Decision Intelligence, AI and change: #25 with Dr. Lorien Pratt

Episode #25 of The Only Constant is out now with none other than Dr. Lorien Pratt . This is an episode I have been especially excited for, as Lorien is both a legend in the field of AI and of business decisions and has an incredibly relevant voice in the current AI hype market. Lorien is able to contextualise with credibility both the technology and the change it can instill and I am am extremely happy to have added her voice to the podcast.

Read more about Dr. Lorien Pratt at the bottom of this newsletter.

As always, I am very happy that we once again managed to make an episode that explores more than it explains ??

Listen to the episode here:

Apple: The Only Constant on Apple Podcasts

Spotify: The Only Constant | Podcast on Spotify

Google: The Only Constant ( google.com )

Spreaker: The Only Constant ( spreaker.com )

What made this episode special to me?:

It is very rare to meet someone like Dr. Lorien Pratt. Her insights and her energy is absolutely unparralleled, and I feel extremely grateful for having had her om my podcast. Lorien started her career by inventing machine learning transfer as a techie, before she realised that technology would not change the world without understanding what drives decisions. And then she simply pivoted to build a decision framework with decision intelligence, asking why more that how and inspiring the world to take a step back and understand the context before the tech. She has lived through 3 AI hype cycles (her own words) and is able to back her words with incredibly deep experience.

So, on that background, what really stood out for me was her ability to be right there and focused in the conversation with me. This episode is exactly what I aimed for when designing the podcast format: open-ended discussion, unhinged insights and a very attentive and in-the-moment experience with a guest that is smarter than the rest. If any episode lives up to this, this is it.

My key post-recording deliberations are:

• In order to do proper data science, you need to start by leaving the data out of the room and bring people into it instead. This clear cut message from Lorien is spot on. We need to talk more about what and why than look at bytes and bits.
• There is a market incentive for overstatement of the future. Whenever we hear of AI replacing this or that profession, of becoming this or that trillion dollar market, we need to remember that this technology hype cycle is not a normal one. As Dr. Lorien Pratt says, this is probably the only technology that has a pre-existing Hollowood genre to boost its reputation. I will remind myself of this every single time I hear hype messaging from now on.
• There is a difference between getting a map and getting directions. Any technology in itself, even GenAI, is just a map. We need to repurpose it and contextualise it have it produce directions that will make it work as a GPS for us.

I hope you will all enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed recording it! And please let me know your reflections from it in the comments below.

About Dr. Lorien Pratt :

Computer scientist?Dr. Lorien? Pratt ?is one of the pioneers of artificial intelligence and is credited with inventing?transfer learning.? Following a 40-year career delivering applied AI systems, along with leadership and program committee responsibilities at the industry-leading NeurIPS conference, Pratt?is?recognized alongside Marie Curie and others by the?Women Innovators and Inventors Project .??

Today, Pratt?is chief scientist at?www.quantellia.com , where she continues to push the boundaries of technology as a creator of and evangelist for?Decision Intelligence ?(DI) and through building Large Language Models (LLMs) integrated with DI and ML.?DI is now predicted to grow to a $50.1B market by 2030 and there are two master’s programs in DI offered by universities, with more expected in coming years.??

Pratt’s?The Decision Intelligence Handbook ?(O’Reilly, 2023) is receiving worldwide attention. Pratt is also cofounder of?OpenDI. DI connects AI to human decision making in a way that is transparent, auditable, and accessible, bringing this important technology to the masses, and reducing information inequality and technology power disparities.?

For further insights visit:??

• www.linkthebook.com ?

• www.dihandbook.com ?

• www.opendi.org ?