Listen Now

Kay Firth-Butterfield was teaching AI, ethics, law, and international relations when a chance meeting on an airplane landed her a job as chief AI ethics officer. In 2017, Kay became head of AI and machine learning at the World Economic Forum, where her team develops tools and on-the-ground programs to improve AI understanding and governance across the globe. In the final episode of the first season of the Me, Myself, and AI podcast, Kay joins cohosts Sam Ransbotham and Shervin Khodabandeh to discuss the democratization of AI, the values of good governance and ethics in technology, and the importance of having people understand the technology across their organizations — and society. She also weighs in on other themes our hosts have discussed this season, including education, collaboration, and innovation. Your reviews are essential to the success of Me, Myself, and AI. For a limited time, we’re offering a free download of MIT SMR’s best articles on artificial intelligence to listeners who review the show. Send a screenshot of your review to smrfeedback@mit.edu to receive the download. Me, Myself, and AI is a collaborative podcast between MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group, hosted by Sam Ransbotham and Shervin Khodabandeh. Its engineer is David Lishansky, and the coordinating producers are Allison Ryder and Sophie Rüdinger. Guest bio: Kay Firth-Butterfield is head of AI and machine learning and a member of the executive committee of the World Economic Forum. In the United Kingdom, she is a barrister with Doughty Street Chambers and has worked as a mediator, arbitrator, part-time judge, business owner, and professor. She is vice chair of the IEEE Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems and serves on the Polaris Council of the U.S. Government Accountability Office advising on AI.

Arti Zeighami’s interest in artificial intelligence started when he read science fiction as a teen. Yet as head of advanced analytics and AI for global retailer H&M Group, his leadership style focuses on reality: first building a business case and a proof of concept, and then undergoing an agile process of iteration and scaling, failure and success, measurement and improvement. In this episode, Arti talks about weaving AI into the value chain in the fashion industry — specifically around personalization, pricing, merchandising and forecasting. He has coined the term amplified intelligence — where humans and machines work together — and in this episode shares stories and practical tips on how teams can get started and scale successfully. Read more about our show and follow along with the series at https://sloanreview.mit.edu/audio-series/me-myself-and-ai. Me, Myself, and AI is a collaborative podcast between MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group. Its engineer is David Lishansky, and its coordinating producers are Allison Ryder and Sophie Rüdinger. Thanks for listening to Me, Myself, and AI. If you’re enjoying the show, take a minute to write us a review. If you send us a screenshot, we’ll send you a collection of MIT SMR’s best articles on artificial intelligence, free for a limited time. Send your review screenshot to smrfeedback@mit.edu. Guest bio: Arti Zeighami is a senior executive and a business leader at H&M Group. As chief data and analytics officer, he is responsible for all AI, analytics, and data capabilities across all of the company’s brands.

Mattias Ulbrich has always been interested in new technology. As CIO of Porsche and CEO of Porsche Digital, he runs a subsidiary focused on the “new stuff” — new ideas, new models, and new opportunities. That means implementing innovations in AI, cloud technology, and blockchain in local markets around the world, and instilling a culture of continuous learning within his own cross-functional workforce. In this episode, Mattias shares examples of how AI is accelerating innovation at Porsche — by enhancing product design and the driving experience, improving production and sustainability efforts, and better managing the global supply chain. He has also connected some unlikely dots from other spaces — for example, by using the sound of an espresso machine to inform car component design. Read more about our show and follow along with the series at https://sloanreview.mit.edu/aipodcast. Me, Myself, and AI is a collaborative podcast between MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group, hosted by Sam Ransbotham and Shervin Khodabandeh. Its engineer is David Lishansky, and the coordinating producers are Allison Ryder and Sophie Rüdinger. Your reviews are essential to the success of Me, Myself, and AI. For a limited time, we’re offering a free download of MIT SMR‘s best articles on artificial intelligence to listeners who review the show. Send a screenshot of your review to smrfeedback@mit.edu to receive the download. Guest bio: Mattias Ulbrich has been CIO at Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG since October 2018 and CEO of Porsche Digital GmbH since April 2019. After studying electrical engineering at the Technical University of Braunschweig, Mattias began his career in the sales division of American IT company Hewlett-Packard in 1993. He joined Audi AG in 1998, working at the Neckarsulm, Germany, site until 2003. Mattias was subsequently appointed CIO at SEAT in Barcelona, Spain, and then joined Volkswagen in 2006. From 2012-2018, Mattias was CIO at Audi AG.

