The Wheat from the Chaff #16

As part of my job, every week I read a lot of content about data, technology, and artificial intelligence (also known as AI). I filter them and send you the best ones, every Sunday.

Hello everyone 👋 ,

This week, we are going to talk about an increasingly indispensable skill: critical thinking and its relationship to data. Can you imagine what it would be like to start a mobility business during the pandemic? In addition, we will discuss the CEO of OpenAI's participation in the American Senate. Let's get into it!

Less is More

As numerous solutions based on Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) emerge, a skill becomes even more essential in this context: critical thinking.

According to the World Economic Forum's report, "The Future of Jobs," skills such as critical, analytical, and innovative thinking, problem solving, initiative, self-management, and the ability to learn quickly on the job are emphasized for a future that is becoming increasingly present.

Many studies suggest that several professions will become extinct or be replaced by new technologies. However, this is not the focus of my discussion today. I want to take a step back. While technologies can provide us with data and information, a deep understanding of the challenge at hand still requires a skill that machines do not possess yet.

Imagine that you decided to start a business in 2021, and people's mobility is a fundamental pillar for the success of this new venture. This example is particularly interesting because in 2021, we were amidst a pandemic, and the first question that arises is: how to understand your target audience's behavior regarding mobility? During the mentioned period, understanding this behavior was not an obvious task.

Regardless of the tool or technique, data is absolutely essential for decision-making. This is where critical thinking becomes important. Let's reflect together: we are in 2021, and you need information about people's mobility, right? Where to search for that information? A first approach would be to turn to companies whose solutions are widely adopted and that gather location data from their users, such as Google Maps, Waze, and Facebook.

Bingo! During the pandemic, many of these companies provided consolidated data, in compliance with the General Data Protection Law (LGPD in Portuguese), to support businesses and public authorities in decision-making. For example, Google provided data showing visits to places like supermarkets and parks over time for various regions in Brazil. Of course, there are several considerations to be made, but this data could assist in decisions about your new business. The website "Our World in Data" presents this data intuitively.

According to the graph, there is a significant drop in mobility at the beginning of the pandemic, followed by a gradual return. The information is available on a timeline and also by region. Data like these, and others alike, if employed correctly and with the right tools, could allow you to position your business based on the defined target audience's behavior.

For example, you could try to predict the return to in-person work - of course, with a margin of error, but perhaps with the best information available for that purpose. For instance, the graph indicates that in December 2020, the return to the workplace seemed to be approaching pre-pandemic levels. This hypothesis seems to be confirmed by the drop in the curve referring to residences since they should be correlated. Several other insights can be obtained.

This is a concrete example of how technologies and tools can accelerate, facilitate, and enhance analysis, but fundamental principles need to be solid. The avalanche of information and technologies emerging every day makes it even more challenging to separate the wheat from the chaff. Critical thinking, supported by reliable data and driven by AI technologies, seems to be a promising combination. The era of AI is just beginning! :)

Interesting topics in Brazil:

• 🔗 Link: Apple will use AI to clone voices and assist people with visual, cognitive, and vocal disabilities.

• 🔗 Link: Microsoft sees signs of 'human reasoning' in new version of artificial intelligence.

Trending topics Global:

• 🔗 Link: Another Side of the AI boom: Detecting what AI makes.

• 🔗 Link: 5 Key Benefits of Data Governance.

Guest of the Week: Sam Altman

During a Senate panel hearing on Tuesday, the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, made a plea to lawmakers to regulate artificial intelligence. In his opening statement, he stated, "We believe that regulatory intervention by governments will be crucial in mitigating the risks of increasingly powerful models." Altman said this, signaling that the company is in favor of regulation.

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