Happy Thursday, gang! Today we diverge from the rest of the media landscape by barely talking about tariffs, but we do take a look at a whole bunch of new research into how businesses are using generative AI, Zoom fatigue and the potential harms from AI companions…. so let’s get into it!
Heads up, we’re taking a little Easter break for the next couple of Thursdays and there won’t be another edition of Playbook until May - miss you already! xx
The layout and premise of the newsletter is simple: a once-a-week sheep-dip of tech, culture, policy and research stories, which I hope you enjoy. If you think friends or colleagues would benefit, please share with them so they can subscribe on Substack or LinkedIn.
Best wishes, Alex.
1. Tech innovation
Following the tragic suicide of a Florida teen, which his mother alleges was directly as a result of his relationship with an AI companion created by Character.AI, California state senator Steve Padilla is introducing a Bill which would make technology companies responsible for the actions of their AI chatbots, requiring child-protection safeguards to be implemented.
A new research paper from authors at the Oxford Internet Institute and Google DeepMind (among others) digs into this new technical challenge: “the emergence of deeper, more persistent relationships between humans and AI systems”, looking at “how increasingly capable AI agents may generate the perception of deeper relationships with users, especially as AI becomes more personalised and agentic.”
This is also picked up in an interesting article in The Algorithm this week, which explores the critical difference between standard social media and the introduction of far more ‘agentic’ AI companions: “we are moving toward a world where people perceive AI as a social actor with its own voice. The result will be like the attention economy on steroids.”
2. Culture
Businesses are starting to make organisational changes designed to generate future value from generative AI, and enterprise-scale firms are leading the way, according to the latest QuantumBlack / McKinsey global survey on AI.
Correlating with previous research published by the Data Strategy Alliance into success factors for digital transformation, there is a strong correlation between senior management sponsorship and successful deployment of gen AI: 28% of firms report that the CEO is leading AI programmes, while for 17% it is the board of directors. As the report puts it, “a CEO’s oversight of AI governance - that is, the policies, processes, and technology necessary to develop and deploy AI systems responsibly - is one element most correlated with higher self-reported bottom-line impact from an organisation’s gen AI use.”
Rather than delegating AI deployment to the IT function, QuantumBlack’s Alexander Sukharevsky clarifies the importance of C-suite sponsorship, saying “getting real value out of AI requires transformation, not just technology. It’s a question of successful change management and mobilisation, which is why C-suite leadership is essential.”
In most cases, generative AI deployment is still at early stages and the majority of firms lack consistent risk and reporting structures one would expect to find with more mature technologies: fewer than one in five reported their organisations were tracking KPIs for gen AI solutions, for example.
Interestingly, while the number of AI specialist roles being hired into companies is relatively unchanged from the previous year’s survey, what has changed is the types of specialism, with 13% of respondents hiring experts in AI compliance, with a further 6% seeking those AI ethics specialists.
While the number of firms reporting the use of AI in at least one business process has increased over the past year from 72-78%, the most telling increase from the perspective of overall business impact was that, for the first time, most survey respondents reported the use of AI in more than one business function.
If you’re interested, the full State of AI Report is always worth a read.
3. Policy & research
Although most of us are returning to the office (or being pressured to do so), virtual meetings are now permanent feature of our workplace experience and research last summer suggested that one in three professionals regularly have up to four virtual meetings every day.
Last year’s study from Cisco (whose Webex platform has been the source of many home-office screams of frustration), estimated that 98% of all organisational meetings will have at least one remote participant going forward.
Researchers at MIT last week showed that not only is Zoom fatigue real, it’s a measurable neurological phenomenon. Using brain and heart monitoring experiments on 65 subjects to assess how the human body responds when engaged in virtual meetings, they were able to demonstrate that, regardless of platform, virtual participation was more psychologically draining than face-to-face meetings.
It’s a small sample, so without correlating studies into how exhausting it is to be in those meetings inside an actual meeting room, it’s hard to conclude whether going into the office is better for you that dialling in, or whether home-workers should just schedule more afternoon naps 😴.
4. Reading List
I normally churn through a couple of books a week, but this one took a solid eight days (and not just because I was busy!)
Extremely thorough in her research and sourcing (chapters typically have between 100-250 endnotes), Grace Blakeley’s new book Vulture Capitalism makes the case for the many and varied ways neoliberalism and capitalism have destroyed democracy, freedom and our planet.
She argues that free markets aren’t really free, that record corporate profits don’t trickle down to everyone else, and that we aren’t empowered to make our own choices – they’re made for us every day.
Taking on the world’s most powerful figures and corporations – from JP Morgan to Boeing, Jeff Bezos to Donald Trump – Vulture Capitalism uncovers the causes of our modern crisis to reveal the true motives of our capitalist system. Because it isn’t broken: it’s working exactly as planned.
It’s a hard, ‘concentratey’ read, but genuinely enlightening. I was surprised how many of the case studies and examples she uses are stories I had heard or read before, but it was astonishing to see them all compiled in such a compelling avalanche of data.
The book is not without hope and cites a number of stories of collective action and grassroots political engagement, from all over the world. Well worth a read, especially if you like a bit of righteous anger with your morning coffee.
5. Playbook picks & worthy clicks
My new book, Data Culture, is now available to pre-order (Waterstones)
Google appears to be launching models faster than it can publicly verify their safety (TechCrunch)
Consulting giant BCG hires 1,000 staffers for AI boom (Bloomberg)
Orange Monday tariffs to impact average U.S. household to the tune of $3,800 per year (Yale Budget Lab)
Harvard Business School makes an AI class required for all MBA candidates (Harvard Crimson)
The UK government is building a “murder prediction” tool (Guardian)
EU decisions on Apple & Meta due in coming weeks, says antitrust chief (Reuters)
Cyberattacks by AI agents are coming (Technology Review)
Now, you can follow Digital Culture Playbook on LinkedIn (please do!)
Wishing you all a fab weekend when you get there!