Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans

The Dark Side of AI: Ethical Landmines Every Business Leader Needs to Know

Thu, 05 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT

This is the final episode in the *Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans* archive - recorded in December 2024 - and it's a noticeably darker conversation than the rest of the back catalogue. Alastair sits down with Tom Murphy, an AI ethics and safety specialist he's known for nearly thirty years, to talk about the parts of AI adoption that rarely make it into the excited LinkedIn posts: the biases businesses inherit without noticing, the biases they create themselves, and the reputational damage that follows misuse. As Alastair warns at the top of the episode, some of it is mildly terrifying - and he isn't entirely joking. The conversation opens with the concept of "alignment" - whether an AI is actually pursuing the goal you think it is - and Tom explains, with a memorably simple Mario Brothers example, why we can never be fully certain that it is. From there the discussion moves through explainable versus black-box models, the limits of scenario testing, and why an AI's opacity is arguably no worse than a human employee's, except that AI operates at speed and scale. Tom then brings it firmly back to business reality: GDPR obligations around explaining automated decisions, protected characteristics, and how proxies quietly smuggle banned data back in. Car colour becomes a proxy for gender. Titles like Mr and Mrs become a proxy for gender. Postcode becomes a proxy for income, race, or simply a record of who was refused before. Most unsettling of all is his facial recognition example, in which a perfectly balanced, diligently curated training set still produced a system that learned to ignore an entire subgroup of people - because throwing them away improved the headline accuracy score. The second half turns practical. Tom outlines what subgroup testing looks like, why retraining always demands retesting, and why business leaders should insist on a baseline level of performance for every type of customer they serve rather than accepting an implicit "exchange rate for people." For listeners whose ambitions stop at "I just want to use ChatGPT and move faster," he explains what you inherit from a vendor's safety team, what you're still on the hook for, and why anything speaking to customers in your voice needs review. There's a strong case made for keeping a human in the loop, framed as a way to reassure anxious staff rather than replace them. Along the way: the US military's tank-recognition model that actually learned to identify blue skies, a jewellery insurance field that turned out to predict car crashes, thieves who avoid cul-de-sacs, the trolley problem tested live on 400 data scientists, a listener question on pushback from the anti-DEI crowd, an genuinely difficult dilemma about distributing an expensive cancer drug, and why Tesla hands control back to the driver at the exact moment a decision matters most. After this episode, the show picks up in the present. Find Tom at TomMurphyAI.com or on LinkedIn. Alastair's book, *An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Using AI*, is available at https://humanspark.ai/books/beginners-guide-to-ai/ The introduction to this episode is read by an AI-generated voice. The conversation itself is unedited archive audio.

Why Your AI Strategy Is Too Complicated (And How to Fix It)

Thu, 28 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Most AI failures aren't technology failures - they're scoping failures. In this episode from the archive (November 2024), Alastair sits down with Michael Zipursky, CEO and co-founder of Consulting Success, who has advised organisations from startups to billion-dollar corporations across more than 75 industries and is the author of *The Elite Consulting Mind* and *Consulting Success*. The conversation centres on a pattern Zipursky sees repeatedly among consulting firm owners and business leaders: the instinct to build one large, ambitious AI solution spanning five parts of the business at once, rather than solving a single narrow use case first. He is candid that his own firm made these mistakes and learned from them - and argues that unless you're a well-funded technology company with genuine project management chops, the smarter path is to pick one small use case, build it, test it, learn, and only then expand. The discussion splits AI adoption into two distinct categories: custom solutions you build yourself, and the fast-growing pile of pre-existing tools you can simply buy. Zipursky recounts an unsolicited pitch from an AI SDR service that makes phone calls while pretending to be human, and uses it to raise a question many buyers skip entirely: is this AI representing your brand the way you'd represent it? He and Alastair explore how volume-driven automation can quietly degrade response rates and brand equity, why so much automated outreach may collapse under its own weight, and the strange near-future where AI talks to AI - already visible in recruitment, where applicant-side tools now fire off hundreds of personalised applications into employer-side screening systems. The pair also look further ahead at agents, AI-optimised websites and API-first interfaces, and why science-fiction ideas from *The Jetsons* to *Star Trek* have a habit of becoming product roadmaps. On the practical side, Zipursky makes a blunt case that business owners who aren't at least actively thinking about AI's implications are being reckless - not because every industry will be transformed tomorrow, but because the odds of being the next Blockbimport, Kodak or BlackBerry are non-trivial. His guidance is deliberately unglamorous: don't try to keep up with every new tool (nobody can), don't treat it as a sprint, and instead build a culture of continuous learning where every role - marketing, research, operations, leadership - is asking how AI could make their specific work better. He also offers a neat trick for the common "I don't know what my use cases are" problem: ask the AI itself, describe your role and recurring problems, request ten options, then go deeper on one. Throughout, both agree that hallucination, context, situational awareness and expert judgement mean the human expert isn't going anywhere yet - but the expert who refuses to explore might be. **Resources mentioned:** - *An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Using AI* - https://humanspark.ai/books/beginners-guide-to-ai/ - consultingsuccess.com and the Consulting Success podcast - Connect with Michael Zipursky on LinkedIn --- The introduction to this episode is read by an AI-generated voice. The conversation itself is unedited archive audio.

