Latest / Chief in Tech Deep Dive Shortcast / Chief in Tech S1E42 - Warda Baïliche : The Human in the Age of AI

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Chief in Tech S1E42 - Warda Baïliche : The Human in the Age of AI · Chief in Tech Deep Dive Shortcast

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  Right now, millions of people are desperately
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  trying to learn how to code, or master prompt
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  engineering, or just figure out the inner workings
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  of whatever the latest algorithm is. Right. It's
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  like this quiet panic to just save their jobs.
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  Exactly. But what if the ultimate survival skill
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  for this whole technological revolution has basically
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  nothing to do with technology? That is a really
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  interesting paradox to unpack. It really is.
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  So welcome to today's deep dive. We are exploring
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  how in a fast evolving world where artificial
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  intelligence is just fundamentally rewiring our
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  work, our identity and like our sense of purpose.
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  The only real way to not be left behind is to
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  figure out how to actually stay human. Yeah.
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  And the stakes for you listening to this are
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  immediate. We aren't discussing some hypothetical
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  scenario set in the year 2100. Oh, no, not at
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  all. This paradigm shift is happening right now.
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  I mean, it's in your inbox. It's in your meetings.
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  It's in your daily routines. And it really boils
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  down to a very stark binary. Are we going to
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  control AI or is it going to control us? And
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  the answer depends entirely on how we choose
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  to integrate these tools today. Absolutely. So
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  to navigate a question that massive, we're unpacking
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  the framework of Warda Baylish. Yes. We are drawing
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  from a highly acclaimed session she led titled,
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  The Human in the Age of AI, a Holistic and Systemic
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  Approach, as well as, you know, the background
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  of her career and her recent bestselling essay.
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  And I think it's important to note that her insights
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  aren't just like, theoretical musings from an
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  ivory tower. Oh, definitely not. They are forged
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  in the very messy complex reality of global business
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  and strategy. Yes, she operates as an entrepreneur
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  and she's the president and founder of a Paris
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  based consulting company called Be All. Right.
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  And she's held consulting roles across Luxembourg,
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  Belgium and France. Her firm specializes in data
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  and AI expertise. And she actually describes
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  herself as an eternal optimist pragmatist, which
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  honestly, I love that term. It's a great label.
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  And that dual lens is super vital for understanding
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  her framework. It basically means she sees the
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  immense bright potential of emerging tech, but
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  she keeps her boots firmly on the ground when
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  it comes to the actual mechanics of building
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  it. Oh, yeah. And we really need to look at those
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  mechanics because her method completely reframes
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  the typical corporate approach to technology.
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  Oh, totally. I mean, traditional tech rollouts
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  usually involve this top down mandate. A company
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  buys a shiny new piece of software. they drop
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  it on everyone's computers, and they just expect
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  efficiency to magically skyrocket. Right. And
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  then predictably, everyone spends the next three
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  months finding, like, clever workarounds to completely
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  avoid using it. Yeah, exactly. But Bealbo actively
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  avoids that trap. They deploy strategies using
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  what they call squads, focusing heavily on a
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  360 -degree view. Right. So instead of treating
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  AI as an isolated IT project, a squad in this
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  context means pulling the data scientist, the
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  HR rep, the operations manager and the actual
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  end user into a single unit. Like before a single
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  line of code is ever implemented. Exactly. They
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  evaluate the human ecosystem first and the technology
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  second. Let's use an analogy to kind of visualize
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  this for everyone. Instead of thinking like a
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  traditional corporate boss, Think of her approach
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  like an elite sports team manager. Oh, I like
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  this. Yeah. So you can go out and buy the absolute
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  most advanced state -of -the -art equipment in
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  the world. You know, the highest tech analytics
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  tablets, the most aerodynamic gear, the best
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  cleats. Right. And that equipment represents
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  the AI and the data. Exactly. And a lot of organizations
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  just assume that simply buying the best equipment
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  guarantees the championship. but the equipment
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  doesn't actually play the game. It doesn't. A
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  true manager uses that analytics tablet to fundamentally
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  change how the human players maneuver on the
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  field. Yeah, because if the human squad isn't
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  positioned to use that data cohesively... Like,
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  if the coach isn't considering team dynamics,
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  communication flow, morale, physical limitations,
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  then the shiny new tech is essentially useless.
