Vandi Verma, chief engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, discusses the opportunities for AI in robotics and automation on Mars. She explains how AI is used in digital twin simulations for practicing driving skills before controlling rovers. Verma explores the similarities between risk decisions in Mars exploration and autonomous driving, highlighting the importance of simulations. She also addresses the potential and misconceptions surrounding AI, personal aspirations, challenges in neural networks, limitations of AI in space exploration, and lessons applicable to other areas.

Chevron's first chief data officer, Ellen Nielsen, discusses the company's use of AI and machine learning in various areas such as tank inspection, digital twins for simulation, and equipment monitoring. She also talks about Chevron's citizen development program, which empowers employees with AI tools. The podcast explores the potential of AI in healthcare, climate transition, and education systems.

Director of product for Shopify, Miqdad Jaffer, talks about how generative AI enhances Shopify's offerings, allowing users to complete administrative tasks quickly. He explains the importance of keeping users in control and shares Shopify's approach. AI-powered tools like Shopify Magic and Shop.AI help entrepreneurs start and grow businesses efficiently.

Ayelet Israeli, assistant professor at Harvard Business School, discusses the opportunities and limitations of generative AI in market research. She explores how AI can simulate focus groups and surveys, reducing time and cost. They also discuss the rationality of marketing strategies and the challenge of finding extreme ideas. Israeli highlights the potential of AI in addressing bias and generating unbiased outcomes, mentioning the improvement in AI models over time.

Shilpa Prasad, entrepreneur in residence at LG Nova's innovation incubator, discusses the role of AI in the enterprise and its transformative potential. She explores bringing AI technologies to market, the challenges of measuring impact, and the importance of collaboration with startups.

Anders Sjögren, Technical leader for a major automaker, explains Volvo's use of data and AI in manufacturing, driver experience, and safety. He discusses smart technology for keeping drivers alert, Volvo's approach to technology-driven innovation, and the intersection of AI and safety. Also, the guest expresses concerns about the development of super powerful language models and discusses the future of AI for the common good.

Matt Mahmoudi and Damini Satija discuss the importance of AI regulation in addressing harms caused by the technology. They highlight the dangers of AI tools and envision a future where power structures are dismantled. They emphasize the ethical responsibility of workers in relation to AI technology and call for continued support of the podcast.

Amnesty International researchers discuss the risks of AI tools for human rights and highlight examples like facial recognition tracking of social activists and automated decisions in public housing. They emphasize that fixing bias and discrimination requires human intervention and changes to public policy.

Pinterest's Jeremy King discusses the role of AI in their image-driven platform, including the use of generative AI and graph databases. They also explore how AI analyzes images and unstructured text, and the challenges and potential of language translation technologies. Rapid fire questions and a sponsorship mention wrap up this informative and entertaining episode.

When Zan Gilani came to the U.S. from Pakistan to complete his undergraduate studies, he chose to study Chinese because it was rumored to be a difficult language. At the time, the tech industry was booming, and he quickly became interested in applying his passion for foreign languages and learning more generally in a technology-rich environment.Those interests led Zan to Duolingo, where he has been working in product management for eight years and now oversees the app company’s experiential AI team. What excites him about working at the language-learning app company is his ability to help build solutions that enable personalized education at scale: The app boasts over 16 million daily active users, and AI-driven functionality motivates them through frequent notifications, personalizes learning experiences by adjusting the difficulty of questions in practice sessions, and observes and critiques learners’ performance.Zan joins our podcast to outline the specific ways Duolingo uses AI and machine learning to drive user engagement, and discuss how the technology can be used to support learning more generally. Read the episode transcript here.Me, Myself, and AI is a collaborative podcast from MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group and is hosted by Sam Ransbotham and Shervin Khodabandeh. Our engineer is David Lishansky, and the coordinating producers are Allison Ryder and Sophie Rüdinger.Stay in touch with us by joining our LinkedIn group, AI for Leaders at mitsmr.com/AIforLeaders or by following Me, Myself, and AI on LinkedIn.Guest bio:Zan Gilani is a principal product manager at Duolingo. For the past eight years, he has helped grow the company’s learner base from 3 million to 16 million daily active users by working on retention, acquisition, growth in Asia, gamification, and the new-user experience.He currently leads Duolingo’s Experimental AI team, which uses generative AI to build features that teach learners more effectively. More broadly, Gilani is working on setting Duolingo up for success using generative AI, through external partnerships and internal education.Gilani grew up in Karachi, Pakistan, and is currently based in New York City. He has bachelor’s degrees in political science and East Asian studies from Columbia University.We encourage you to rate and review our show. Your comments may be used in Me, Myself, and AI materials.