Why Your AI Strategy Might Be Backwards

Fri, 22 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT

In this episode from the archive (originally recorded November 2024), Alastair sits down with Patrick Ward - a commercial leader with 30 years' experience, including 12 years at Microsoft, where he spent seven years with the global IoT team and reshaped the company's approach to IoT and AI engagements. Now founder of Iteria Partners and a part-time lecturer at UCD Smurfit Business School, Patrick makes a case that Alastair has repeated ever since: successful AI implementation starts with the business model, not the technology. Get that order wrong, and no amount of tooling will save the project. Patrick explains why so many IoT initiatives at Microsoft died after a successful proof of concept. The technology worked - but the moment an organisation connected its MRI scanners, blast furnaces or HVAC systems to the cloud, its value proposition, revenue model, sales incentives, channel strategy and in-house capability all had to change. Nobody had agreed to that upfront, so the project quietly got parked behind seventeen other priorities. His answer was to run a business model workshop at the outset of every customer engagement, getting the custodians of the business model - product, sales, marketing and finance - into one room. The most commonly cited benefit? Alignment. Ask ten leaders to define the value proposition and you'll routinely get ten different answers. He shares a live example of a global HVAC business struggling to get its sales team to attach £5k-per-month digital services to a multi-hundred-thousand-dollar hardware sale, and explains why bolting a digital business onto the side of an existing one rarely works. The conversation also covers Patrick's research interviewing heads of AI at 15 multinationals operating in Ireland, where the surprising finding was that scarce data science talent wasn't the biggest constraint - educating business leaders to think about AI in the context of strategy was. He walks through the AI envisioning sessions he runs for SMEs and enterprises, from competitor analysis via job postings to facilitated brainstorming on horizontal and industry-specific use cases. On productivity, his advice is blunt: don't build a business case you can't measure, roll out piecemeal rather than enterprise-wide, and invest in governance, policy, training and sharing. He closes with a memorable story about surveying a software team's real AI usage - twenty distinct use cases in a single morning, from generating synthetic French customer data to translating a Brazilian developer's written English - plus a client whose intermittent, months-long software bug turned out to be the number one finding in a ChatGPT code review. As Patrick puts it: yes, there's hype, but there's also a lot of real value, and the job is knowing the difference. **Guest:** Patrick Ward, Founder, Iteria Partners - patrick@iteriapartners.com, or find him on LinkedIn. **Mentioned:** Alastair's book, *An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Using AI* - https://humanspark.ai/books/beginners-guide-to-ai/ --- The introduction to this episode is read by an AI-generated voice. The conversation itself is unedited archive audio.

Why This Business Owner Says AI Will Change Everything

Tue, 19 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT

In this episode from the archive (originally recorded November 2024), the host speaks with Ethan Wadsworth, Director of Sales and Marketing at Discrete Heat - the family manufacturing business behind ThermoSkirt, the heated skirting board that appeared on Dragons' Den. With a team of around 20-25 people and a £3m turnover, Discrete Heat cut customer response times by 75% while *improving* service quality. No pilots, no proofs of concept, no consultants - just a small company shipping. Ethan explains how his father invented the product, how he joined at 18 and did everything from packing boxes to installations, and why demand has exploded alongside the UK's push toward net zero and heat pump adoption. The conversation gets unusually concrete about implementation. Ethan walks through how Discrete Heat's in-house developer built a bespoke CRM that calls the OpenAI API to read previous email correspondence and draft replies - turning static templates into what he calls "smart templates" that a human then approves and sends. He describes his personal workflow of talking to ChatGPT's advanced voice mode hands-free in the car, dumping unstructured thoughts, then asking it to condense them into a blog post in his own tone of voice, backed by a custom GPT loaded with samples of his actual writing. He also shares how the company hit 100,000 Instagram followers and four to five million views a month by convincing installers that rough, authentic iPhone footage beats polished content - outperforming competitors with marketing budgets in the millions. Ethan is blunt about the bigger picture: anyone calling AI a fad is "about to be swept off the pier by a massive tidal wave." His motorway analogy - AI as a fourth lane opening up while big businesses sit in traffic asking whether it's allowed - captures why he thinks small firms have the advantage right now. The discussion also covers the human side: how removing the "dreary job nobody wants" from customer service created genuine buy-in, with staff now coming to him asking for new AI features rather than resisting them. The host shares a parallel case study from a blood testing lab where data entry dropped by 90%, freeing highly trained scientists to do actual analysis. They close on education, the risk of false plagiarism accusations, an economy built on the scarcity of knowledge, and Ethan's one piece of advice for business leaders: don't search YouTube for "how to use AI" - start with your pain points, fix one, and let the penny drop for everyone else. Discrete Heat can be found at DiscreteHeat.com. The introduction to this episode is read by an AI-generated voice. The conversation itself is unedited archive audio.

The Smart Way to Automate: How to Implement AI That Actually Works For Your Business with Heidi Araya

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 23:55:34 GMT

Are you drowning in AI hype but still waiting to see real, tangible results for your business? You're not alone.

In this episode of Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans, host Alastair McDermott sits down with Heidi Araya, a process improvement consultant with over 25 years of experience driving multi-million dollar improvements through AI automation.

This insightful conversation cuts through the noise to reveal how businesses are using AI in the real world to save time, increase profitability, and gain competitive advantage. Through practical examples and case studies, Heidi shares her expertise on finding genuine value in AI implementation.

Key topics include:

Why many businesses struggle to find value in AI implementations
How to identify the right AI use cases for your business
Real-world examples of successful AI automation
The future of AI in sales and customer service
Practical approaches to AI implementation without eliminating jobs

Tune in to discover how you can move beyond the hype and start implementing AI solutions that deliver real results for your business.

