ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Google Cloud executive says there is no blueprint for AI.
- Some of its best talent is overwhelmed by the drive to keep innovating.
- The people who can best drive AI must be a little ‘crazy’.
No organization, no matter how high and mighty, can claim perfection in its AI implementations – but that’s OK, because it’s a learning experience for everyone. At Google these days, AI has everyone in learning mode.
Richard Seroter, chief evangelist for Google Cloud, recently recounted the experiences his organization has had so far on its AI journey and shared what others can learn. His message, delivered at HubSpot’s recent Unbound conference in Boston, was that when it comes to AI, there is no blueprint; everyone adapts as they go along.
‘Chaotic Innovation’
Seroter provided a glimpse of chaotic innovation at one of the world’s largest technology companies as it integrates AI into its development processes.
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First and foremost, there is a significant impact on the people tasked with keeping up with ever-changing models and related technologies. There are team members who suffered from what Seroter called “productivity addiction,” in which the best talent runs the risk of being burned out—a problem at fast-paced Google.
“You can’t afford to have some of the people who do your fastest work, most aggressive work, who decide to leave to be a librarian,” Seroter said.
Knowledge and development work used to be about 20% thinking and 80% execution, he explained. “It’s just the other way around. Now it’s 20% execution, and 80% deep thinking.”
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“That’s a pretty big shift, and it’s mentally exhausting. It’s a different skill. Some of us aren’t ready for that,” he noted. Productivity addiction comes from wanting to tackle “just one problem, just one more picture, one more thing. We experience it ourselves. There are a lot of coders who just work too many long, long days because they’re almost hooked on it. We need a sustained pace, but we have to find a way to still go fast.”
The key is to help people understand that there is no blueprint, no right or wrong way of doing things, Seroter stressed. “This is not the time to just burn them. A few years ago they predicted a four-day work week because of AI. How did that turn out? Well, the four-day work week went the wrong way real fast. AI doesn’t really reduce your work; it just intensified it.”
Implementing AI is a learning process for everyone involved. “We’ve done some great things; we’ve done some weird things,” Seroter said. “We’re all learning as we go. Anyone who confidently thinks about this as a blueprint is probably lying to you. Maybe they’re in marketing.”
If anything, the people best equipped to lead business technology innovation through this AI-driven era are the ones who are a little “crazy,” he said. “This is not the time for timid leadership. Because you go to places in your company and people change something. You take risks. So you’re a little bit off the wall. So how do we stick to that? How do you think about experimentation differently? Courageous leaders are the ones who come in and say: “We’re going to fail constantly for the next four weeks until we figure this way out. If you are one of these people, this is your moment. You have to stand up for the people who do the craziest work in your company.
The risk for business innovation
Technology professionals are in the jobs they have because they are big thinkers, Seroter said. “Don’t stop at that. We should do the hard parts of our jobs, sometimes deliberately manually, because doing the hard things is what keeps us sharp and keeps us going. I don’t want to just click on the robot every day and not do the hard things.”
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This process of unconventional innovation means much more than simply using AI. If anything, there is a risk that enterprise innovation may lose its unique qualities, he warned. “If we all have access to the same teams and can do the same crazy things, how do you stand out? Are we actually scaling up? Are we just burning out too fast? Who’s responsible when AI makes a mistake?”
That doesn’t just mean “printing a few change tables for four weeks to avoid the hard problem,” he continued. “You need leaders who protect champions because you’re going to have people who bother you, and you want to know that management has your back. So if you’re one of those people, this is your moment. You have to stand up for the people who do the craziest work in your company.”
Of course, everyone in the industry, from Google to the smallest tech companies, wants to do better with all the AI technologies that come their way. “If you’re going to ask really well, you need good information,” Seroter said. “You have to know the industry terms. You have to know the vernacular. You have to know what you’re looking for. You have to steer these things.”
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He compared AI to “kind of a crazy intern. I have to be able to steer the thing around. That means I have to know what I’m talking about. Googlers are nervous about it, too. We have to get really good at steering the robot and use what we have as good engineers, or good marketers, or good salespeople.