Unlocking the True Human Potential with AI [Newsletter #42]

Hello, AI enthusiasts from all around the world! Welcome to the weekly newsletter for the AI and the Future of Work Podcast.

Today's episode has us questioning how we view the future, and for that sometimes it’s helpful to look at  the past. After all, this AI revolution isn't the first major shift in how we work.

We've gone through several of them, and they've taught us valuable lessons. It's crucial to avoid the drama and clickbait, and instead focus on making changes that will help our future.

Whether you're an AI optimist or pessimist, the way to maximize AI's potential for our benefit is to focus on what we have now instead of what's coming.

Part of this change comes by accepting that we don't need to create new programming languages. Instead, we should focus on improving how we train AI with what we already have.

Our guest has applied this mindset to AI and many of his ventures. Today, he dives deep into how we can change the way we work, starting now.

Let's dive into this week's highlights! 🚀

🎙️ New Podcast Episode with Dheeraj Pandey, DevRev CEO

Every revolution brings change that will take us a while to fully understand. Dheeraj Pandey uses an example that's 150 years old.

At the peak of the Industrial Revolution, in some countries, the legal working age could be as low as 12, and people worked up to 150 hours a week. The concept of work-life balance would have been impossible.

Today, many are still working 50, 60, or even 70 hours a week. We all understand the "work-life balance" concept, and we all aspire to it, and few of us actually achieve it.

So, what has to change?

For Dheeraj, the answer is simple: It can only happen if we delegate some of our work—like the repetitive tasks—to machines and AI.

Dheeraj Pandey believes in enhancing human life through science and technology. He's also one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.

He founded Nutanix in 2009, which led to an IPO and a $16.5 billion valuation on the NASDAQ. In 2020, he  started DevRev, an agentic AI company that brings all data together to help companies deliver better customer experiences.

Our CEO, Dan Turchin, sat down with Dheeraj to discuss unlocking human potential through AI and much more. In this episode, they discuss:

• Why we don't need to invent a new programming language to instruct machines. Instead, we need to train them more efficiently, and that's where humans can add value

• Machines are getting closer to speculating, which could change how they operate and make them think more like humans

• Why Dheeraj believes this new speculative technology might have created a caste system within the tech world

• Humans are critical to the customer service cycle (and other processes) because we ask the questions. Ultimatelyr, we have to interact with AI instead of treating it like a black box. 

Our latest AI and the Future of Work Podcast episode featuring Dheeraj Pandey inspired this issue.

🎧  Listen to the full episode here for more of Dheeraj's views on the evolution of AI and how we must change our workplace to embrace it. 

📖 AI Fun Fact Article

We're living in an AI revolution, and one  consequence is that it’s becoming harder to sort out the clickbaity titles. 

That's what we're discussing this week with Dominic Ligot's article in HackerNoon, titled "Next Time You Hear Someone Say AI Will Replace Call Center Agents, Run."

Ligot writes that AI is making strides in areas like chatbots, albeit with major limitations. People need to feel heard, understood, and supported–especially when dealing with frustrating or sensitive issues.

After all, AI can process large amounts of data, but it lacks human empathy and emotional intelligence. 

There are examples in Ligot's article of automated ordering solutions that are actually being operated by remote workers offshore, by companies like Amazon and Del Taco.

Even though they gave the appearance that AI was powering these interactions, they were actually relying on humans. As Ligot explains, customer service requires understanding cultural nuances and local context, which AI isn't necessarily capable of. 

And then, there’s the trust aspect: a lot of customers are reluctant to share sensitive information with AI, whereas humans can be held accountable. 

These examples help support the idea that we shouldn't aspire to remove humans from customer support. 

However, our CEO, Dan Turchin, believes this article lacks the substance or data to support this argument—it’s just a clickbaity headline. 

We should focus on using AI to automate repetitive tasks where machines do outperform humans. Then we can free up humans to do what we do best: empathize, apply critical thinking, and learn effectively from very few experiences and data points. 

Let's strive to deliver the best service experiences, and we'll find the right way for humans and machines to partner, whether in the call center or anywhere else.

Worth a Read! 📚

👋 Until next time, stay curious!

👋 That's a Wrap for This Week!

If you liked this newsletter, share it with your friends!
If this email was forwarded to you, subscribe to our Linkedin’s newsletter here to get the newsletter every week.