Key Insights

Many businesses struggle with AI because they focus on the tool first instead of identifying their specific business challenges
Recording meetings and calls can provide valuable data for AI processing, though privacy considerations need to be addressed
AI automation should focus on enhancing human capabilities rather than replacing workers
Smaller businesses may be better positioned to implement AI while maintaining jobs, as they need diverse skill sets
The capabilities of AI are rapidly evolving, requiring regular reassessment and experimentation

Strategies

Start by identifying pain points: "What makes you groan when you wake up?"
Use AI for automating repetitive tasks while maintaining human touch for important interactions
Implement proof of concepts before making large investments in AI solutions
Consider privacy implications when selecting AI tools and platforms
Record and analyze sales calls to improve performance and understanding of client needs

Topics include: AI implementation, process improvement, business automation, sales automation, customer service, ai strategy, small business, practical ai applications, business transformation

Speakers: Heidi Araya Host: Alastair McDermott

Quotes

"So first of all, I ask them, what makes you groan? You wake up in the morning, you're ready to start your day, what makes you groan?" - Heidi Araya, 3:08, Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans

"It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow or even next year, but three years from now, they will wish that they had taken more action and kept on the forefront of it." - Heidi Araya, 29:33, Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans

Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans

🎙️+📺 SHOW: Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans is about turning AI into real productivity gains - for you and for your team. Hosted by Alastair McDermott of HumanSpark, it is for business leaders who want to work smarter and faster with AI, and then scale those wins across their team and their organisation. Join me to learn how AI can help you automate repetitive tasks, boost productivity, and create a more enjoyable workplace for your team.

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AI and the Future of Thought Leadership

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 19:49:07 GMT

This episode is a bit different. What you’ll hear is a demo of Google Notebook LM.

I gave it the entire 40,000 word manuscript of my book - at the time called The AI-Powered Thought Leader, now titled Use AI. Stay Human.

The tool then created this AI-generated conversation between two hosts, based entirely on the book text.

That’s what you’ll hear in this episode - the raw output from NotebookLM. It’s an example of what these new AI tools can do when you hand them a big chunk of text.

What to expect

Two AI hosts talking through the ideas in my book.
No editing, explanation, or polish - this is straight from Notebook LM.
A glimpse at how AI can generate summaries and overviews from long-form content.

Why I shared this

I wanted to be transparent: this is AI-only audio. It’s not perfect, but I thought it would be interesting to share what Notebook LM produced when I fed it a full book draft.

If nothing else, it gives you a sneak peek at some of the content of my book Use AI, Stay Human.

Quotes

"AI can write you a novel, but it can't write your novel."

"It's not about becoming a robot, but about becoming even more human." - Guest speaker This emphasises the importance of enhancing our human qualities as we integrate AI into our work.

Useful Resources

"Use AI, Stay Human" by Alastair McDermott - A comprehensive guide to using AI in thought leadership
ChatGPT and other AI writing tools - Practical AI assistants for content creation
AI tools for research and data analysis - Resources to help you process information more efficiently

About Me

I'm Alastair McDermott. I work as a podcaster, writer, and consultant, focusing on the use of AI in thought leadership. My book, "Use AI, Stay Human," offers a practical roadmap for using AI to enhance your expertise and increase your influence in the digital space. I've spent years exploring the intersection of technology and thought leadership, and I'm excited to share these insights with you.

Next Steps

If you're keen to power up your thought leadership with AI, you can read "Use AI, Stay Human" at humanspark.ai/books/use-ai-stay-human. It's packed with actionable strategies and real-world examples.

I also invite you to join the conversation on social media using #AIPoweredThoughtLeader. Share your thoughts, experiences, and questions about AI in thought leadership.

AI for SMEs: How to Thrive in the New Business Landscape

Fri, 09 Aug 2024 16:01:04 GMT

Is your business ready for the AI revolution, or are you still stuck in the dark ages?

In this eye-opening episode of Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans, host Alastair McDermott sits down with AI implementation expert Eric Bye to examine how businesses of all sizes can use AI.

Eric shares his wealth of experience in helping companies navigate the complex landscape of AI integration, offering practical advice on how to get started, avoid common pitfalls, and maximize the benefits of this fantastic technology. From identifying key workflows to addressing data privacy concerns, this episode is packed with actionable insights for business leaders looking to stay ahead of the curve.

Some of the valuable topics discussed include:

How to identify AI opportunities within your existing business processes
The importance of benchmarking and quantifying AI improvements
Strategies for overcoming employee resistance to AI implementation
The future of AI in business, including voice interaction and automation

Whether you're an AI skeptic or an early adopter, this episode will challenge your assumptions and provide a clear roadmap for using artificial intelligence in your business. Tune in now to ensure you're not left behind in the AI revolution!

Topic: ai implementation, business processes, workflow optimization, data privacy, employee training, ai adoption, technology integration, business efficiency, automation, digital transformation

Speakers: Guest: Eric Bye. Host: Alastair McDermott.