As vice president of innovation at logistics company DHL, Gina Chung oversees a 28,000-square-foot innovation facility in Chicago. Fascinated with supply chains since college (“I think it’s something to do with the fact that I’m from New Zealand and grew up in a pretty isolated part of the world,” she explains), she spearheads AI and robotics projects focused on front-line operations — like automated pallet inspection and stacking, delivery route optimization, and aircraft utilization. Gina notes that “the first day for AI is the worst day”: The technology improves with human input over time, achieving accuracy to a level where people trust and embrace it. She describes how success requires closely collaborating with key stakeholders, integrating change management, bringing teams along when introducing new technology, and designing solutions with the end user in mind. Read more about our show and follow along with the series at https://sloanreview.mit.edu/aipodcast. Me, Myself, and AI is a collaborative podcast between MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group, hosted by Sam Ransbotham and Shervin Khodabandeh. Its engineer is David Lishansky, and the coordinating producers are Allison Ryder and Sophie Rüdinger. Your reviews are essential to the success of Me, Myself, and AI. For a limited time, we’re offering a free download of MIT SMR’s best articles on artificial intelligence to listeners who review the show. Send a screenshot of your review to smrfeedback@mit.edu to receive the download. Guest bio: Gina Chung is vice president, Innovation Americas, at DHL, where she is responsible for DHL’s Americas Innovation Center, a purpose-built platform to engage customers, startups, and industries on the future of logistics. She manages a portfolio of projects focused on the rapid testing and adoption of technologies such as collaborative robotics and artificial intelligence across logistics operations.

Prakhar Mehrotra, vice president of machine learning at Walmart, shares his experience and how it prepared him to lead an AI team at a $500B retailer. Tasked with using AI to help with decision-making and enhance the business, Prakhar focuses on the technology that improves store merchandising (pricing, inventory management, financial planning). Before joining Walmart, Prakhar led data scientists and developed stochastic models at Uber and Twitter, where he learned how to move quickly and scale AI. (Fun fact: he even drove for Uber to better understand the driver experience — a perfect example of the role empathy plays in AI.) Hear Prakhar share stories on rallying and educating teams on AI, the relationship of AI and business intelligence, and what it means to make big bets in an enterprise setting. Your reviews are essential to the success of Me, Myself, and AI. For a limited time, we’re offering a free download of MIT SMR’s best articles on artificial intelligence to listeners who review the show. Send your review screenshot to smrfeedback@mit.edu to receive the download. Me, Myself, and AI is a collaborative podcast betweenMIT Sloan Management Reviewand Boston Consulting Group, hosted by Sam Ransbotham and Shervin Khodabandeh. Our engineer is David Lishansky, and coordinating producers are Allison Ryder and Sophie Rüdinger.   Guest bio: As vice president of machine learning, Prakhar Mehrotra is one of the top executives for AI and machine learning at Walmart and an internationally recognized leader and innovator in the field. He was recently awarded The Franz Edelman Medal by INFORMS for significant contributions in data science and advanced analytics. He is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and serves as a peer reviewer for top conferences and journals in AI, including the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence conference, the Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, and the International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems.

Slawek Kierner, senior vice president of enterprise data and analytics at Humana, has been immersed in data for as long as he can remember. His fascination with process simulations began on his first PC running MATLAB and Sumulink, and later led him to innovative roles at Procter & Gamble and Nokia. His desire to use data for a noble purpose drove Slawek to Humana, where he leverages AI to solve problems around medication adherence and predict population health outcomes. Tune in to hear Slawek share stories on recreating synthetic individual profiles indistinguishable from real humans (helping physicians better predict patient admissions and behaviors), and how his team created an internal machine learning platform that gives data scientists access to open source capabilities. All the in pursuit of helping human beings live longer, healthier lives. Read more about our show and follow along at sloanreview.mit.edu/aipodcast. Your reviews are essential to the success of Me, Myself, and AI. For a limited time, we’re offering a free download of MIT SMR’s best articles on artificial intelligence to listeners who review the show. Send a screenshot of your review to smrfeedback@mit.edu to receive the download. Me, Myself, and AI is Me, Myself, and AI is a collaborative podcast between MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group, hosted by Sam Ransbotham and Shervin Khodabandeh. Its engineer is David Lishansky, and coordinating producers are Allison Ryder and Sophie Rüdinger. Guest bio: Slawek Kierner is Humana’s senior vice president, digital health and analytics. He is responsible for enabling data governance, analytics platforms, data science, and artificial intelligence integration across the enterprise to foster innovative solutions that help Humana’s communities, members, care teams, and employees more easily take actions for better health outcomes. Slawek has previously served as the chief data and analytics officer for the Microsoft Business Applications Group and has led digital marketing operations and information systems for Procter & Gamble’s European business. He also served as a board member and CIO for P&G’s Central Europe division.