This week I had a variety of meetings with companies and looked at some new research on the impact of AI in the workplace. Despite all the positive things going on in the economy, a strong signal came back about fear. A large percentage of workers are fearful for their jobs and the impact of AI, so I unpacked the topic this week.

(Note: this podcast was recorded on a long walk so it’s slightly warbly but I cleaned it up pretty well.)

I know you’re all going through change and AI transformation work right now, so let us know if we can help – the issues in this podcast are important ones to deal with as you reorganize, push, and encourage people to move faster in the direction of AI.

Some Interesting Reading

From “The Information” this week, discussing Meta’s AI team.

“In his essay, Blankevoort wrote that “Meta has a culture of fear,” created in part by its performance review system and rolling layoffs. Meta in February laid off 5% of its staff, or about 3,600 people, and said those cuts were based on performance. The company also said at the time that it might use future performance reviews to cut low performers as well.”

“Instead of being motivated by our mission, or an aspiration to build something great, many people I’ve talked to are motivated by the fear of getting fired,” Blankevoort wrote. “This attitude runs through the company like a metastatic cancer.” It has led to a culture of “every person for themselves,” as well as “land-grabbing, project-sniping, stealing work,” he added.

Prompting is Programming: We’re All Software Engineers Now!

One of the most explosive changes in our new world of AI is this: every one of us can now “program” our AI assistants as if we were engineers. In other words, the “prompts” we conceive and use as queries are actually instructions, so we, as non-engineers (I am an engineer, but long ago), can now “program” and direct our AI friends to do what we want.

Not only is this an enormous shift in empowerment (yes, you’re a Superworker), it also lets us create, innovate, and share our “creations” with others.

It’s not unlike the amazing birth of spreadsheets and macros that started in 1981 with spreadsheets. You, as a business person, can “create things” that solve problems, improve productivity, and ultimately become complex systems for your team.

For AI vendors, this shift means you’re no longer just building applications, you’re also building tools – tools for your customers to “fall in love with the problem” and extend your product to meet their personal needs.

Galileo®, our AI platform for HR, is fueled with 300+ “prompts” which are essentially mini apps. You can use these prompts to build and extend Galileo to do more and more for your job and your company. The opportunities are endless, and this is just beginning!

Additional Information

Galileo®, the AI Platform for HR (visit the Success Center for videos)

OpenAI’s Prompt Engineering guidelines

Google’s Prompt Engineering guidelines

Max Legardez Coquin is one of the most fascinating entrepreneurs I’ve met. His new company, Maki People, is likely to revolutionize talent acquisition, and then revolutionize much of talent management. In this interview I ask Max to explain his fascinating background and how he sees AI Agents revolutionizing the entire process of screening, assessment, and talent management.

Maki People uses a whole new science, which I’d call “conversational skills assessment,” to screen and assess candidates at a scale and accuracy I’ve never seen before. His clients include H&M, Foundever, BNP Paribas, Deloitte, Cap Gemini, Nestle (Nespresso), and many more.

In this conversation I ask Max to explain the vision and secrets to his pioneering success, and his view of the new AI Architecture I discussed last week. You should NOT miss this episode.

Additional Information

How WPP, The World’s Leading Ad Agency, Is Transforming Itself With AI (pod)

AI Harm To Jobs and Humanity are Vastly Over-Hyped

AI Pacesetters: Six Secrets of The Superworker Company

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