Key Insights:

AI implementation should focus on augmenting and transforming jobs rather than replacing them
Businesses should start by mapping out their workflows and identifying areas where AI can add value
Data privacy and security are crucial considerations when implementing AI solutions
Many businesses are informally using AI through personal accounts, which poses risks
AI can improve both efficiency and the quality of outputs in various business processes
The future of AI in business includes more automation and proactive task management
Experimenting with AI tools is key to understanding their capabilities and limitations

Arguments:

AI implementation requires a collaborative approach to overcome employee skepticism and resistance
Enterprise-level AI solutions may be too complex and expensive for many SMEs
The current state of AI agents is still too clunky for widespread business adoption
Waiting for "perfect" AI solutions may cause businesses to fall behind competitors

Conclusions:

Businesses should start experimenting with AI now to build a foundation for future advancements
A balance must be struck between using AI capabilities and maintaining data privacy
AI implementation should be tailored to each business's specific needs and risk profile
Ongoing education and training are essential for successful AI adoption in businesses

Quotes: Eric Bye, [17:29]: "If you ask an employee to create a presentation for, say, a pitch, there's a lot of there's something there's hundreds of 1000s of words or tokens that are unsaid, when you ask them to create that they understand your relationship with the client, they understand the history, they're probably see seed on a whole bunch of emails, they understand what's worked, and what hasn't in the past." - Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans

Eric Bye, [36:45]: "There's tons of opportunity today. And I think some people would like to wait until they they see it as perfect. But it's just different technology that operates differently, which makes people feel a little bit uncomfortable." - Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans

Find Eric at https://erictronai.com

Find Alastair at <

How to Actually Use AI to Drive Business Growth

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Everyone is talking about AI, but plenty of businesses still can't point to a return they'd be willing to defend in front of whoever controls the budget. In this episode from the archive (recorded August 2024), Alastair sits down with Alvaro Melendez, founder of Krant Creativity and Technology, to tackle the least glamorous question in the field: where is the money? Not the demo, not the pilot - the measurable result. They use the widely-reported Chevron example as a starting point: tens of thousands of licences, $30–$40 per user per month, and no visible ROI. Alvaro's diagnosis is blunt - if a $20-a-month assistant can't save you $20 a month, the use case is wrong, and that's usually not the employee's fault. The conversation digs into why so many organisations end up with expensive experiments instead of results. Alvaro argues the core mistake is thinking of AI as a tool rather than as a thinking partner - what he calls a *dupla*, borrowing from the creative-agency pairing of copywriter and art director. Asking a frontier model to shave ten percent off email reading time is, in his framing, hiring Albert Einstein and asking him to serve coffee. He offers a sharper reframe for leadership: you didn't buy 20,000 licences, you hired 20,000 very smart employees - so what are they actually going to do? From there the two work through practical territory: breaking jobs down into tasks to see which ones AI genuinely improves, using better creative output to win pitches that would otherwise have been lost, and running hands-on exercises (his Titanic dataset workshop for senior leaders is a standout) that permanently change how executives think about the technology. They also cover the guardrails. Alastair walks through the failure modes people only learn by doing - context windows degrading, and the harder-to-spot problem of plausible fabrications, including the New York lawyer whose invented case citations got him thrown out of court. Alvaro makes the case for an internal AI council rather than outsourced expertise, for bringing ethics and legal in from day one, and for starting with the ten people who actually want to be there instead of trying to convert all hundred. Along the way: the Gemini Olympics ad that demonstrated exactly the wrong use case, a father-in-law learning to code in R over a weekend, real-time Irish translation at a workshop on the west coast of Ireland, and a closing list of the things Alvaro refuses to hand over to a machine - the letter to Santa, the birthday cake, the bedtime story. *Two notes on the closing minutes: Alastair's call for beta readers closed long ago, and the book he names as "The AI-Powered Thought Leader" was published as **Use AI, Stay Human**.* The introduction to this episode is read by an AI-generated voice. The conversation itself is unedited archive audio.

The Human Side of AI: Why Your Brain Fights Change - with Melina Palmer

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

An archive episode from July 2024, revisited because the problem it tackles hasn't gone anywhere: the staff who nod along in the meeting, agree the tool looks useful, and then somehow never open it again. Alastair is joined by Melina Palmer, behavioural economist, host of The Brainy Business podcast, and author of three books on why people do the illogical things they do - *What Your Customer Wants and Can't Tell You*, *What Your Employees Need and Can't Tell You*, and *The Truth About Pricing*. Melina starts with the mechanics of the brain: humans make up to 35,000 decisions a day, almost all of them subconsciously, which means the brain runs on habit, predictability and rules of thumb. Any change - AI included - collides with that machinery, and when you layer on fear about job security, resistance becomes the rational response rather than the awkward one. From there the conversation turns practical. She explains why framing matters more than content (with a "we need to talk" email that cost her four hours of stress over an out-of-office responder), introduces the burnt popcorn test for internal communications, and makes the case that most AI rollouts fail at the "tell the team" checkbox rather than the technology. Instead of announcing that AI is happening and asking people to get on board, she suggests opening with a question about what parts of their job they'd happily delegate - the IKEA effect, applied to change management. The second half covers what to do with the person who says "just tell me how to use it" rather than experimenting: a call centre study where telling customers to slow down actually reduced call times, a "behavioural baking" approach that starts with the box cake mix, and Alastair's three-tier prompting model of simple, conversational and structured prompts. Melina also proposes taking AI practice completely out of people's job descriptions - a low-stakes internal competition for the best short story or subject line, with bragging rights, a trophy or a day off as the prize - because motivation and prestige will pull people past the learning curve faster than instruction will. The episode closes on social proof and herding (and the danger of accidentally telling your team that everyone hates AI), plus a short detour into why gamification, dopamine and Duolingo streaks work on all of us whether we admit it or not. Throughout, the underlying prescription is simple: reduce stress first, then ask for change. Melina's work is at thebrainybusiness.com, and she's on LinkedIn as Melina Palmer and on social as @thebrainybiz. Near the end Alastair mentions a book he was finishing at the time of recording; it was later published as *Use AI, Stay Human*. The introduction to this episode is read by an AI-generated voice. The conversation itself is unedited archive audio.

