Don't be Discouraged by Early AI Mishaps

Four days! FOUR days? 

That was my stepfather doing the math on how long I'd had my driver's license before getting in an accident.

Racing home after basketball practice in my white 1976 Chevy Nova with red velour interior and an 8-track player in the dash, I watched the speedometer climb. Until I ran right into the back of my friend Sean Bielinski's green GMC Gremlin. 🚗

No injuries, but totaled Sean's car, and did mine no favors. 

Two months later, I collided with the parked vehicle owned by Sean's mother when pulling into their driveway too aggressively. 🚙

After that, I was no longer allowed to use their driveway, and was forced to park down the street and then walk to their home. 

Summer was collision-free. But in September I smashed up the truck owned by Sean's father, while preparing our homecoming float on the football field. 🚚

Six months. Three different cars. All owned by the same family.

Yes, it is quite remarkable, and is part of Lake Havasu High School lore to this day.

But did I stop driving? No. (although I had to take some driving classes, and work extra hours at McDonald's to cover the insurance increase).

Did I stop being friends with Sean? No. We still interact on Facebook. (although his parents were increasingly skeptical about my intentions).

And eventually, I kept at it, and I grew out of it. Knock wood, I haven't been in any kind of altercation with another vehicle in more than 25 years. (although I did scrape the heck out of my wife's car in a dodgy parking garage at Niagara Falls).

This is the same way you need to approach AI.

Yes, it is imperfect. 

Yes, AI image creators are presently terrible at hands and fingers.

Yes, sometimes generative AI tells you things that are untrue. 

And yes, obviously, sometimes those inaccuracies can be harmful (like the New York City small business helper chatbot that told owners to fire employees who claim sexual harassment). 

But AI today is like a 16 year-old Jay Baer with car keys: undertrained and overconfident, but certain to improve.

Early websites? Terrible experience.

Early social media? Brutal.

Early chatbots? Laughably bad.

Even early television was more snow than picture.

Technology always starts rough, and then smooths out. And with AI, three things are important to remember. 

First, the world's biggest tech companies are spending truly massive sums of money to get this right. 

Second, the stakes are bigger than everything above. AI will be eventually be more societally important than television or websites. I very much believe that. 

Third, the pace of AI improvement and development is like nothing ever before, except for the development of the COVID vaccines. AI today is vastly better than AI a year ago.  

So yes, there are some flies in the ointment. But AI will become reliable faster than I became a reliable driver. 

Now, will the questions about AI ethics, fairness, workforce implications, and other issues persist? VERY MUCH SO. And we're going to have to contend with those questions for years. 

But in terms of this narrative that AI is fluky or wrong or broken or dumb or useless....it's not. 

Every organization I work with has internal AI champions and AI skeptics. It's fascinating, really. 

As always, my goal (and the entire premise of my new keynote on AI) is to be neither. I am an AI realist. 

And that's where I think you should try to reside. 

Be aware of AI's shortcomings, but also understand that most of the OUTPUT inadequacies are being fixed very quickly. The ETHICAL quandaries are another matter.

So if someone on your team says you shouldn't use AI because it spat out a blog post with a less-than-perfect piece of advice on life insurance premiums....

It's going to get better. A LOT better. Don't let a desire for perfection be the enemy of progress. 

The Books Report

Legendary customer experience author and strategist John DiJulius is back with a terrific new book that looks at the other side of the aisle: employee experience.

You truly cannot provide exceptional outward experiences for customers until or unless you are first providing exceptional experiences inwardly, for your people. 

The Employee Experience Revolution: Increase Morale, Retain Your Workforce, and Drive Business Growth is a great playbook for doing just that. 

Available to pre-order now for release in less than two weeks. 

Jay's Faves

Best $9.99 I ever spent?

I get tired of holding my phone when watching a movie in the air.

Now, I have the Flexflap and it's awesome. 

Lightweight, stores flat, and you can manipulate it into all manner of poses to hold a phone or tablet.

On a tray table. Hung from the seat in front of you. Descending from the oxygen mask compartment. You do you! 

Also great for stove-side recipe scanning.

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