I’ve long been both paranoid and optimistic about the promise and potential of artificial intelligence to disrupt — well, almost everything. Last year, I was struck by how fast machine learning was developing and I was concerned that both Nokia and I had been a little slow on the uptake. What could I do to educate myself and help the company along?
The Chairman of Nokia on Ensuring Every Employee Has a Basic Understanding of Machine Learning — Including Him
When the chairman of Nokia realized how fast machine learning was developing, he decided to study it himself in order to promote a wider understanding within the organization — not just for engineers, but for all employees. He then developed a plan to help the rest of the organization get up to speed, based on what he’d learned himself. The plan made familiarity with the fundamentals of machine learning a mandatory process for all employees, like knowing the company’s code of conduct. Data scientists were assigned to every project to share their expertise with other employees. Machine learning was integrated into internal processes, and into products and services. Ultimately, the fact that the chairman of the company went back to school to learn a critical piece of technology was a novel enough idea to get people’s attention and encourage them to develop the same skills themselves.