AISW #018: Anonymous3, USA-based engineering bid manager 📜 (AI, Software, & Wetware interview)
An interview with an anonymous USA-based engineering bid manager on their stories of using AI and how they feel about how AI is using people's data and content.
Introduction
This post is part of our 6P interview series on “AI, Software, and Wetware”. Our guests share their experiences with using AI, and how they feel about AI using their data and content.
Note: In this article series, “AI” means artificial intelligence and spans classical statistical methods, data analytics, machine learning, generative AI, and other non-generative AI. See this Glossary and “AI Fundamentals #01: What is Artificial Intelligence?” for reference.
Interview - Anonymous3
I’m delighted to welcome Anonymous3 as our next guest for “AI, Software, and Wetware”. Thank you so much for joining me today! Please tell us about yourself, who you are, and what you do.
I’m an engineering professional with almost 40 years of experience working in various technical capacities. I’ve worked for several large companies with most of my work being in the energy and transit industries.
I’m currently a Senior Bid Manager for a global company working on railway and transit projects. My responsibilities include coordinating internal functional disciplines and supporting the development of estimates and proposals for large, complex transit bids. My focus includes both technical and commercial aspects of a bid and involves extensive collaboration with many areas and levels of the organization as well as members of partner companies.
That sounds like a complex role.
What is your experience with AI, ML, and analytics? Have you used it professionally or personally, or studied the technology?
I have very limited experience with artificial intelligence or machine learning. My current employer just recently made available to us, via their intranet site, an AI platform that we can utilize. I’ve not yet had the opportunity to try this technology.
My only personal experience with AI comes from daily interactions with Google searches and word suggestion prompts when typing on my iPhone.
Can you share a specific story on how you have used AI or ML? What are your thoughts on how well the AI features of those tools worked for you, or didn’t? What went well and what didn’t go so well?
I have no specific examples using AI, other than experimenting with generating a summary from a random technical article.
I’ve heard mixed opinions about how useful those AI summaries are.
If you have avoided using AI-based tools for some things (or anything), can you share an example of when, and why you chose not to use AI?
My hesitation with using AI-based tools is mostly from lack of knowledge/experience with the technology. My biggest concern is with the accuracy of the information provided. I have no way of easily verifying if the responses provided are accurate or biased in any way.
That’s a completely valid concern, especially with generative AI tools! Those AI summaries have been reported to sometimes be inaccurate.
How do you feel about companies using data and content for training their AI and ML systems and tools? Should ethical AI tool companies get consent from (and compensate) people whose data they want to use for training?
This topic is beyond my area of knowledge, but I would expect to see transparency in the collection and usage of data and content for training.
Ideally, I believe AI companies should get consent from people whose data they want to use. However, I don’t have a lot of faith that that will ever occur.
A lot of people share that belief and that skepticism. It’s somewhat like ‘closing the barn door after the horse is out’ at this point.
As members of the public, there are cases where our personal data or content may have been used, or has been used, by an AI-based tool or system. Do you know of any cases that you could share?
I have very limited use of social media platforms, but have certainly seen a large impact in my use of Google, Twitter, and YouTube. Every day, I see targeted advertisements and recommendations based on my recent searches and/or online purchases.
That’s super common nowadays. Privacy-protective browsers and plugins help, but even then, our data seems to get captured and sold.
Do you know of any company you gave your data or content to that made you aware that they might use your info for training AI/ML? Or have you been surprised by finding out they were using it for AI?
I don’t know of any company that has made me aware they might use my info for training AI/ML. I was surprised and startled to see that my iPhone/iCloud photos were categorized and put into groups by AI.
That’s a good example. Our ‘consent’ for that feature was probably buried in the updated terms and conditions when one of the new iOS updates was pushed out. What concerns me more is that we don’t know whether they’re using our personal photos on our phones for training only those models, or other models and tools too, and whether our photos might ‘leak’ into other software products they make.
Has a company’s use of your personal data and content created any specific issues for you, such as privacy or phishing? If so, can you give an example?
Nothing as serious as loss of income, but I have seen an increase in phishing emails and have experienced several occasions of my personal data getting stolen from reputable companies.
Yeah, it seems like we hear about new data breaches every month - the risks of identity theft and other crimes are real.
Public distrust of AI and tech companies has been growing. What do you think is THE most important thing that AI companies need to do to earn and keep your trust? Do you have specific ideas on how they can do that?
Providing full transparency on how data is collected and used.
I think most of the world agrees with you on that!
Anonymous3, thank you so much for joining our interview series. It’s been great learning about what you’re doing with artificial intelligence tools, how you decide when to use human intelligence for some things, and how you feel about use of your data.
About this interview series and newsletter
This post is part of our 2024 interview series on “AI, Software, and Wetware”. It showcases how real people around the world are using their wetware (brains and human intelligence) with AI-based software tools or being affected by AI.
And we’re all being affected by AI nowadays in our daily lives, perhaps more than we realize. For some examples, see post “But I don’t use AI”!
We want to hear from a diverse pool of people worldwide in a variety of roles. If you’re interested in being a featured interview guest (anonymous or with credit), please get in touch!
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Credits and References
Microphone photo by Michal Czyz on Unsplash (contact Michal Czyz on LinkedIn)
