Designing A People-First AI Strategy: Open-Source Solutions
Are we on the cusp of a new era in human collaboration?
Last week was quite the week. As I posted on LinkedIn when the whole Open AI implosion / resurrection kicked off, I’m not going to try and offer any deep analysis of what might happen next (I don’t know!). What I will say is that it is a powerful reminder that amid all the rapid and unpredictable technological changes we are experiencing right now, human nature is far more stable and predictable. For better or worse ;)
Instead my purpose here is to look beyond the news cycle and explore how the ripples from today’s stories will create your next big opportunity.
And amid all the firing and rehiring machinations at Open AI, there was an exciting glimpse of how AI could transform how organisations deliver positive impact – a basic human desire which to date has often been more of an aspiration than reality (hello purpose-and greenwashing!).
A new era in human collaboration?
While everyone was offering their take on where Open AI goes from here, TED released a talk that its Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever gave just over a month ago on “The Exciting, Perilous Journey Toward AGI”.
It didn’t attract nearly as much attention, but his conclusion caught my eye as it echoes something I’ve been studying closely for a few years now. It’s worth quoting here in full:
As AI continues to progress, as technology advances, [...] What I claim will happen is that people will start to act in unprecedentedly collaborative ways out of their own self-interest. It's already happening right now.
You see the leading AGI companies starting to collaborate, such as the Frontiers model forum. And we will expect that companies, even competitors, will share technical information to make their AI safe. We may even see governments do this. […]
And why do that? Because we appreciate how incredibly dramatic AGI is going to be. And my claim is that with each generation of capability advancements, as AI gets better and as all of you experience what AI can do, as people who run AI efforts and AGI efforts, and people who work on them will experience it as well, this will change the way we see AI and AGI. And that will change collective behavior. And this is an important reason why I'm hopeful that, despite the great challenges posed by this technology, we will overcome them.
Open Source Solutions – A Radical People Strategy for 2024?
Sutskever is talking about the world of AI but his message is widely relevant as it is not the only sector facing the same equation:
Challenges and risks that are far bigger than any single organisation (he is talking about AGI, but also climate, inequality, etc).
The capability, and the desire, from human talent (i.e. people!) to create solutions to these epic threats.
I was first inspired to take the idea of ‘open source’ from the software space where it originated and apply it more broadly to environmental and social challenges by the launch of Allbirds’ Sweetfoam, way back in 2018. Here, the startup footwear brand created an EVA rubber sole using sugarcane instead of petroleum. The kicker (oof ;) was that Allbirds open-sourced the recipe to encourage other brands to use it too.
At first I imagined this to be a great marketing strategy, but as I’ve tracked examples of other companies doing this over the last five years it’s become clear that there’s another, bigger benefit – ‘giving away’ solutions to systemic problems is an amazing way to attract and retain exceptional talent.
The Business of Purpose
You’re probably sick of hearing that ‘consumers will choose purpose-driven brands’. If so, why do McDonald’s, Shein, Meta, and hundreds of other brands continue to have hundreds of millions of people flocking to them each day? Indeed, even putting aside the gap between what people say and what they do, the trend cycle appears to be swinging away from purpose, at least from the consumer perspective.
However I’m fundamentally optimistic about humanity; I believe that people want to do the right thing (even if because we’re so unwilling to accept any trade-offs when it comes to price, convenience or quality we rarely en d up doing the right thing…at least we aspire to it!).
The good news? One area where the search for purpose and positive impact will be more resilient is in the workplace. Put another way – when it comes to purpose, employees, not consumers, are the main actors.
Two main reasons why:
First, buying an item is a fairly ephemeral, low-impact decision. Choose the ‘wrong’ –i.e. unsustainable, unethical – option and the consequences are minimal. You can always tell yourself you’ll be better next time. However where you work is a far more profound statement of your identity. It’s mentally tough for most people to spend 40-plus hours a week working for an organisation that they know is having an actively negative impact on the world. This is why tobacco companies offer a salary premium (and why so much internal comms is focused on purpose-washing).
Second, while it’s true that most consumers aren’t willing to make sacrifices for purpose, it’s also absolutely true that some are (this is why most purpose-driven brands end up as niche players, sadly). Yet the workplace is exactly where this passionate minority can have an outsize impact – because purpose-driven employees can create ‘better’ solutions that become the normal (even for consumers who don’t care).
Just look at some of the examples I’ve enjoyed sharing over the years:
Allbirds continued to give away details of its sustainable materials and even open-sourcing its CO2 footprint calculators and data.
After a race scandal, Starbucks gave its workers anti-bias training and open sourced the curriculum and course materials.
EA Sports pledged not to take action against competitors using its accessibility patents, in order to make video gaming easier for those with disabilities.
Turkish manufacturer Arçelik made a similar pledge for its plastic microfibre-filtering technology in 20191.
Zume and Solenis created PFAS-free single-use food trays, and open-sourced the recipe to help reduce the industry-wide use of these harmful chemicals.
Unilever is sharing its reformulation patents, which allow ice cream to be stored at -12C (rather than -18C), in an effort to reduce freezer cabinet emissions.
Bumble open-sourced Private Detector, its AI-powered tool that identifies and alerts users to lewd images, in order to make online dating less toxic.
And there are many, many more! The curious thing is that, welcome as these initiatives might be, they are not going to make material numbers of people choose these brands over their competitors. Instead their impact lies elsewhere – they give employees a sense of purpose. Something to feel proud of when talking to their families and friends. A legacy to speak of.
