Thank you Marcela for putting together this piece! It was enriching to research the trends in credit and loan approvals in finance. And amazing to have Jessica and Sam underline trade offs in healthcare and education domains.
Jessica, it was a privilege to have you. Your point of view from the medical field is vital, as it is a highly sensitive area. In this context, automation isn't just about efficiency, it's about systems where the ultimate cost can be a life.
What I appreciate here is how clearly you name the real cost of automation. Algorithms don’t just optimize outcomes, they freeze decisions that used to be negotiated, questioned, and contextual. Losing the ability to argue is the part we rarely talk about, and this piece brings that loss into focus across domains where people have no real opt out.
Thank you for naming this so clearly! I really appreciate how you put it, especially the idea that automation can freeze decisions that once required negotiation and judgment. That loss of the ability to argue, question, or contextualize is exactly the cost that tends to stay invisible. I’m glad the piece helped bring that into focus.🙌
I’m 100% with you on this. You’ve captured something vital: the way automation replaces human negotiation with rigid logic. We often overlook the loss of the right to argue, and your brilliantly expose how this plays out in areas where people are essentially forced to participate
Why did I just now come across this?? Amazing piece! Everyone talks about AI biases but few realize the real problem is humans choosing the wrong trade-offs.
“The trade-off: institutional security vs. individual friction”
nice chapter. i agree there is a scale here. it’s one of an organizations defining features imo. finding the balance of security vs friction is super important. great stuff :)
The reality of automation "hiding tradeoffs in the code" is something I think enterprises are still grappling to understand. The evidence is overwhelming: landing new technologies on top of broken systems does not magically fix the system. Rather, it codifies the reasons why it was broken in the first place! I recently explored that topic (https://substack.com/home/post/p-184518147). To me, the single most important thing we can all do (as leaders in enterprise, or leaders in our communities) is to build a pragmatic understanding of AI (Slow AI), not for "tips and tricks," but for real substance, and to help us ask better questions, not just of AI, but of the systems and vendors we engage with on a regular basis. Thanks for this article! It was a great read!
Thank you, Bogdan!! This is such an important point. Technology doesn’t fix broken systems; it codifies them. I really appreciate your emphasis on Slow AI and on building understanding for the sake of better questions, not shortcuts. I’m glad the piece resonated.🤝
Thank you Marcela for putting together this piece! It was enriching to research the trends in credit and loan approvals in finance. And amazing to have Jessica and Sam underline trade offs in healthcare and education domains.
this was an awesome piece and I'm thankful to be a part of it!! thank you so much for having me, Marcela!!!
Jessica, it was a privilege to have you. Your point of view from the medical field is vital, as it is a highly sensitive area. In this context, automation isn't just about efficiency, it's about systems where the ultimate cost can be a life.
What I appreciate here is how clearly you name the real cost of automation. Algorithms don’t just optimize outcomes, they freeze decisions that used to be negotiated, questioned, and contextual. Losing the ability to argue is the part we rarely talk about, and this piece brings that loss into focus across domains where people have no real opt out.
Thank you for naming this so clearly! I really appreciate how you put it, especially the idea that automation can freeze decisions that once required negotiation and judgment. That loss of the ability to argue, question, or contextualize is exactly the cost that tends to stay invisible. I’m glad the piece helped bring that into focus.🙌
I’m 100% with you on this. You’ve captured something vital: the way automation replaces human negotiation with rigid logic. We often overlook the loss of the right to argue, and your brilliantly expose how this plays out in areas where people are essentially forced to participate
Why did I just now come across this?? Amazing piece! Everyone talks about AI biases but few realize the real problem is humans choosing the wrong trade-offs.
Thank you guys for another wake up call :)
Thanks to you Mia! And your robots
Thank you Mia! @Marcela Distefano did an amazing job in bringing people together for this. 🙏
You inspired me and a lot of people to do this kind of work, so i am very grateful to you 🤗
“The trade-off: institutional security vs. individual friction”
nice chapter. i agree there is a scale here. it’s one of an organizations defining features imo. finding the balance of security vs friction is super important. great stuff :)
Making trade-offs visible, and contestable, before they harden into infrastructure is exactly the conversation we need more of
Exactly Petar!
Agreed, Petar! Thank you for reading!!
Amazing
Thanks for reading Cathy!
🙌🏼🙌🏼
Thanks. This was a great team effort. 🙏
The reality of automation "hiding tradeoffs in the code" is something I think enterprises are still grappling to understand. The evidence is overwhelming: landing new technologies on top of broken systems does not magically fix the system. Rather, it codifies the reasons why it was broken in the first place! I recently explored that topic (https://substack.com/home/post/p-184518147). To me, the single most important thing we can all do (as leaders in enterprise, or leaders in our communities) is to build a pragmatic understanding of AI (Slow AI), not for "tips and tricks," but for real substance, and to help us ask better questions, not just of AI, but of the systems and vendors we engage with on a regular basis. Thanks for this article! It was a great read!
Thank you, Bogdan!! This is such an important point. Technology doesn’t fix broken systems; it codifies them. I really appreciate your emphasis on Slow AI and on building understanding for the sake of better questions, not shortcuts. I’m glad the piece resonated.🤝
Spot on. The evidence is overwhelming: you can't automate your way out of a broken system. Doing so usually just hard-codes the dysfunction