How to Be Awesome at Your Job

984: Building Skills Better in an AI-Driven World with Matt Beane

Aug 5, 2024

37:12

Snipd AI

Matt Beane, a groundbreaking researcher on AI's impact on work, discusses how the obsession with productivity may be stunting our growth. He reveals a trillion-dollar problem linked to optimization and shares how AI tools like ChatGPT can be adapted to boost learning. Beane emphasizes the necessity of challenge and mentorship in skill development, along with the value of nudges to foster better habits. He also advocates for embracing struggle in learning, reminding us that personal connections are vital in an increasingly tech-driven world.

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Quick takeaways

The overemphasis on productivity through AI often compromises essential skill development opportunities for new workers, creating long-term challenges.

Effective skill development relies on challenge, complexity, and human connection, all of which must be integrated into learning processes.

Deep dives

The Trillion-Dollar Problem of Optimization

The overemphasis on productivity through technology, such as AI and robotics, often sacrifices the involvement of novices in various sectors. This results in a significant loss of skill development opportunities for newcomers, who gain crucial experience by assisting experts. The pressure to deliver immediate productivity gains leads organizations to favor efficiency over comprehensive training, creating a long-term issue. In essence, while expert workers may enjoy short-term benefits, the broader implications could result in a workforce that is unprepared and lacking essential skills, presenting a trillion-dollar problem for the economy.

Prioritize Novices for Sustainable Growth

01:18

Embrace Struggle for Growth

01:25

Intro

4min

Navigating Skill Development in an AI Era

16min

The Power of Defaults: Nudging Better Learning Practices

3min

AI in Skill Development and Coding

10min

Exploring Skills, Science, and Personal Rituals

3min

Balancing Productivity and Learning in the Age of AI

2min

Matt Beane reveals how the quest to optimize productivity is harming our learning and growth–and what you can do about it.

— YOU’LL LEARN —

1) The trillion-dollar problem with trying to optimize everything

2) How to modify ChatGPT to help you learn better

3) Three counterintuitive ways to learn better and faster

Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep984 for clickable versions of the links below.

— ABOUT MATT —

Matt Beane does field research on work involving robots and AI to uncover systematic positive exceptions that we can use across the broader world of work. His award-winning research has been published in top management journals such as Administrative Science Quarterly and Harvard Business Review, and he has spoken on the TED stage. He also took a two-year hiatus from his PhD at MIT’s Sloan School of Management to help found and fund Humatics, a full-stack IoT startup. In 2012 he was selected as a Human-Robot Interaction Pioneer, and in 2021 was named to the Thinkers50 Radar list.

Beane is an assistant professor in the Technology Management department at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Digital Fellow with Stanford’s Digital Economy Lab and MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy. When he’s not studying intelligent technologies and learning, he enjoys playing guitar; his morning coffee ritual with his wife, Kristen; and reading science fiction—a lot of science fiction. He lives in Santa Barbara, California.

• Book: The Skill Code: How to Save Human Ability in an Age of Intelligent Machines

• Article: “Gen AI Is Coming for Remote Workers First”

• Substack: "Don't Let AI Dumb You Down"

• TED Talk: How do we learn to work with intelligent machines? | Matt Beane

• Website: MattBeane.com

— RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW —

• Study: “GPTs are GPTs: An early look at the labor market impact potential of large language models” by Tyna Eloundou, Sam Manning, Pamela Mishkin, and Daniel Rock

• Book: Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology by Chris Miller

• Book: There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm

— THANK YOU SPONSORS! —

• Jenni Kayne. Use the code AWESOME15 to get 15% off your order!

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