The age of artificial intelligence has arrived. Congress is holding hearings on the dangers of AI-assisted deepfakes, scams and misinformation. Venture capital firms are anxiously prioritizing pitch decks with AI at the center and “as a service,” and the Screen Actors Guild has seen the future and it involves AI-generated performances for no additional pay. Seems as if everyone is grappling with the profound implications of a brave new world shaped by machine learning.
To be sure, generative AI now is capable of doing knowledge work that none of us could have imagined five years ago. Does that mean, for example, that AI might replace lawyers (shudder…)? In some areas, maybe, but the tools still need significant work and they won’t replicate human judgment and creativity. This past June, a federal judge in New York sanctioned two lawyers who submitted a legal brief that included six fictitious case citations generated by an AI tool that did the “research.” (Note to my law students: I always check citations and every Latin phrase.). How then can decision makers and knowledge workers prepare for what lies ahead? Simple. Step back, lean in with curiosity, and as always, dive into the unknown with a few essential books.
Chat GPT and similar AI technologies can learn, evolve and operate with sophistication when fed the right content and data. Of course, our human brains already do this, and in fact, we can amplify our learning, restore our mental health and cultivate even greater creativity if we regularly expose our brains and selves to the arts, according to the fascinating new book Your Brain on Art: How The Arts Transform Us, by Johns Hopkins expert Susan Magsamen and Google product designer Ivy Ross. Several regions across our brain work together to determine saliency, so that we can sort, recall and process information. The emerging field of neuroaesthetics, or neuroarts, is focused on how music, movies, art, dance and poetry connect those regions, building stronger synapses and literally rewiring your brain for enhanced memory formation and deeper connections. This is compelling stuff. I was particularly intrigued by the example of MIT’s pioneering work on how treatments combining light and sound (at 40 hertz, close to the lowest “E” on a piano) can activate microglial cells and possibly erase beta amyloid brain plaque in Alzheimer’s patients. Will ChatGPT inspire new and different art forms to similar positive effect?
In the meantime, business leaders hoping to use art (analog or AI-generated) to enhance team connections may want to start with comedy. Why not an all-hands screening of the iconic Will Ferrell movie Anchorman and a group discussion of Kind Of A Big Deal, the hilarious and insightful new book by NYU Professor Saul Austerlitz? For fans of Anchorman, now almost two decades old, the behind-the-scenes history of how the final script and casting came together is revealing and fun. Austerlitz also details the many challenges Ferrell faced in getting the film financed. The whole Anchorman project encountered many rejections and was a no-go until Ferrell’s unexpected success in the film Old School. Funders appreciated Ferrell’s tenacity and liked the storyline, but wouldn’t back it unless it was similar to a prior hit. Sound familiar? Tech entrepreneurs pitching investors will recognize the “chicken or the egg” conundrum and appreciate the importance of an original story or pitch in completing a round. Would AI have changed the outcome? Probably not: Ron Burgundy is a unique character from the mind of Will Ferrell. Per Ron: “People know me. I’m very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany.”
Finally, who uses AI tools and how they use them will be critical for most businesses. For that reason, I strongly recommend that every CEO and board member read psychology professor Jean Twenge’s new book: Generations: The Real Difference Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents — and What They Mean For America’s Future. This data-driven book based on survey data from more than 39 million people across generations is revelatory, incisive and surprising. If you want to better understand how team members and target customers — from Boomers to Gen-Zers — consume, process and communicate all sorts of information, you need to add this book to your stack.
These are early days for AI. How can we use it to enhance creativity, connection and communication in our own lives and beyond? Fasten your seatbelts, we are about to find out.
Read in the Boston Business Journal
Authors & Innovators is an occasional column by Larry Gennari, a transactional lawyer, law professor, and chief curator of Authors & Innovators, an annual business book and ideas festival. Gennari also teaches Project Entrepreneur, a business fundamentals bootcamp for returning citizens, at BC Law School.