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  Spot on. That 360 degree view means evaluating
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  the entire playing field and recognizing that
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  the human element actually is the strategy. It's
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  so true. And taking that macro level perspective
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  is clearly a foundational part of her identity.
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  She actively tries to scale it way beyond the
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  boardroom, too. Yes, she does. Actually, our
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  sources note that in June 2024, she became politically
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  involved. She ran as a candidate for the French
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  legislative elections in Paris. Right, under
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  the Independent Diverse Center label. Yep. And
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  just to be super clear for you listening, we're
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  bringing this up not to endorse a specific political
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  platform or party. We're totally impartial here.
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  Oh, absolutely. We're just reporting the facts
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  of her background. Exactly. It's just to illustrate
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  how she takes this systemic approach out of the
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  private sector and into the public sphere. She's
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  deeply committed to applying these frameworks
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  to make France more competitive on a macro level.
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  Right. And it demonstrates her refusal to treat
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  technology, business and society as like Isolated
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  silos. Yeah, because she saw these systemic failures
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  in the corporate world so often, where technology
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  was just dumped on people without considering
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  the human impact, she realized this wasn't just
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  a local business problem. No, it's a massive
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  societal vulnerability. The old frameworks of
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  human -machine interaction are basically snapping
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  under the pressure of how fast our globalizing
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  world is accelerating. Exactly, and that realization
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  is what triggered her to crystallize this paradigm
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  shift into her essay. It's titled L 'Humain à
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  l 'air de l 'hier, which translates to the human
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  in the age of AI. And it clearly struck a major
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  nerve in the zeitgeist. It really did. In September
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  2024, it hit 12th on the Amazon bestsellers list
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  in the major issues category. I think hitting
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  the charts in major issues rather than like a
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  niche tech category is super telling. It implies
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  the broader public deeply understands the gravity
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  of the moment. Oh, for sure. The ambition of
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  her book and her session is to forcefully refocus
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  the human being at the center of these technological
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  debates. Because the public is hungry for that
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  refocus, you know. AI isn't just challenging
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  our workflows anymore, it's actively challenging
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  our identity. It really is. When a machine can
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  replicate tasks that used to require a decade
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  of human education and experience, I mean, it
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  triggers a profound existential crisis about
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  our value in the ecosystem. Totally. But let's
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  be realistic here for a second. I have to ask
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  the skeptical question on behalf of the listener.
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  OK, lay it on me. Well, if an AI can draft complex
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  legal contracts or analyze massive, intricate
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  data sets in three seconds, and generate marketing
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  campaigns faster than any human could even type
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  the prompt. I mean, our human sense of purpose
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  is bound to take a massive hit, right? Are we
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  just fighting a losing battle trying to desperately
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  keep humans at the center of a stage that machines
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  are undeniably dominating? Honestly, that fear
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  of obsolescence is completely rational, especially
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  if we continue to measure human value purely
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  by output speed and processing power. If your
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  sense of purpose is tied entirely to how fast
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  you can crunch numbers or cross -reference spreadsheets
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  or draft a routine email, then yes, AI is terrifying.
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  So how does Baylis counter that? Well, her work
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  counters this fear. by just refusing to play
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  that specific game. She doesn't view human machine
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  interaction as this zero sum battle where machine
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  intelligence inevitably erodes human value. Ah,
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  OK. Instead, her framework pivots the focus entirely
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  to managing the delicate balance between human
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  intuition and machine intelligence. Meaning we
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  need to stop trying to like out compute the computer.
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  Exactly. Yeah. We've spent decades trying to
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  act like machines, optimizing our time, maximizing
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  our repetitive mechanical outputs. And now that
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  actual machines have arrived to do that work,
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  we're having a collective identity crisis because
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  we forgot what it means to work like humans.
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  Bingo. We have to reclaim the human terms of
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  engagement. And to achieve that harmony... Belish
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  identifies a necessary fundamental psychological
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  pivot. Which is what, exactly? We must move from
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  a mindset of fear to a mindset of mastery. Okay,
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  from fear to mastery. I like that. Right, and
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  mastering AI doesn't mean becoming the world's
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  greatest prompt engineer or learning Python overnight.
