What service design professionals need to know about AI / Jillian Powers / Episode #156

Aug 18, 2022

Jillian Powers, Global Head of Responsible AI at Cognizant, is passionate about ethical technology. She discusses the crucial role service design professionals play in ensuring AI is developed responsibly. Jillian emphasizes understanding AI's inner workings without needing a math background. She highlights the need for transparency in high-stakes fields like healthcare and warns against biases in data. With personal insights and practical advice, she inspires designers to incorporate human perspectives in AI to create positive societal impacts.

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Intro

00:00 • 4min

Ethics and AI: A Personal Journey

04:20 • 7min

Navigating AI: Ethics, Training, and Legislation

11:28 • 14min

Navigating AI and Service Design

25:27 • 9min

Navigating AI and Ethical Service Design

34:40 • 14min

Integrating AI with Service Design

49:05 • 8min

Exploring the Intersection of AI and Service Design

57:11 • 2min

It's not a secret... Every day we are outsourcing more and more of our decisions to AI algorithms.

Some of these decisions are frivolous, like determining if that's a cat in the photo. Other decisions are of much higher stake, like whether you will get that medical treatment.

Especially with the last kind of decisions, we'd better ensure that these algorithms are designed and used responsibly. And according to Jillian Powers, service design professionals must play a vital role in this process.

This means we need to get familiar and comfortable with this new technology. But how? Well, in this episode, Jillian gives a "data science 101" for designers. I assure you that there won't be any complex computer math that you need to understand. On the contrary, you'll hear that bringing the human perspective into the conversation is the thing that's currently missing.

This is one of those episodes that shines a light on a blind spot that you didn't even realize you had. So grab your notebook and click the link below! I feel Jillian does a great job at demystifying AI to the point that it might even get you excited to get involved :)

Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact!

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Welcome to episode 156
03:30 Who is Jillian
04:30 Lightning round
06:30 Jillian's journey
10:45 Unpacking AI
15:45 Understanding the AI backend
19:30 Things to be mindful of
22:15 It's up to the humans
23:45 When is it unethical not to use AI
24:45 The role of service design
27:30 The good and bad examples
29:30 Where are the service designers
32:30 How to make AI better
34:45 AI in the design process
37:00 Working with biases
38:45 How do we get involved
42:15 When do people reach out
44:45 Moments of entry
49:30 Where to start
52:15 The biggest misconceptions
54:45 Is it for me?
56:15 Final thoughts

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillian-powers-phd-6b7b4420/
Episode with Carly Burton (YouTube) - https://youtu.be/aBQyUQ0UJWc
Algorithmic Justice League - https://www.ajl.org
Book: Weapons Of Math Destruction - https://amzn.to/3A619gm
Anatomy of AI - https://anatomyof.ai/

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

Join our private community for in-house service design professionals who want to make a change in their organisation.

https://servicedesignshow.com/circle