I flew back to Boston from San Diego yesterday. I, like many others attended a stimulating conference on The Power of AI and the impact it will have on businesses. The debates swung wildly but productively between Panacea and Pandora. The discussion honestly felt a little stuck. Hard to describe - I suspect many of us now have been to several events deliberating over the promise and the pitfalls of AI..
The event finished with libations and further meaty conversation. As stimulating as these conversations were they seemed highly speculative still. Like discussing the distant notion of life on another planet.
Conversations went on late but went nowhere new. I found myself baffled by some of the hypothesis but also optimistic. With that said - I felt like something was missing. Something human. Some lack of personal connection to the topic.
And then I began to realize that there is a certain collective lack of focus on outcomes and purpose. Like AI is a shiny tool with true potential but the use cases and the notion of how these exciting capabilities should weave into commercial ideas binding new tools with the life force of a company - the people - that was missing..
I slept on this a little as I turned off the light in my funky hotel room and drifted to sleep - suitcase packed by the door - alarm set, Uber pre ordered, e tickets in my iPhone wallet.. All ready to make my way back to Boston.
I boarded my Jetblue flight on time. It was a new plane. I couldn't honestly tell you what we were in but it was clean. The seats spotless, the service like all airlines - the same. Decent, uneventful. I think I chose Jetblue because I had some lingering miles and a status milestone to make..
But then something happened. The crew. Christine, Lauren and Thomas. Exuberant, fun, personable. Happy to be heading home. Sharing stories about midlife crises, failed relationships, new love, a cat waiting for Thomas. He shared a picture. We talked about family pets, and then we talked about families. Disappointments, personal goals, life lessons. We huddled as a poured a Titos and soda and a few of us just chatted away. I found myself laughing so loudly, we all were. Other passengers joined us. It was real, it was human with all the tremendous flaws. That five hour flight literally flew by (scuse the pun).
As I disembarked, these three crew members seemed more friends and flying companions. So while that plane was sanitized and safe the lasting memory as I high fives Christine (a fellow Cancerian born literally 6 days before me) was the people and the power of personality.
You can't have a policy and teach or train characters. I suppose we can institute guard rails for protocols but I leapt into my Uber at Logan happy - Like really happy.
So I found myself jotting down a few notes and I suppose I came away feeling that the power of AI will be to help amplify and scale with efficiency the power of connection. It can fill in the process gaps, scale customer service requirements and absolutely done correctly can create incredible efficiencies but it MUST be aligned thoughtfully with personality and with people. With connections that make us smile. Loyalty and success in my view will come when brands start by thinking about joyful experiences and how AI can support human connection. Where it can step in intelligently as a way to help build efficiencies but it must work in real partnership with people. Outcomes must feel human. People powered, AI enabled.
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