Forget Use Cases: How AI is Rewriting the Rules of Business Value - with Jack Nugent

Thu, 04 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Most organisations approach AI by asking a single question: what's the use case? In this conversation from the archive (originally recorded July 2024), Jack Nugent of Tradavex argues that this is exactly the wrong starting point. "Use case," he suggests, is really shorthand for "how does AI save or make money today" - a narrow metric that companies rarely apply to their own employees, and one that most boards couldn't answer about their own business strategy. Worse, if a consultant can hand you a use case, they can hand the same one to every competitor you have. Within three months, whatever edge existed is gone. Nugent's background is in creating value in the commodity and shipping markets, an industry where the daily job is to answer "how are we going to make money?" That lens shapes his whole argument. He unpacks AI as fundamentally a prediction technology - drawing on the book *Prediction Machines* - and stresses the critical distinction between prediction (which machines increasingly handle) and judgment (which remains human, and becomes more valuable as a result). He explains why so much of the world's most valuable proprietary data doesn't exist yet, still sitting in paper shipping documents and analog processes, and why the most useful data a company owns in ten years may be something it doesn't currently think of as data at all. The conversation also digs into why the rush toward "low-hanging fruit" and efficiency gains can be self-defeating: it removes AI from the commercial heart of the business, hands the work to teams who aren't measured on revenue, and closes the door on the creative exploration where real value lives. The discussion widens into the human side of the equation. Nugent revisits Rory Sutherland's "doorman fallacy" to explain how cost-cutting exercises routinely miscalculate what people actually contribute, and makes the case that a company retaining and arming 200 employees with AI will outperform one that cuts to 40 - not least because AI trained on what was previously true struggles the moment markets, science or economies shift. Alistair walks through his own hypothetical modelling of both scenarios, and shares how mining transcripts from hundreds of podcast episodes became the foundation for a book (published as *Use AI, Stay Human*). They close on what this means for leadership: executives need genuine AI literacy - a clear sense of where AI starts and stops - commercial people rather than only technical teams driving the exploration, and domain experts willing to be told by the data that they're wrong. Along the way: why the commodity and shipping world is more innovative than outsiders assume, why transparency-loving tech collides awkwardly with industries that profit from inefficiency, and why leaders owe it to their shareholders to prove AI *doesn't* help before they dismiss it. **Guest:** Jack Nugent, founder of Tradavex, a consultancy bridging the gap between technology and the commodity and shipping markets. **Mentioned in this episode:** *Prediction Machines*; Rory Sutherland's doorman fallacy; Moneyball; the *Daily Mail* declaring the internet a fad; Joanna Pineda; Justin Collery on tacit knowledge. --- The introduction to this episode is read by an AI-generated voice. The conversation itself is unedited archive audio.

How AI Will Change EVERYTHING - with Justin Collery

Sat, 22 Jun 2024 04:56:22 GMT

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence? Do you wonder how AI will impact your business, your workforce, and your industry? You're not alone!

In this episode of Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans podcast, host Alastair McDermott sits down with AI expert Justin Collery to discuss the undeniable, seismic shift that AI is bringing to every aspect of business and society.

They dive deep into the practical implications of AI, exploring the latest advancements in large language models, the power of AI agents, and the crucial role of capturing tacit knowledge in a world of rapid technological change.

Justin and Alastair also address the growing concerns around data privacy and security, highlighting the need for both individuals and businesses to proactively manage these risks.

This episode is packed with valuable insights and practical advice that you can implement today to prepare your business for the future of AI.

Here are just a few of the key takeaways:

The importance of capturing tacit knowledge – Record every meeting and store transcripts to unlock the hidden wisdom within your organization.
Reimagine your business from the customer's perspective – Identify points of friction and use AI to streamline processes and deliver a superior customer experience.
Empower your employees with AI tools – Provide access to powerful tools like ChatGPT and Claude, but ensure data privacy and security measures are in place.
Embrace the future of work – Prepare for a world where AI automates tasks and your employees can focus on higher-level, more creative work.

Key Insights

The AI revolution is happening now, and it will significantly impact every business and industry.
Businesses need to actively embrace AI and proactively develop strategies for its integration.
Capturing tacit knowledge through meeting recordings and transcripts is essential for future AI-powered decision making.
AI will significantly impact the future of work, automating tasks and freeing up employees for more strategic roles.
Businesses must take data privacy and security seriously, implementing appropriate measures to mitigate risks.
The current AI tools are already powerful, but the true potential lies in the future development of more seamless and user-friendly tools.

Arguments

AI will not just change the way we work, but also how we live, communicate, and learn.
Organizations need to move beyond simply providing AI tools to employees and actively automate tasks and processes.
While powerful AI tools are available, the integration and adoption of these tools can be hindered by the inertia of organizations.
Despite concerns around data security, the benefits of AI for businesses far outweigh the risks.

