Do you care what they are saying?
Hello!
?I’ll repeat my question: do you care what they are saying? Yes, I am talking to you human beings, neighbors, advocates or policy- and decision-makers. And yes, I am talking about people, about what people think and feel, about their fears, concerns, opinions, and hopes.
It is hard for me to write these lines without thinking about or even mentioning what is happening right now in Ukraine. Not that there is much to add to what has already been said about this new episode of human stupidity. History should help us learn from past mistakes and not repeat them, but it seems so hard for humanity to learn that lesson. And so, we keep failing, over and over, playing war like imperfect, immoral godlike creatures, not thinking about the consequences for the most vulnerable.
The Importance of the Wisdom of the Crowd
If you follow me on my social media (or if you are a Citibeats’ follower), you might have noticed that during these last few weeks, I’ve been talking a lot about the wisdom of the crowd. It is a very interesting experiment: you ask a group of people to (individually) guess how many colored balls are in a jar (and yes, you might have seen me with a jar at conferences and speeches). Almost no one usually gets it right. But if you take the average of all the guesses, then you come pretty close. Pretty close to what? To the reality.
It is not something I’ve come up with (this is an example of the so-called Dunning-Kruger Effect), but it is certainly an interesting concept that supports my approach as a social entrepreneur and I was lucky enough to present it at the first TEDx Poble Nou, last 11th March).
But how to unlock this mythical “wisdom of the crowd”? How to get to an accurate representation of reality? Citibeats’ technology has been designed for social understanding. Social understanding is like a superpower that allows decision-makers to interpret citizens’ opinions.
Whenever I am asked to explain what we do at Citibeats, and why we do it, I always try to bring to my audience’s mind something they know, something they can relate to. So, you probably have heard about social listening. Well, that is something else. What we do is much deeper. It is like taking a step further and empowering decision-makers so that they can really, truly understand people’s needs and concerns in real time. Peter Parker (aka Spider-Man) would say: with great powers come great responsibilities. That is my idea of social understanding: a great power to help policy- and decision-makers make better-informed and faster decisions for social good.
Making Citibeats a Reference in Ethical AI
I’m thrilled to share with you that Citibeats has a new CTO! I am glad to introduce you to Abby Seneor, a world-class professional in ethical AI and an outstanding human being that I hope to be able to work with and learn from for a long time and that will help us make Citibeats a reference in ethical AI.
领英推荐
While Surfing the Internet...
I found some interesting articles about AI and data that I wanted to share with you.?
AI is affecting the present and future generations and children are interacting with AI in many different ways. UNICEF has come up with a policy guidance to help regulators. LINK
Sweden has launched a Psychological Defense Unit to fight fake news and foreign interference (talking about the social impact of infodemia…) LINK
Do you trust AI? University of Tokyo researchers investigated public attitudes toward ethics in AI. LINK
Do you know why AI seems so familiar to you? Because Hollywood has been playing with it for (almost) a century! You don’t believe me? Check this list of the Top 10 Movies to Help You Envision Artificial Intelligence! LINK
Around the World
The last weeks were pretty active in terms of events. Returning from my trip in the US, I flew to Geneva, for the ITU GSS20 (check my interview about “Social Risk”). Then back to Barcelona, for the #MWC22, where I pitched at the 4YFN final (sadly we did not win… but I am still proud to be the CEO of one of the 5 best startups in the world!) and then TEDx! And in the meantime, Ann Reilly, our CGO, was in London at the final of the CogX Awards 2022! Pheeew!
And if you think that is over… think again! I’ve already prepared my luggage and at the end of March, I’ll be flying again to the US. 2022 will be an exciting year for Citibeats (chosen as one of the Impact Startups to Watch by Impact Shakers)!
Stay tuned and let me know your thoughts!
See you in a month and, in the meantime, if you want to give me feedback - I’d really appreciate it! - or get in touch with me, please contact me on LinkedIn, Instagram (@ivanonearth), or Twitter (@i_caballero).?