Thought-provoking Things Worth Sharing - Issue #151
The LinkedIn AI kerfuffle.
If you’ve logged into LinkedIn over the past couple of weeks, I’m sure you’ve seen the warning about how they plan to train their AI models using all of our content on LinkedIn and how they went ahead and opted everyone into that sharing by default.
I’m not here to argue about whether that was uncool because I am almost never in favor of automatically opting people in for things.
Most people don’t like it, and I guess the pushback shouldn’t have surprised me.
But it did.
Welcome to this week’s collection of thought-provoking things. For each issue, I’ll share information about careers and workplace culture, mental health in the workplace, talent development, and important information about privacy, security, and legal tech.
You can find out all about me here - Mike McBride Online.
For me, the surprise came from the number of very optimistic GenAI promoters who were so angry at the idea that LinkedIn would use their content to build an LLM because that’s almost exactly what OpenAI and other AI companies did. They scraped the internet, everything from news sites to blogs, social media, etc., and used all of that data to build their model without ever asking for permission.
While gushing with excitement about the latest LLMs, did they stop to consider that they were built by stealing other people’s content who had never opted in, or did that not matter until it was the content they made on LinkedIn?
Careers and the Workplace
Nike's new CEO seems like the career ladder is still intact, but even his story shows us it's not.
I wish him well, but let's not pretend like this story of going from an internship to running the company is possible. It wasn't technically possible for him either.
If Hill had not left, it's entirely possible he would have been laid off in July, like many other senior leaders at Nike.
I know I have a short list of go-to questions to help determine the kind of boss someone would be, and I’m not saying yes until I ask them. How about you? - Ask These Questions to Find a Good Boss
Linked - AI Agents Come For White Collar Jobs
How often have we watched a C-level person from Microsoft remind us that AI will not take our jobs but help us do our jobs better? It was there to assist us, not work for us.
"It's even in the name, Copilot."
When I heard them talk about agents being our team members and eventually managing other agents and their tasks, I immediately thought this was no longer a copilot. If it's a team member, that means fewer human team members to do the work.
Artificial Intelligence
Should the dangers of AI be dealt with at this level? - United Nations Wants AI to be Handled With Same Urgency as Climate Change.
They’re not wrong about this - Why Organizations Need an Artificial Intelligence Policy [Part 1].
You probably should embrace it, at least a little bit. - Embracing Gen AI at Work.
Yikes. I keep telling people there is a significant chance AI will alter our relationship with work and set the entire planet on fire. - Using GPT-4 to generate 100 words consumes up to 3 bottles of water — AI data centers also raise power and water bills for nearby residents
Also, Is Your Use of AI Violating the Law? Here’s the Current Legal Landscape.
Training and Development
When done correctly, providing opportunities to learn is a job perk. It’s also just part of what should be expected. - Can Employee Learning Be a Job Perk?
Mental Health in the Workplace
Here are a few links on a common theme, talking to your boss about mental health and working with someone who comes to you about their mental health:
In my other newsletter I started a new section for stories of people making a difference for mental health. If you need a few positive news stories in your email every other week, subscribe to that newsletter as well.
Privacy, Security, and Legal Tech
Yes, please - NIST proposes barring some of the most nonsensical password rules.
It is always good to get a wrap-up like this one after a conference - Current Challenges in Modern eDiscovery: Insights from The Masters Conference in Seattle.
Hmm. How would you fix it? - Harvard experts share how to fix social media
I’m sure there’s not much of what has happened to Twitter that would fall under ways to fix it. - 42% of daily X users have a negative view of it - losing the block feature won't help
Dealing with OneDrive for Business Is Challenging, Disabling it isn't the Answer.
Turning off OneDrive would eliminate this risk and all collaboration opportunities in Teams and OneDrive. Is it really worth it?
That’s all, folks. If you found something interesting in this week’s newsletter, please share it with your friends. It’s the best way to help support the effort I put in each week to share this with you.