Conclusions

Organizations that fail to adapt to the AI revolution will be left behind.
The future of business will be defined by the successful integration and implementation of AI.
The key to unlocking the full potential of AI lies in understanding the specific needs and challenges of individual businesses and industries.

📺 SHOW: Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans is about turning AI into real productivity gains for you and your team. Hosted by Alastair McDermott of HumanSpark, it is for leaders who want to work smarter with AI and scale those wins across their organisation.

📲 | FOLLOW on YouTube: Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans

👑 BOOKS: Discover more by searching "Alastair McDermott" on Amazon

👑 - LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/AlastairMcDermott

💻 - WEBSITE: https://humanspark.ai

How AI is Disrupting Professional Services (And What to Do About It) with Alan Weiss

Fri, 21 Jun 2024 16:52:53 GMT

Are you worried that AI will make your business obsolete? In this episode of Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans, host Alastair McDermott talks to renowned consultant Alan Weiss about navigating the AI revolution.

AI promises huge efficiency gains, but is it a substitute for human expertise? Alan argues that overreliance on AI can lead to the "dumbing down" of critical skills. He emphasizes the importance of staying unique and providing true value that AI can't replicate.

In this insightful discussion, you'll learn:

The role of "high-touch" service in an AI-driven world
Strategies for using AI as a tool without losing your competitive edge
How to build a brand that attracts clients based on your distinct value
Practical examples of the human element making a difference

Don't miss this chance to future-proof your business and thrive in the AI age. Tune in now!

Topic: ai, business strategy, professional services, branding, value-based pricing, high-touch service

Speakers: Guest: Alan Weiss. Host: Alastair McDermott.

Key Insights:

AI should be used as a tool, not a substitute for human expertise and value
Relying too much on AI can lead to the "dumbing down" of essential skills
Businesses must focus on providing "high-touch" personalized service to stand out
Building a strong personal brand showcasing unique value is crucial
Adopting value-based pricing over hourly rates can increase profitability

Arguments:

AI has its uses but shouldn't fully replace human mental acuity
Businesses using AI for customer service may lose the personal touch

Opinions:

AI is currently overrated and lacks nuance/personal voice (Alan Weiss)
Value-based fees better represent a consultant's worth than hourly rates (Alan Weiss)

Conclusions:

AI is a tool that should enhance, not replace, the unique value humans provide
The "high-tech, high-touch" balance is key for businesses to stay competitive
Building a strong personal brand focused on specific results is essential

Quotes: "If you want to coast, you can only coast downhill. So you've gotta grow. So the law of business is - large and small, doesn't matter, any business - is that you have to grow, to sustain itself. And to grow, you have to innovate." - Alan Weiss on Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans

LINKS

🎙️+📺 SHOW: Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans is about turning AI into real productivity gains for you and your team. Hosted by Alastair McDermott of HumanSpark, it is for leaders who want to work smarter with AI and scale those wins across their organisation.

📲 | FOLLOW on YouTube: Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans

🎓 COACHING: Explore opportunities to work with me: AI Thought Leadership Coaching

👑 BOOKS: Discover more by searching "Alastair McDermott" on Amazon

Expert Authority Builder Series:

👑 33 Ways Not to Screw Up Your Business Podcast: A Comprehensive Guide to Planning, Recording and Launching Your Business Podcast!

👑 Quick Win Content: How to Create a Single Piece of Engaging & Effective Content That Resonates with Potential Clients and Generates Quality Leads

👑 Efficient Content Creation: A Practical Guide to Consistently Creating High-Quality Content in a Busy Schedule

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How Do Business Leaders Navigate AI? with Joanna Pineda

Wed, 12 Jun 2024 14:29:00 GMT

As AI rapidly advances, business leaders face the daunting task of navigating its impacts - both the potential upsides and inevitable disruptions.

In this episode of The AI-Powerered Business Leader, Alastair McDermott sits down with Joanna Pineda, CEO and "Chief Troublemaker" at Matrix Group, a digital agency serving associations and nonprofits.

Joanna provides a refreshingly candid perspective on the role of AI in her company's deliberate strategy to "reinvent" itself every 3-4 years to stay ahead of technological shifts. She shares how Matrix has embraced open communication and experimentation around AI tools, from productivity aids to potential new AI-powered services.

The conversation dives into the often-avoided elephant in the room - the impact of AI on jobs and employees' valid concerns about getting displaced. Joanna offers a pragmatic approach centred on transparency, continuous learning, and using AI for growth rather than layoffs.

You'll gain valuable insights on:

Creating a culture that embraces AI experimentation while addressing ethical considerations like data privacy
Practical ways to upskill teams and help them develop an "AI-augmented" mindset
How to have honest conversations about AI's impacts without stoking panic
Using AI as a force-multiplier by automating grunt work, not replacing human expertise

Whether you're just beginning to explore AI's potential or are already on the journey, this candid discussion will equip you with a balanced, human-centric framework for leading your organization into the AI-powered future.

Resources

Guest: Joanna Pineda, CEO & Chief Troublemaker at Matrix Group International
Her "Associations Thrive" Podcast: matrixgroup.net/associations-thrive-podcast
Matrix Group International: matrixgroup.net

👉 Listen to more from Alastair and Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans at humanspark.ai/podcast

A Quick Note on Podcast Rename

Wed, 12 Jun 2024 14:28:29 GMT

This podcast is renaming slightly, so I've recorded a super short episode to explain that decision and what you can expect from this show in the future.

Thanks for listening!