Indeed, when I was first researching this idea I came across the example of Volvo’s open-sourcing of the patent for its three-point seatbelt in 1959, in order to help reduce road traffic accident deaths. This act of generosity has been credited with saving over 1 million lives and remains a core part of Volvo folklore, a story that the brand has told to its employees over the last 60+ years to show how committed it is to its vision of safe transportation.
AI is to the 21st century what the automotive industry was to the 20th. And as so often with trend-driven opportunities – it’s a case of “new wine, old bottles.”
AI, humans, leverage.
Humans remain profoundly valuable. Indeed a paradox of AI is that, at least until we reach AGI, it is making the most talented humans even more valuable. As we learned last week, Open AI has less than 800 employees working for it. Yet its platform reaches 100 million people each week. And that’s just direct users – it also has 2 million developers building on its platform, including those at 92% of the Fortune 500. In other words, we’re entering a world where less than 800 (eight hundred!) people are building a foundational global utility.
I don’t doubt that there are many thoughtful people at Open AI who are working hard to ensure its AI is used for good. Yet no matter how well-meaning they are, it is deeply dystopian for such an elite few to control the means of production.
That is why, as Sutskever says, we need more open, collaborative initiatives that help ensure AI delivers benefits to the many, not just the few.
We need more examples like DeepMind’s AlphaFold. Released in 2020, the AI model predicts the shape of proteins, solving one of the biggest challenges in biology. Before AlphaFold, we had mapped less than 200,000 proteins. With AI, we can now predict the shape of over 200 million proteins and other biological molecules 🤯
However, AlphaFold’s accessibility is as revolutionary as its actual data – DeepMind made the database freely available, and to date 1.4 million researchers in over 190 countries have used its data to accelerate progress on malaria vaccines, cancer drugs, and more.
Update: as I was writing this piece, DeepMind released GNoME, an AI tool which found 380,000 new stable materials, including graphene-like superconductors, and potential lithium ion materials that could be used in batteries (for context, scientists had previously discovered less than 50,000 of these materials!). Again, the company is adding these new materials into the Materials Project, a database that is open to researchers.
Imagine how motivating this is for DeepMind’s employees. Rather than simply creating some extra wealth for Google’s shareholders, they are contributing to breakthroughs in biology, materials science, medicine and public health on a truly epic global scale.
What Next?
Many readers will be sitting there thinking, “this is a great strategy for DeepMind, but it is backed by the deep pockets of Google. My company doesn’t have this luxury”. That might be true now.
But AI is radically reducing the ‘cost' of innovation – empowering small, brilliant and hyper-productive teams to move faster and reach further.2 DeepMind has less than 1/100th of the number of employees that Google has, yet its leveraging AI to transform multiple scientific fields at an astonishing pace.
That’s not to say that all of the impacts of AI will be utopian. I’m not remotely qualified to comment on the existential risk question, but we’ve all experienced the painful gap between the early promises and the grubby reality of previous digital revolutions (social media! crypto!). However, this newsletter is focused on the opportunities that AI is creating – and it won’t just be ‘AI companies’ that experience this exponential empowerment. AI is a general purpose technology. What’s happening today within the AI industry will happen tomorrow in your industry.
Listen to Ilya Sutskever. Cast aside your scarcity mindset. Think about the biggest challenges in your industry – emissions, pollution, inequality, accessibility, and more.
Take inspiration from the examples I shared above. Empower your team to collaborate rather than compete. Show leadership. Show your team (and potential new recruits) that they can change the world and leave a meaningful legacy.
AI will unleash a new era in human collaboration. Are you ready for it?
Watch: Three (More!) Non-Obvious Ideas To Design A People-First AI Strategy
And here’s what Cassie Gasson, Thrive’s CMO had to say about it:
“Henry was recommended to us by Secret Leaders Podcast host, Dan Murray, and he didn't disappoint! Despite the short notice due to a last-minute keynote dropout, Henry spent time on the phone with me the day before to perfectly understand our audience and tailor his talk to what L&D cares about. I'd definitely recommend Henry to anyone looking to deliver a session on a fresh take on AI and the future normal, we've had lots of follow up questions asking for slides post session too!”
Some other recent feedback:
“My go-to speaker for future-gazing grounded in reality is always Henry. He's a fantastic speaker who fills big rooms and gets high praise on feedback forms. It's refreshing to work with someone who puts so much time and effort into making a killer keynote that resonates with our audience and helps attendees to make sense of where the world is going – free from the BS and hype that's often prevalent in this space!”
Dan Brain, Founder, MAD//Fest
"The presentations were top-notch, but I was particularly blown away by Henry Coutinho-Mason and his insights on AI and human interaction."
Bob Boekma, MD, TFE.Agency
"The team left with a clear way to identify and seize the opportunities AI will present in the months ahead"
James Jackson, CEO, Bumper
Sound good? To discuss your next meeting or event then please reach out directly to Renee Strom or check out my speaking site.
Thanks for reading,
Henry
Curiously, Samsung created a similar external device which was selected as one of Time’s Best Inventions of 2023. This happens all the time – I wrote about why it’s important to watch innovations globally here.
At least until we have completely autonomous AI agents running our entire economies and societies. At which point I’ll happily concede that a people-first AI strategy becomes redundant ;)
Great piece Henry! Let's let the (younger) employees transform the company, instead of relying solely on consumers who have to deal with ever tighter wallets.