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  It means internalizing that AI is a tool designed
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  to enhance rather than replace core human traits.
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  And the sources are very specific about the traits
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  we need to lean into, right? It's our creativity,
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  our empathy, and our decision -making. Yes. Think
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  about it. An AI model can process a billion data
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  points to calculate a probability in milliseconds.
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  But it cannot exercise moral judgment. It definitely
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  can't. It cannot feel genuine empathy for a frustrated
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  client or a vulnerable patient. It cannot experience
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  that spark of lived -in lateral human creativity.
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  So Balich argues that AI must be leveraged as
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  a force for innovation and ethical progress.
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  Exactly, pushing us toward deeper human connection
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  rather than alienating us from it. You know,
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  let's use a historical analogy to look at the
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  mechanics of how a disruptive technology can
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  actually push human traits further rather than
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  erasing them. Oh, I'd love that. What do you
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  have in mind? Think about the invention of the
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  camera in the 19th century. For centuries, a
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  portrait painter's entire job, their whole sense
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  of economic value and purpose, was to capture
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  physical reality as accurately as possible on
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  a canvas. They functioned essentially as human
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  photocopiers. Right. They documented reality,
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  and then boom, a machine is introduced that captures
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  reality perfectly in a fraction of a second.
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  And the initial reaction among visual artists
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  was sheer terror. Oh, total panic. The machine
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  was doing the heavy lifting of reproduction effortlessly.
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  It's the exact existential dread we feel looking
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  at generative AI today. The camera automated
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  the routine task of visual documentation. But,
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  and this is the key, the camera didn't eliminate
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  visual artists. No, it didn't. It ultimately
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  liberated them. Because painters no longer had
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  to spend months painstakingly trying to recreate
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  a realistic landscape, they were forced to ask
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  a terrifying but beautiful question. What can
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  I do that the camera cannot? Exactly. And the
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  result of that question was impressionism. Cubism,
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  abstract expressionism. Human creativity was
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  pushed into entirely new emotional and distinctly
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  human territories. The camera enhanced the art
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  world by forcing humanity to abandon mechanical
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  reproduction and double down on what made them
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  unique. That is a brilliant analogy. The camera
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  forced a paradigm shift in art, just like AI
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  is forcing a paradigm shift in the modern workplace.
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  Right. So applying Baelish's optimist pragmatist
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  lens to your analogy means we shouldn't waste
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  our energy trying to smash the cameras. We should
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  pick up the brush and start painting a Monet.
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  Yes. Let AI take over the mechanical reproduction
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  of data and routine processes. Leaving us free
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  or perhaps forcing us to elevate our work into
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  the realm of interpretation. complex strategy
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  and profound empathy. But okay, to paint that
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  Monet, to actually master this transition in
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  a practical everyday setting, we need an engine
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  to drive it. Right, we can't just wake up and
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  suddenly decide to be more human. Exactly. So
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  we need to connect this mindset shift back to
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  the practical strategies Beelish utilizes at
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  BALD. And the core engine for achieving this
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  mastery is what she calls holistic and systemic
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  thinking. Yes. This is where the philosophical
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  mindset shift becomes an actionable daily strategy.
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  So how does that work in practice? Well, because
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  AI absorbs the repetitive tasks, those uniquely
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  human skills like intuition, contextual understanding,
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  complex problem solving, they become the premium
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  currency of the new economy. Okay. Systemic thinking
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  is the method for actually deploying that currency.
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  So what does holistic and systemic thinking actually
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  look like for you, the person listening right
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  now, maybe commuting to work or walking the dog?
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  Good question. If human skills are the new premium
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  currency, does that mean we should spend less
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  time stressing over the technical nuances of
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  how a large language model works and more time
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  actively doubling down on our big picture problem
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  solving? Exactly that. It means viewing your
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  environment, whether it's a corporate office,
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  a small business, or even your personal life,
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  as an interconnected living web. And this loops
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  directly back to Baelish's concept of the 360
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  -degree view. A lot of leaders and individuals
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  look at AI as a magic button. Oh, the magic button.