- Alastair.

humanspark.ai/podcast

AI Beyond the Hype: Practical Solutions for Real Businesses

Wed, 22 May 2024 15:57:40 GMT

Are you overwhelmed by the hype surrounding AI? Do you struggle when it comes to figuring out the practical applications of AI in business?

In this insightful solo episode of Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans, Alastair McDermott delivers a presentation to a group of business owners, simplifying the principles of AI and providing actionable strategies for using this transformative technology in your business

Drawing from his expertise, Alastair tackles the questions on every business leader’s mind:

How can we use AI to increase productivity and streamline repetitive tasks?
What are the ethical and legal considerations when using AI-generated content?
How can we stay ahead of the curve and future-proof our business with AI?

Through this compelling presentation, you’ll gain valuable insights:

AI is no longer a futuristic concept; it’s reshaping industries now, and businesses need to start implementing it to stay competitive.
AI can significantly increase productivity by automating repetitive tasks, analyzing research, reformatting content, and allowing experts to focus on their core expertise.
There are ethical and legal concerns around AI-generated content, such as potential biases, stolen training data, privacy issues, and questions of authorship and intellectual property.
Businesses should create an “AI-ready” culture by promoting AI literacy, exploring use cases, implementing policies, and continuously evaluating and experimenting with AI tools.

Strategies:

Appoint dedicated “AI teams” within different departments to explore AI use cases for the business.
Invest in AI education and training for employees to promote AI literacy.
Develop clear policies and guidelines for responsible and ethical use of AI, particularly concerning privacy and GDPR.
Continuously evaluate and experiment with new AI tools and frameworks as the technology rapidly evolves.

Don’t miss this opportunity to separate hype from reality and unlock the potential of AI for your business. Tune in as Alastair McDermott shares his wisdom on navigating the age of artificial intelligence through this informative presentation.

AI vs. Content Marketing: Marcus Sheridan's Secrets to Staying Ahead

Tue, 21 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT

In this episode from the archive (originally recorded May 2024), Alistair revisits a conversation with Marcus Sheridan, author of *They Ask, You Answer* - the man who famously saved his failing fiberglass swimming pool company in 2009 by becoming the most prolific teacher on the internet about pools. It's Marcus's second appearance on the show, and this time the question is sharper: if answering your customers' questions honestly was the entire strategy, what happens when anyone can generate those answers in seconds? Marcus's answer is characteristically blunt. AI has removed the last excuse companies had - "we don't have the people, we don't have the resources" - and yet most businesses still refuse to address the fundamental questions, worries and fears their buyers actually have, starting with cost and price. He argues that the real bottleneck was never capacity, it was courage. Along the way he dismantles what he sees as the two laziest myths in marketing: that AI can't write well (it can, in the top 1% of the hundreds of content writers he's hired, if you know how to prompt) and that AI isn't creative (it is, and so-called original human thinking is mostly repackaging anyway). He introduces his new tool priceguide.ai, explains why pricing calculators are where every industry is heading, and admits his own costly mistake - refusing to touch TikTok in 2017 on principle and losing an early-mover advantage he'll never get back. The lesson: don't let personal opinions kill smart business decisions, because the marketplace doesn't care about your opinions, and the tide always wins. The back half of the conversation gets practical and then genuinely strange. Marcus lays out what "getting on board" actually looks like inside an organisation: leaders using the tools themselves rather than delegating innovation, paying team members for a minimum of an hour a week of deliberate experimentation, appointing AI champions, and building a culture of cross-departmental sharing so discoveries don't stay buried in one team. He explains the pride cycle that kept Google from cannibalising its own $200bn search business until OpenAI forced its hand, why you can no longer build your house on Google search, and how the game shifts from ranking to sending signals - across YouTube, social, and short-form video - that tell AI systems you're worth recommending. He also predicts that within 18 months his own website will greet visitors with a talking avatar of himself that can answer questions and quote a swimming pool price before a human ever gets involved. On job security he refuses to sugarcoat: simply using AI won't protect you, but innovating with it inside your organisation will. And for anyone frozen at the starting line, his advice is disarmingly simple - open ChatGPT and tell it what you're afraid of. It won't judge you. The introduction to this episode is read by an AI-generated voice. The conversation itself is unedited archive audio.

AI vs. IP? A Legal Perspective on AI and Content Creation

Sun, 14 Apr 2024 12:01:00 GMT

Feeling lost in the legal complexity of AI-powered content creation? Seasoned lawyer Erin Austin shares essential insights that will empower business leaders and content creators to navigate the complex legal landscape surrounding the use of AI-powered tools for content production. She explains the complexity of legal issues surrounding AI, particularly in terms of intellectual property laws., Erin a lawyer based in the US, emphasizes the significance of understanding the inputs that go into AI systems, ranging from training data to personal information. She stresses the importance of having clear policies on how AI platforms can be used, especially in scenarios involving sensitive client information.

Authenticity, Creativity and AI-Assisted Content Creation with Chris Do

Thu, 11 Apr 2024 14:39:00 GMT

Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans, hosted by Alastair McDermott, invites Chris Do, a renowned thought leader and influencer, to discuss the fascinating intersection of AI and authentic thought leadership. In this thought-provoking episode, they explore the challenges and contradictions that arise as the power of AI seeps into the realm of creative expression and idea generation.

