Thought-provoking Things Worth Sharing - Issue #144
Is it possible that most of us don't need an AI strategy?
You’ll have to excuse the language in the post I’m going to link, but it raises an interesting point about the future of AI:
I Will Fucking Piledrive You If You Mention AI Again
The author's frustration is with everyone discussing building their own AI tool or strategizing how to implement AI. Most of us shouldn’t be in the business of building AI; we use the AI tools built into what we already use, which got me thinking.
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.
There is a lot of hype about AI, and many startups are trying to roll out the ultimate LLM or Generative AI tool to make magic, but what if most of us use the AI that will be on our Windows machine, our iPhones, or built into the apps we use at work regularly?
In the law firm setting, I can’t imagine more than a handful of firms have the resources to engineer an AI tool. But all of our document management systems, mobile phones, PCs, etc., will have some AI, and we’ll use it like we use our devices today. They’ll do slightly more practical things like summarizing long documents or assisting with writing; possibly, we’ll even use them to do things we never find time to do correctly, like classify documents as records, etc., but we won’t need a huge AI strategic rollout. It’ll be there without us doing much of anything.
It’ll be similar to writing this newsletter while Grammarly checks my writing. It helps me with my writing and suggests alternative phrases or styles. If I am unsure how to start an article, I often ask Copilot for ideas or to find recent news items because I’m an M365 user and can access a version of Copilot for those things. Some firms will purchase Copilot for M365, especially those with many Microsoft Teams meetings who could use AI for note-taking and task tracking.
In short, AI will be built into the tools we use daily.
As Stephen Embry wrote recently, the Apple announcement might be a game changer because it puts AI on the devices we use daily. Lawyers will be hard-pressed not to get over their fear of AI and use it to help alleviate some of the overwork they are dealing with.
They won’t need a firm strategic committee to tell them about it.
What do you think? Will AI become part of the tools we use as opposed to something that we need firm committees and IT resources to work on, and if it is, what happens to all those AI startups with billions in funding? Does the bubble pop for them?
Careers and the Workplace
Linked - It's Not Nagging: Effective Communication is Deliberately Redundant
It's not nagging to follow up a meeting with an email summarizing the discussion. It's good meeting etiquette. It's not nagging to drop a group chat in Slack or Teams for updates. That's what those tools are for. It's also not nagging to expect your team to report progress in many ways. That's their responsibility.
Be careful out there:
The important thing is to recognize the opportunities and not solely focus on the risks - The Difficulties and Opportunities of Managing a Remote Team.
On that same thought - Why you should rethink return-to-office mandates.
Kevin makes some valid points about how unprepared and supported leaders can be in some organizations. - What Organizations Aren’t Doing to Help Their Leaders.
Artificial Intelligence
Linked - Have the Right Expectations Regarding Artificial Intelligence
Sharlyn chalks this up to AI still learning, but I don't believe that's correct. I don't think Generative AI tools can come up with anything new. That's not the way it works. Large language models are developed by ingesting and analyzing tons of existing data. Based on that data, they mathematically conjure up the most likely response to your prompt. How could it come up with a genuinely original icebreaker?
AI gets things wrong sometimes. Ever wonder why? - The Science Behind Why AI Makes Up Stuff: What The 99% Don't Know.
Also, We Need To Talk About GenAI Accuracy.
This is what we should be getting AI to do for use. (See the item below about burnout in the cybersecurity industry) - Harnessing AI to mitigate ransomware threats.
Dennis Kennedy was generous enough to share this resource with the world - Handout from my AI Prompting Workshop at the Great Lakes Legal Conference.
Training and Development
Telling a story that illustrates the details of the technical information you’re sharing is a vital skill. - The Power of Stories to Connect, Train, and Humanize
We all want our teams to grow and develop the skills necessary to keep up with technology, but how often do managers undercut that? This is an issue, especially in industries where people are billing for their time, and time spent learning doesn’t “count” in their performance measures:
How Leaders Can Encourage Employee Learning
Mental Health in the Workplace
Linked - Mental Health Reminders in the Workplace.
Could you do something for me? The next time you try to schedule a thirty-minute meeting with someone and see a thirty-minute break between long stretches of committed time, leave that time for them. Find a different time, if possible. Or go even further and commit to finding a time not immediately before or after another meeting. Let people have a few minutes. It's good for all of our mental health.
Pride Month should include asking questions about whether this describes your workplace before statements from the marketing department. - The challenges of being LGBTQ in the workplace.
I can believe this - Cybersecurity burnout due to stress, fatigue and mental health is costing hundreds of millions in lost productivity.
Privacy, Security, and Legal Tech
This is a convenient look at US privacy laws, even if it will likely be outdated before I publish this issue. - A Guide to U.S. Consumer Privacy Laws
Garden Variety: Byte Fed. v. Lux Vending - An important reminder about the syntax of various search and eDiscovery tools. They're not the same.
eDiscovery challenges aren’t just about AI - Gone in a flash: unraveling the mystery of ephemeral messaging.
Finally, that person you’re arguing with in replies might not be a person at all. (Also, if you’re going to have a Twitter bot use ChatGPT to auto-respond and troll people with propaganda, make sure you pay your bills):
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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.