Starting with “Why” in AI
On the Fear of Death and building legacies, not technologies
Simon Sinek often spouts that when setting up a business or setting out to accomplish an audacious goal, think long and hard about why you’re doing it.
He famously captured this in his seminal work “Start with Why”, an approach to life and business that many entrepreneurs have adopted. The proposition is that the most successful ideas and businesses have a clear and authentic purpose that sustains them. In other words, if you want a product or service that is a perennial seller, you better be sure that your customers feel emotionally connected with your clearly defined purpose.
A few days ago, I was preparing to deliver a talk at The Global Diwan conference in Monaco, an exclusive meeting of East and West leaders. I’ve given hundreds of talks over the years on AI and have recently been feeling kind of bored hearing myself talk again; so I engaged in some reflection to remind myself of why the topic was important and why contributing on that stage would be of value to others.
The topic at hand was about the role of digitalization and AI in preserving arts, culture and heritage.
