The Smith Business Insight Podcast

While AI will surely take over some jobs lock, stock and barrel, the more likely scenario is that we will have to share our jobs with AI entities. It can be challenging enough to work with fellow humans and understand their emotions and thinking styles. What will it be like working with super-smart non-humans? Will it change how we behave or make us question our judgment? Will it keep tabs on our performance? This episode explores these questions with guests Tracy Jenkin, an associate professor at Smith and a faculty affiliate at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, and Anton Ovchinnikov, Distinguished Professor of Management Analytics. Dr. Jenkin and Dr. Ovchinnikov discuss what they’ve learned so far from their research that explores human-AI collaboration and cognitive processes. They are joined in conversation by host Meredith Dault.Special Guests: Anton Ovchinnikov and Tracy Jenkin.

The legal profession is one of the first to feel the brunt of the artificial intelligence revolution. AI techniques such as machine learning are helping legal practitioners review contracts, prepare for litigation and even predict legal outcomes. ChatGPT has already been used in court cases. There’s even talk of robot judges in our future. This episode features Samuel Dahan, a law professor at Queen’s and Cornell universities and director of the Conflict Analytics Lab at Smith School of Business. Dr. Dahan is one of the world’s leading authorities on AI and the law and is well-placed to discuss how AI will impact the way legal services are delivered. He is joined in conversation by host Meredith Dault.Special Guest: Samuel Dahan.

It’s hard to imagine what advertising and marketing in general will look like given the speed of development in the AI constellation of technologies. Today, wholesale automation of marketing functions, hyper-personalized targeting and predictive forecasting. Tomorrow, AI bots on sales calls? This episode takes a decidedly analytical look at AI-enabled marketing with guest Ceren Kolsarici, Ian R. Friendly Fellow of Marketing and director of the Scotiabank Centre for Customer Analytics at Smith School of Business. Dr. Kolsarici talks about the speed bumps that could slow AI adoption and shares what marketers need to do now to lay the groundwork for what’s to come. She is joined in conversation by host Meredith Dault.Special Guest: Ceren Kolsarici.

The corporate HR department has typically been the butt of jokes and scorn, and HR executives often struggle to make their voices heard on top management teams. In the age of AI, huge amounts of people management data — from employee surveys to performance reports — can be fed into natural language processing systems to glean insights that could help organizations work smarter and more efficiently. That will make HR executives important drivers of workplace transformation. This episode features the insights of two HR experts who are also Smith School of Business alumni. Heidi Klotz is vice-president, total rewards and people analytics, at AtkinsRéalis (formerly SNC-Lavalin). And Dagmar Christianson is a London, England-based consultant in workforce transformation and the future of work. The two discuss how HR leaders will have to prepare employees for the technology disruption to come. They are joined in conversation by host Meredith Dault.

From high school students given the wrong marks just as they’re applying to university to Black defendants misclassified as higher risk for reoffending, AI is driving unfair and damaging outcomes. Technology firms promise what they call Responsible AI. But can they really deliver if they can’t keep up with the speed of change? Can governments impose ethical standards and safe use of AI-based systems and products? In this episode, Anton Ovchinnikov, Distinguished Professor of Management Analytics at Smith School of Business, discusses his groundbreaking research into the government response to algorithmic bias and what happens when large language models are fed AI-generated synthetic content rather than human-generated content. He is joined in conversation by host Meredith Dault.Special Guest: Anton Ovchinnikov.

Whether we know it or not, we interact with AI-driven systems multiple times a day. Some of us are even using generative AI as a dating coach or to write standup comedy. Yet technology insiders are raising the alarm that we’re moving too fast for society’s good. Our guest, Stephen Thomas, Distinguished Professor of Management Analytics and the executive director of the Analytics and AI Ecosystems at Smith School of Business, brings us up to date on which AI system or platform is already making an impact and how individuals and organizations can safely harness the disruptive power of AI. He is joined in conversation by host Meredith Dault.

Covid set in motion huge changes to the world of work. The dawn of artificial intelligence is adding a new dimension of uncertainty. But some things will stay the same: “People will still be crying out for high quality leadership, for autonomy, a sense of belonging, for fairness, for growth and development, for meaning and safety.” In the final episode of this podcast series, guest Julian Barling, author of Brave New Workplace, takes a stab at divining the future by looking at how workplaces have handled major disruptions in the past, and offers his wish list of research questions that he hopes will be answered in the years ahead. Dr. Barling is joined in conversation by host Alan Morantz.

From nurses to museum guards, we are all chasing work that is absorbing and purposeful. But it can be an elusive goal given the way many jobs are structured. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be such a struggle. In this podcast episode, guest Julian Barling, author of Brave New Workplace, discusses the small measures organizations and individuals can adopt to cultivate meaning, the warning signs of people who are too attached to their jobs and the lessons we can learn from those who excel at jobs most of would rather not do. Dr. Barling is joined in conversation by host Alan Morantz.

Workers can forgive a lot of management sins as long as they some control over the work they do and where they do it. Yet leaders either have a blind spot or fear giving their employees greater autonomy. In this podcast episode, guest Julian Barling, author of Brave New Workplace, discusses how to calibrate the level of autonomy depending on the worker, the importance of combining autonomy with training and support and the rising importance of “locational autonomy.” He is joined in conversation by host Alan Morantz.

Around 1,000 Canadians die each year because of safety incidents or occupation-related disease, a figure that vastly underestimates the true toll of workplace accidents. Podcast guest Julian Barling, author of Brave New Workplace, discusses how the hard-hat image of workplace safety limits our understanding of the issue, the role of unions in limiting safety incidents and the measures organizations can take to keep workers out of trouble. One the world’s top organizational and leadership researchers, Dr. Barling is a Distinguished University Professor and Borden Chair of Leadership at Smith School of Business. He is joined in conversation by host Alan Morantz.