AI Without Acumen = Garbage at the Speed of Light, part 1

 Pascal Dennis, co-author of Harnessing Digital Disruption

 Enter a dojo, cloister, seminary. Seek out a sensei & practice till your mind & body ache.

Executives seeking growth ask, ‘Can AI help us innovate?’  

OpEx/Lean colleagues ask, ‘Can AI help us with continuous improvement?’

Artists ask, ‘Can AI help us create meaningful works of art?’

Here’s my answer to all three groups: AI can help, but only if you’ve paid your dues, and are a resolute craftsman, seeker, and acolyte. Only if you’ve learned the fundamentals through long & diligent study. Otherwise, you’ll be adding to the AI slop sluicing around the world.

Executives must know their business in their bones. OpEx/Lean professionals must have a deep grasp of the problem they’re trying to solve and of OpEx/Lean fundamentals. Artists must know their craft & their chosen instrument. Sorry folks, there are no shortcuts.

The greatest danger posed by AI might be the brutal fallacy that human creativity & achievement are nothing. ‘Look,’ AI tells us, ‘I can create a poem, essay, song, or image in five seconds!’  Hence the proliferation of AI slop.

Let’s look at process improvement. AI can give us generic improvement ideas such as ‘apply visual management,’ or ‘improve connections,’ or ‘build quality into the process’ (Jidoka). But no AI engine cannot tell us where, how and under what circumstances to apply these measures. Nor can AI tell us what form these measures should take. And no AI engine can a) build a team, b) align the team toward a great aspiration, and c) motivate the team so that they continually try to get better.

AI engines are akin to a smart intern or research assistant. In the hands of a skilled practitioner, AI saves time & effort, freeing us up to get at the crux of the problem or job at hand. Beware using AI as a crutch or a short cut. Learn the fundamentals of your chosen business, discipline, or art. Put in the needed reps, cloister yourself with you craft, remote from AI support. Why, you ask? Because practice makes you smarter. And not doing so – asking AI to do the reps for you – will surely make you dumber. And you’ll create garbage at the speed of light.

Enter a dojo, a cloister, a seminary. Seek out a sensei and practice till your mind & body ache. If you’re slammed into the tatami mat seven times, get up eight times! Practice, practice, practice the core elements of your chosen business, discipline, or art, before you think about AI.

Best wishes,

Pascal Dennis         E: pascal.dennis@leansystems.org

In case you missed earlier blogs... please feel free to have another look….
Smart Growth (continued) - the Hacker
Innovation Fundamentals - Radical Collaboration & the 3H Model
My Hockey Stick Curve, part 1
Smart Growth - the Huslter

#AIDiscipline #CraftOverShortcut #HumanCreativityMatters #LeanAndLearn #PracticeBeforeAI #NoAISlopZone