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Evaluating AI
How to think about vendors, technology, and power
Artificial intelligence is everywhere. The conversations are ubiquitous and the technology is rapidly transforming. It dominates the conferences I attend and the strategy blogs I read across journalism and tech. This week, even Mark Zuckerberg, seeing the writing on the wall, published an essay about Meta building “a personal superintelligence that serves everyone”.
So I thought this might be a good time to talk about how I’m thinking about AI.
This is my personal mental model (not, to be clear, a company policy at my employer). A few people have said it’s helped them make decisions about AI in their own teams, workplaces, and lives, so I thought I’d share.
My approach to evaluating AI is through two main lenses: the technology itself and the vendors who make it.
Let’s start with the vendors, since they shape how we access the technology.
AI vendors
In turn, we should think about evaluating vendors in terms of two questions: what do they want? and how do they work?
Understanding these dynamics helps you predict how they’ll evolve and whether their interests align with yours.
