Author: Radu Tebeică

I’m a software maker, an educator, a volunteer and a human being

Although I had just a small speech at the end, I decided early on to attend the conference from the very start. In part, because of the venue and for a chance to stroll through the corridors of an iconic building before the guards ask me to return to my event. But, mostly because of curiosity. 

We all see the hype brought by the rise of generative AI, but if you look closer, there is still very little impact in the real world, for real problems.

We can create text, images and even video, our usage costs heavily discounted by large corporations, but in a world filled with spam and scams, this is more of a problem than a solution. 

We can search using natural language, but sometimes the results are lies and you need to already be an expert in the field to spot the truth from the lies.

We can generate code, but as soon as the problem goes beyond trivial, you start having bugs in your code and need a professional to separate the good from the meh.

So, filled with curiosity, I came to see if there is anything beyond the hype when we apply AI to product management. Because product management deals with real people, with interpersonal issues, with different definitions of success and too little time. And if we can apply AI to this field, then maybe, just maybe, I can apply it to teaching young children about technology!

I did not find something to directly help me as an educator, but I did find something else.

I found a speaker providing tools for free, in the hope that they could be useful for others.

I found high school students competing in international events, focused on passing on their legacy of excellence to newer students. 

I found thoughts on detoxifying work environments by using AI to analyse work conversations and exit interviews.

I found exactly what we should find in this AI revolution: hope for a brighter future, tempered by concerns about privacy and automatic systems influencing more and more of our decisions every day. 

I found people, real people, interested and interesting. I can’t wait to see what the next conference brings!

Thank you for inviting me,

Radu