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  I see that everywhere. They see a friction point.
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  They buy an AI tool to automate it. They press
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  the button. And they expect the problem to just
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  vanish in isolation. But systemic thinking recognizes
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  that introducing a powerful AI tool into an environment
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  fundamentally alters the entire ecosystem around
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  it. Exactly. Let's walk through a real -world
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  scenario to see how that ecosystem shifts. Say
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  a company introduces a highly capable AI chatbot
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  to handle 80 % of the routine customer service
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  inquiries. OK, so things like basic returns,
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  password resets, shipping updates. Right. The
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  magic button mentality says, fantastic, we just
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  thousands of labor hours and increased our margins,
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  problem solved. But the systemic thinker looks
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  at the ripples. What kind of ripples? Well, if
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  the AI is suddenly handling all the simple, easily
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  resolvable issues, that means the human customer
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  service representatives are now exclusively dealing
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  with the most complex, nuanced, and highly frustrated
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  20 % of callers. Oh, wow. I didn't even think
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  of that. Right. The entire nature of the human's
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  job just change overnight, from routine data
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  entry to intense nonstop crisis management and
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  de -escalation. The communication dynamics completely
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  shift. And the cognitive load and burnout rates
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  for those workers skyrocket. The critical touch
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  points with the most vulnerable customers are
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  completely altered. And a machine cannot manage
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  those ripples. An algorithm cannot look at a
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  burnt out employee who has been dealing with
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  escalated angry customers all day and like adjust
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  the team structure to support them. No, it can't
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  read the room. Right. It requires sharp attuned
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  human intuition to see the whole board. It requires
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  empathy to manage the transition for the staff,
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  perhaps by retraining them or restructuring their
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  break times to account for the new emotional
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  toll. Yeah. And it requires human judgment to
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  ensure the AI's output is being applied in a
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  way that actually resolves issues rather than
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  just trapping customers in those infuriating
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  automated loops. The worst. But yes, exactly.
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  The human shifts from being a cog in the machine
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  to becoming the orchestrator of the entire system.
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  We stop being the equipment on the field and
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  we finally become the sports team manager. Exactly.
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  We don't need to be the ones crunching the numbers
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  anymore. We need to be the ones deciding why
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  we are crunching the numbers in the first place
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  and what the human cost and benefit of those
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  numbers will actually be. The machine provides
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  the data. The human provides the meaning. Perfectly
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  said. This is why Vailish argues so strongly
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  that our uniquely human traits are not becoming
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  obsolete. They are the most critical, irreplaceable
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  assets of the future. It's so empowering. Ward
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  of Baelish's framework is ultimately a rejection
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  of technological determinism. Yes. We are not
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  just passive passengers on this ride, helplessly
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  waiting to see what AI decides to do with our
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  careers and our communities. Not at all. The
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  future of AI is entirely in our hands. It's a
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  tool that demands that optimist pragmatist approach.
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  We have to look at the rapidly shifting landscape
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  and boldly embrace the incredible world -changing
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  possibilities it offers. While stubbornly, relentlessly
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  keeping our human creativity, our empathy, and
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  our systemic decision -making firmly at the steering
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  wheel, we master the fear by stepping up to the
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  challenge of being the orchestrator. Because
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  recognizing that our humanity is our greatest
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  asset rather than a liability to be optimized
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  away, well, that's really the only sustainable
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  way forward in the age of AI. I couldn't agree
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  more. So going back to the stark binary we opened
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  with. Will we control AI or will it control us?
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  The answer starts right here. with how you choose
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  to view yourself in relation to the machine.
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  It does, which leaves us with a final thought
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  to ponder as you go about the rest of your day
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  long after this deep dive ends. Yeah. If the
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  ultimate takeaway from Baylis's work is that
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  our distinct human skills, our empathy, our intuition,
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  our ability to think in big messy systemic ways
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  are the very things artificial intelligence absolutely
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  cannot replace. Right. Then we have to ask ourselves
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  in our frantic daily rush to keep up with the
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  latest tech trends and software updates, how
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  much time are we actually spending upgrading
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  our humanness.