisted.
And wow. It worked!
The paybloggers program generated a ton of interest, and we benefitted tremendously from the media interest. It also threw all of us newcomers involved into the power dynamics of extremely public prose. And we learned quickly to develop thick skin, take little personally, and power on, right in the medium in which we were being blasted. What we didn’t know then was the propensity for - and the scale to which - extremely opinionated people truly continue to spew lies, libel and invective.
20 years later, the notion of truth is in disrepair, and trust has largely disappeared
And now, what do I see from my vantage point, 20 years down the road?
While the social media transformation generated a ton of conversations around the world, and threw us all into a diversity of opinions, we had no idea how trust and truth would be destroyed in the process.
Don’t get me wrong, social media has also enabled disenfranchised people to come together to change their worlds, topple dictators, etc. But there have been too many negatives due to the lack of rules, ethics and (dare I say) governance around the use of, and management of social media accounts, IMO, and trying to wrest power back is fruitless.
Enter AI. Question everything.
Today, I see us asking questions about - and acting on - this next technology transformation well ahead of time. Instead of blindly and innocently walking into this new stage, we’re working to prepare businesses (our focus is largely on small- to medium- sized businesses) for a future where technology can aid in every bit of communication we make - public, private and pirated.
“AI will aid in every communication we make - public, private and pirated.”
In a first, I’ve just quoted myself.
But I think it’s worth doing for the skimmers (like me) who need to be stopped a bit in our tracks once in awhile. Along with the wonderful content creation opportunities available to professional communicators, there is incredible potential for people to use the same AI tools to steal identities and use them for nefarious reasons. Watch out for ‘deepfakes,’ coming to an internet near you.
Please question the data these tools have been trained on. We’ve written before about large language models and how they work. Its critically important to deeply understand how and why they do what they do before you trust them implicitly.
And so. We’re on a new journey together to educate, support and train business leaders to approach AI tools in smarter, more strategic ways. Join us - grab some resources, ask questions, and be aware. Please. Let’s make the next 20 years much different from the last, by harnessing the power of these tools for good in the world.
Resources from AIGG on your AI Journey of Understanding
Check out our Resources section where you’ll find free checklists covering the adoption of AI tools and identifying legal and operational risks, along with drop-in HR Handbook policies for your team to review, augment and approve.
We have attorneys, anthropologists and business leaders to support you as you develop your Strategic AI Use Statements that can guide your organization’s use of the tools available to you. And we have bespoke educational workshops available to you as you explore your options.
Connect with us for more information, to get your free AI Tools Adoption Checklist, Legal and Operational Issues List, HR Handbook policy, or to schedule a workshop to learn more about how to make AI work safely for you. We are here for you.
