S7E7: Navigating the New AI Frontier feat. Mark Sunday

Today we are starting our series of conversations about
Artificial Intelligence and how it's changing the way we learn,
work, and even play. AI is a hot topic with the potential to do a
lot of good. But there are also a few pitfalls that we should all
be aware of.





Joining the show to help us start making sense of it all is Mark
Sunday. Mark spent 20 years as the CIO at Oracle/Siebel, and
prior to that role, he spent 10 years at Motorola.





Retirement hasn't slowed him down one bit. He is still very
engaged in the tech industry and currently serves on the boards
of Vutility, Quantum Metric, Chassis, Kaltura, and 1440. He is
also a member of the Eccles Advisory Board here at the David
Eccles School of Business and was appointed by the Governor to
Utah's STEM Action Center. 





He sits down with host Frances Johnson to dive into the evolution
of AI technologies, the challenges of bias and discrimination in
AI data, and the opportunities AI presents for enhancing human
productivity. Emphasizing the importance of retraining and
upskilling, this episode highlights the steps organizations and
educational institutions must take to integrate AI into their
curricula and work environments.





Eccles Business Buzz is a production of the David Eccles School
of Business and is produced by University fm.



Episode Quotes:




Examining the risks of AI





9:00 When I just type the word “Google,” it comes up with stuff
that's relevant. Like, for me, I'm a big Michigan football fan,
so Michigan football, AI, [and] a number of other topics. I like
that it's showing me stuff, but I hate, hate that, based on what
people have demonstrated they like,  it's really limiting
what information and news and opinions that people get to
experience. So, I think it's created an incredible amount of
divisiveness  within our country. While data can buy a bias,
but also using real data, and then just repeating patterns,
whether it was hiring male engineers,  whether it was 
suggesting that Black inmates are more likely to create repeat
crimes  or just creating a filter bubble where we're only
exposed to opinions that support or reinforce opinions that we've
had, I think is hugely problematic.





How should individuals and institutions respond to the
rise of AI?





11:42 We've always faced this, whether it be computers or the
internet just has to change. Yes,  jobs are eliminated,
should be eliminated.  It was underemployment to have people
pump your gas, and then, when it became legal in all states
except for Oregon, until very recently to be able to pump your
own gas, I look at that as underemployment when people aren't
reaching the potential of the contribution that they can
do.  So, what's going to happen is roles are just going to
have to change. We need to be aware of that. As individuals, we
need to take personal responsibility. But also, as organizations,
we need to invest in retraining because there are a lot of new
jobs that are created—AI trainers, data scientists, ethics
officers. But we're going to have to upskill and adapt.





Despite the risks, Mark urges students to embrace AI’s
game-changing potential.





21:11 We need for our students to be the very, very best at
leveraging this technology. It's game-changing. It's as if
calculators came out, and when I went to school, nope, we're
going to have to select the slide rules, or computers came out
and it's going to do the work for all of us, or the web came out
and now people can do Google searches.  This is far, far
bigger.  In fact, when we are recruiting for our new dean
for the business school, I’m convinced that higher ed will change
more in the next 10 years than it has in the previous 100. And AI
is going to be the reason for that. And so, as we think of what
we're going to be as a business school, as we think of what we're
going to be as a university, we need to be prepared for this
huge, huge transformation.



Show Links:

Mark Sunday | LinkedIn

Oracle

Kahlert Initiative on Technology - The David Eccles School of
Business

STEM Action Center

David Eccles School of Business (@ubusiness) • Instagram

Eccles Alumni Network (@ecclesalumni) • Instagram 

Eccles Experience Magazine