We get the future we invest in
The above title is the important message of a new book Service in the AI Era by Spohrer, Maglio, Vargo, and Warg. The last two sections of this blog post summarize some of the argument.
Register for this free NAE event to get a free digital copy of the book (just invest a few minutes and it will be sent to you)
- Please take 1 minute to register here and now for this NAE event – Monday Oct 17th – even if you cannot attend, you will be emailed a post event summary – and be on the list for future events regarding complex service systems. … and we will know where to send the book.
- Please take 5 minutes to answer four very short questions about preparing students as complex systems thinkers, who are prepared to understand and improve today’s complex, interconnected, digitally transforming, business and societal systems (what we call service science and service systems at the online NAE conference, what others at NAE call systems engineering and complex unifiable systems). … and we will have insights from you as we prepare a next publication.
- Spread the word – if you know 2-3 colleagues who are systems thinkers and who may have an interest in preparing better to innovate business and societal systems in the AI Age.
Why how we invest (our time, effort, money, etc.) matters, especially in the era of AI
Every person gives and gets service hundreds of times a day – and increasingly often this generates data for AI models. What is service? Service is the application of knowledge for the benefit of another. From turning on the light switch in the morning, to scanning social media, to getting to where we are going, to doing what we do when we get there, the activities and interactions that make up our lives are all about service. Increasingly AI capabilities are playing a bigger and bigger role in the daily “give and get” of service. Businesses and nations are investing in AI to stay competitive. The data that allows businesses and governments to build more powerful AI models comes from the activities of customers, employees, citizens, and even visitors.
To learn about some of the most powerful AI models in the world today, watch these two keynote talks – Alan D Thompson (AI models to create art, stories, programs, etc.) and Jensen Huang (increasingly large and sophisticated AI models – like the digital twin of Earth and digital twins of people – are built and run on powerful computer chips). After watching these two keynotes, there can be no doubt that AI models are getting bigger with more advanced capabilities to deliver useful service to people, and also that building and using these large AI models takes an enormous amount of (a) data, (b) energy, (c) advanced technology and (d) highly skilled people.
To learn more about the kind of data signals we are sending intentionally and unintentionally consider this…. What most people don’t know or think much about, unless they have studied service-dominant logic and service science to learn about service and service systems is that value is cocreated – meaning that both the service provider and the service customer play an important role. Cocreation is easy to understand in some service systems like education, since a student (customer) who does not prepare well for class may not do very well. Cocreation is harder to understand in some service systems like retail, since it seems like the customer is just buying something to use or consume, but in fact if the customer did not come in prepared and has to return the item, or throw away the item, the costs in the service system may make it difficult for other people to afford the service in the future. Waste is just one of many aspects or characteristics of service systems that is under-studied and leads to unintended consequences – that is not getting the futures we want. For more on waste, read this book Wasted: How We Squander Time, Money, and Natural Resources-and What We Can Do About It. For more on the data we are sharing, read this book What You Don’t Know: AI’s Unseen Influence on Your Life and How to Take Back Control.
The truth of the statement that we get the future we invest in is obvious to some people, but not everyone. However, like the genie in the lamp, AI models can be thought of as powerful servants designed to give us what we want and our collective data tells the AI model what we want. Every customer is a cocreator contributing data to AI models being developed by businesses and governments around the world. To better understand, invest ten minutes as described above and get the book Service in the AI Era. I also recommend pre-ordering Design for a Better World: Meaningful, Sustainable, Humanity Centered .
Investing to get a future we would want to live in requires understanding both AI as well as complex service systems, the data source for AI models
Every person who plays a role in an organization can be thought of as a service provider. Service providers will not be replaced by AI, but service providers who use AI will replace those who don’t. To learn more, please register for the NAE event on Oct 17th, and even if you cannot attend, you will be emailed a summary of the event as well as receive a copy of the book he book Service in the AI Era.