Marketing and Authentic Personal Brand in the Age of AI - with Mark Schaefer

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMT

From the archive (April 2024): Alastair sits down with Mark Schaefer - marketing strategist, keynote speaker, educator and the author of a dozen books including *Known*, *Marketing Rebellion*, *The Content Code* and *Belonging to the Brand* - to unpack a contradiction that sits at the heart of modern marketing. Personal branding is built on authenticity. So what happens to that authenticity when a machine helps you write, research, narrate and package your ideas? Schaefer answers with a story about failure. Determined to write his latest book faster, he threw every AI tool he could at the manuscript - and the result, in his words, was "a complete flop." Drawing on an interview he once did with biographer Walter Isaacson, he argues that genius (and thought leadership) rests on two things: insatiable curiosity and the ability to connect the dots in a new way. AI is genuinely useful for the first. It is, at least for now, hopeless at the second, because it returns "the best average answer of the past" rather than your stories, your humour, your revelations. Along the way he and Alastair explore why the act of writing itself builds competency - Schaefer describes each book as the equivalent of earning a master's degree - and where exactly the disclosure line sits. Is using AI for grammar, bridging paragraphs or hunting down case studies any different from using a calculator, a spreadsheet, a ghostwriter or a political speechwriter? Or is there a point where you cross what Schaefer calls "the Milli Vanilli line"? He shares his own practices: a "100% human content" badge on his blog posts, a full disclosure of the AI voice synthesis used to narrate the audiobook of *Social Media Explained 3.0* (possibly the first AI-narrated business book), and the awkward moment of facing Amazon KDP's AI disclosure checkbox with no idea what answering it actually triggers. The conversation widens into copyright and intellectual property, with Schaefer arguing - via Leonardo da Vinci's collaborative working methods - that all art is iteration, and floating the idea of a writers' guild that licenses its collective content for AI training. He then makes the case that personal brand is now the only real defence against replacement, recounting tech analyst Shelley Palmer's reaction to ChatGPT writing a perfect Shelley Palmer blog post in three seconds: "I am 80% replaced." The important question, Schaefer says, is what the remaining 20% is - and the answer is being known, trusted and even loved in your field, something that matters more than ever in a world of cheap deepfakes. His advice for building it: start now, and understand that consistency beats genius. The episode closes on what worries him (the disappearance of entry-level jobs, competing with "unearned talent," identity hijacking) and what excites him (AI filling the grey area between what he can delegate and what only he can do), plus the specific tools in his stack: Midjourney, Perplexity, Claude 3 and BuzzSumo's content brief generator. Find Mark at businessesgrow.com - his blog, books, podcast and social links. The introduction to this episode is read by an AI-generated voice. The conversation itself is unedited archive audio.

AI Disruption: Redefining the Concept of Being an "Author"

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 18:23:00 GMT

In this thought-provoking episode of Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans, host Alastair McDermott talks to business leader and author Jonathan Stark about how AI could disrupt our perception of authorship.

How to Stop the Credibility Crisis with Debbie Jenkins

Thu, 21 Mar 2024 15:41:00 GMT

Are you worried that using AI could undermine your hard-earned credibility as a thought leader? On this episode of Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans, host Alastair McDermott talks to Debbie Jenkins, an expert on authentic branding and author of the book "Stop the Credibility Crisis."

Authorship in the Age of AI: Who Wrote It?

Wed, 20 Mar 2024 16:39:00 GMT

If you use AI during the writing process, does that mean you didn’t actually write it? Where exactly should we draw the line when using Artificial Intelligence in content creation?

AI and the Future of Thought Leadership

Mon, 18 Mar 2024 03:36:00 GMT

How does an aspiring thought leader worried about staying authentic and credible in the age of AI? As artificial intelligence tools become increasingly sophisticated, the question arises: can we use these powerful technologies without compromising our unique insights and personal touch?r.

Can thought leaders use AI in an authentic way? Introducing The AI-Powered Thought Leader

Tue, 12 Mar 2024 19:28:00 GMT

Can thought leaders use AI in an authentic way? Or is that a contradiction in terms?

The reality is that just like in every other field, AI's integration with thought leadership is inevitable. It's more a question of how it happens, rather than if it happens.

You might not be concerned about AI making your ideas obsolete.

But you might be concerned about the fact that AI can spit out really high quality content in seconds.

What then becomes of the human journey, and the intellectual labor creating and cultivating these insights? Is our role to be reduced to that of curator or editors of machine generated content and machine generated thinking?

I'm excited to share the trailer for my new show "Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans"! I'm going to speak with experts in thought leadership and in AI. The show will cover practical issues, I'll demonstrate some of the tools I use myself and talk to others about the tools that they're using, and we're going to explore the cutting edge of technology that's coming online now. We'll also cover the more difficult questions about ethical implications, intellectual property, upholding authenticity, and the future of thinking itself.

SHOW: Fewer Late Nights, Not Fewer Humans explores the intersection of artificial intelligence and thought leadership in the digital age. Join us as we have insightful conversations with ithought leaders and AI experts, and providing fresh perspectives on navigating the evolving landscape of AI.

Books - the Human-First AI Series:Hello! I'm New Here: https://humanspark.ai/books/hello-im-new-here/An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Using AI: https://humanspark.ai/books/beginners-guide-to-ai/Use AI, Stay Human: https://humanspark.ai/books/use-ai-stay-human/The AI Pilot Handbook: https://humanspark.ai/books/ai-pilot-handbook/When AI Becomes Your Responsibility: https://humanspark.ai/books/when-ai-becomes-your-responsibility/

Connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/AlastairMcDermott