Vivienne Ming

My guest today argues in her new book that while AI may be a useful tool, it may also be making us dumber.

Dr. Vivian Ming is a theoretical neuroscientist who has spent nearly 30 years in the field of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

She has started 13 companies and invented six life-saving technologies.

She calls herself a professional mad scientist.

It'd be fun, but we'll keep it a two syllable word so they understand us.

Absolutely.

So you describe yourself as a computational neuroscientist.

Can you explain what that really means? And was that the motivation for writing your book, Robot Proof, when machines have all the answers, build better people?

Well, and that's actually really interesting.

Like, you know, friend of the podcast, Vivian Ming, would argue that the magic of AI is in actually human and AI interaction.

being complimentary, right? Not substitutes for each other.

And that the tensions that are created there, not just the collaborative work, help the humans do a better job.

Now let's get on to the interview.

My guest today is Vivian Ming.

Vivian is a theoretical neuroscientist, a serial entrepreneur.

She's founded seven startups.

It, it's, it's having a profound impact on my thinking.

It's called "Robot-Proof" by Vivian Ming.

Uh, she's a fascinating character, but this, this book is extraordinary in the approach that it takes to ensuring that humanity remains relevant and, and thrives, uh, when AI is there handling all of these routine tasks, uh, that humans are no longer required to perform.

So she points out through her work in recruiting and in education, uh, that predictors of success are things like social intelligence, perspective-taking, communication and collaboration, the ability to solve novel problems, comfort with uncertainty, and deeply human capacities that increase in value as AI gets smarter.

I can highly recommend Vivian's book.

And she's got a website and she's got analytics you can take so you can test out like what, how capable are your people? So it's Vivian Ming, M-I-N-G.

And her book is something like when the robots have all the answers, build better humans, something like that.

Right.