The Dent Effect: How AI Can Transform Humanity for Good
Revolutionizing Good
This is
- your weekly guide and shortcut to mastering emotional intelligence through the power of empathy. I talked recently about how AI can help boost our EQ, through saving our time with menial tasks.
"We're here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise, why else even be here?" said Steve Jobs. Now, Jobs was not the epitome of empathy or emotional intelligence; he was quite the opposite. But we cannot deny that he made a dent in how we live in our universe.
With the news last Monday that DeepSeek was being built for a low $6 million and is comparable to ChatGPT capabilities, I imagine Jobs would have identified this as a "Dent in the Universe."
Coincidentally, I was set to attend the Dent: AI Startup Showcase Reception last Monday evening.
The word empathy was not muttered once.
However, the discussions around how AI can be leveraged for good to revolutionize our daily lives were explored in depth.
What did I learn about how AI is going to transform us or make a "dent" in our lives and our universe?
Disrupt to Create and Innovate
Charlene Li, the renowned author and speaker on transformation strategy and leadership, opened the evening with a bang.
No, not a microphone bang, but a call to attention from the attendees to focus on how conflict can drive innovation.
How? How on earth could a team be successful in moving the needle to innovation if they are ripping each other's heads off? How could this be good?
Li described it not so much in this context but as allowing team members to go against the status quo and having psychological safety to do so. This entails bringing together people from diverse backgrounds, not just race and gender but socio-economic and location. This, combined
Li provided some AI tools, such as Gloat.com and Plum.io, to drive this task of hiring a more varied team.
Having everyone think the same is not the lever to innovation. Thinking differently and being safe to be open are the drivers of innovation. If everyone agrees and has the same viewpoint, how can you break through to new ideas?
My thoughts were that empathy towards one another would go a long way in creating psychological safety in an environment of butting heads. Thinking of the perspective of the room helps when presenting an idea, even one that might not be initially welcomed.
Brains Over Bots: Leveraging Human Smarts in Tech
One of the fireside chats featured Mel Lim, the Founder and CEO of Chateauz. She sat in the middle of the presenters but stole the show by weaving her personal experience, humor, and serious discussion of the human side of Generative AI.
Her sons were in the audience, and she related that with her work in generative AI, she did not want them to think she was working to create the next Skynet. The audience erupted in nervous laughter.
She mentioned the strength of non-linear thinkers (unlike AI): their ability to approach a problem and consider what would work in the solution.
Human Intelligence, as she put it, still had a place and would for the foreseeable future.
As I wrote about last week, she stated how AI can give us more time and take care of several tasks in our day.
AI can give us more time to spend time with each other, be creative, and innovate.
Wandering Led to the Best Conversations
Networking can be awkward. Sometimes you chat with people, and you just want to RUN. Other times, you meet someone and are saddened that you must depart from your brief encounter.
I met with several interesting folks, one of whom I offered to write about his work in more detail here once he is more public with it. I am quite excited about his work, and the beneficial impact on humanity it will have.
The one to highlight would be Steve Broback, Co-founder of Dent The Future. He talked with great passion about NotebookLM. He used it to break down a 250+ book into a conversational 30-minute podcast.
What got me here was not so much the excitement around the tech as the ability to amplify human understanding and make the text of a long book more accessible to the masses. A 30-minute podcast that deep-dives into the key points could be more palatable to a busy professional than sifting through the fine print of a mini novel.
Wandering and starting conversations at Randam can take lots of mental energy from me. But in the end, doing so can lead to the best conversations.
Revolutionize the good
We are at the beginning of the fifth industrial revolution. But why can't we make this not just about the tech but rather how we revolutionize our rising tech to contribute to the greater good?
Last week, this was the cornerstone of the conversation: to contribute to the overall greater good of how we work with AI and leverage it vs. fight against it.
The event coincided with the day DeepSeek's news was announced.
Hearing this news was humbling. It proved that nothing is constant. We must adapt, always. Aside from DeepSeek, the tsunami of change in January proved that. Let's look at Substack, with the adaptation of so much video on our feeds!
As someone who practices emotional intelligence, I do this through self-management, by recognizing the change is there, being curious about it, and detaching judgment as much as possible
When doing this, we can think clearly about the changes at hand, personal or in the broader world, like in tech, and our next steps.
My next step? I am continuing to observe with curiosity and take steps that fit within the greater compass of my values. Like DeepSeek, I am not in there as I am risk-averse to privacy concerns. Video on Substack? I might check it out.
Adapting, collaborating, and not just with machines (AI) will be how we transform ourselves and all of humanity for the greater good.
✅ What I’ve been Analyzing this week (reading, watching, listening, etc.)
📖 I’m reading The AI Playbook: Mastering the Rare Art of Machine Learning Deployment (Management on the Cutting Edge) by Eric Siegel, to learn more about successfully doing deployments, beyond just the tech.
🤖 I attended the Dent:AI Startup Showcase Reception in San Diego, California. You can learn more about how this organization is looking “to make a dent in the universe” here
✍️ I commented on a post by
on the need for documentation, and the benefits of having it for a future date. He also has a recommendation for great tool to use. Give his post a read!Want more on Empathy and Emotional Intelligence to Elevate your career? 📈
I empower💪tech people to elevate their empathy, to accelerate their careers
Thank you for the mention Colette!
I didn't notice, but indeed we're in a whole new era of technological transformation! I've seen people around me resisting to use it, but I don't think we have a choice. It makes us much more effective so we can't ignore AI (but of course, we need to use it carefully).
It'd be like ignoring the internet when it became accessible to everyone.