Amazon's CEO on AI: "Be curious, educate yourself"

I spend a lot of time working with senior executives discussing AI, especially from a strategic and business perspective.

When I explain that my #1 recommendation is "learn, learn, learn," I often see looks of disappointment on the faces of these executives. I think that's because, by default, 'training' or 'education' isn't something that many senior employees concern themselves with.

It's usually something that is exported to the HR team to manage. It's a cost and unfortunately it's often not viewed by many as an investment.

I go on to explain that, yes, I do mean that general employees should get some kind of training about AI, but actually, my key focus is on senior executives and their reports.

Too often, I meet individuals who haven't taken more than 5 minutes to look outside and see what's going on with AI – or consider the potential (or actual) implications for themselves and their company.

This is understandable. I know what it's like. In many cases, senior executive lifestyle is a constant barrage of micro and macro decisions, every single moment of the day. It's full on and constant. Your calendar is often fully committed, before you even get out of bed on 1st of January – you're in constant committee meetings and review meetings. Not because it's efficient, but it's because this is how a lot of companies 'do work'.

By the time 8 or 9pm rolls around, you are absolutely wiped out. So finding the time to sit, look, listen, and learn is incredibly difficult.

But I think it's absolutely crucial to understand what's happening and what the technology can do today – and what it (and the surrounding ecosystems of robotics, for example) are likely to be able to do 'tomorrow'.

I was prompted to think of this as I read Andy Jassy's (Amazon's CEO) note to his employees yesterday about AI. He highlights that it's likely that Amazon will need less people doing existing roles. This is a shot across the bow for all employees – another public acknowledgement that demand for existing roles is subject to (potential) wholesale change in the coming years. Andy does highlight that there are going to be other emerging jobs as a result. What the proportions will look like though, none of us know.

He offers this advice for his colleagues which I felt was worth quoting:

As we go through this transformation together, be curious about AI, educate yourself, attend workshops and take trainings, use and experiment with AI whenever you can, participate in your team’s brainstorms to figure out how to invent for our customers more quickly and expansively, and how to get more done with scrappier teams.

I think that's the best advice I've seen so far from an industry leader such as Andy.