By Joyce Deuley

I remember when I first discovered that I had a role to play in emerging technologies. I was studying English at the University of the Incarnate Word, working in a wine shop, and thinking about either becoming an English teacher or a speech pathologist. Or maybe staying in wine. Then someone working at the Geekdom coworking space said their office mate was looking for a writer and thought I should check it out.

A 20 min. conversation and a week later, I had a brand new job as a secondary researcher for Compass Intelligence, working in the Machine-to-Machine Communications department, and it clicked. I could serve as a translator for what was happening in emerging technologies and help shape how we think about integrating them across markets. I fell deeply in love with this industry right then and there.

The Internet of Things (IoT) was starting to ramp up and we talked about enabling technologies that would change the world. Smart cities would deploy some of these solutions, create efficiencies to better manage resources, and improve people’s quality of life. But, as a humanities major, I knew there were some serious implications to deploying these kinds of technologies and what it could mean if we didn’t consider them fully, think about who would use them and how.

It gave me a sense of purpose and I was determined to positively impact this space, and I think I’ve largely stayed that course, despite challenges and a whole lot of learning.

In those early deployments of IoT and Smart Cities, there was a lot of trial and error, a lot of uncertainty. But things got better, and now those markets are starting to hit their stride, even progressing to next-generation enablements!

They say all that’s certain in life is death, taxes, and change. And boy, have things changed in the last decade! Even now things are changing. Recently, Generative AI came on the scene. And it isn’t going anywhere but everywhere.

Whether you’re planning on actively using it or not, it’s being built into the products and services you use daily. But there are a lot of concerns as the hype cycle ramps up. Understandably so. But, we need to recognize that while it’s disruptive, AI is not yet where we would like it to be, where it could be. Not in terms of functionality, nor in how we interact with it ethically. Yet.

Honesty Time: It’s odd for an emerging tech analyst to be somewhat resistant to new tech, but I know that I am not an early adopter of most things. I’ve gone through enough hype cycles to wade through the noise to find the things that stick and tend to wait a beat before jumping in. And while AI will go through a similar cycle, perhaps it’s the scale in which it’s happening that makes me more hesitant than usual.

I often say I got a degree in professional report writing, so it can be difficult for me to separate the pride and the uncertainty about what these new AI tools mean in the workplace. I find myself being more precious about what I write, the information I share online, which services I want to commit to. But, ultimately, I recognize that burying my head in the sand isn’t going to do a lick of good to anyone.

In that same vein, I don’t want to reduce my own professional skills and value to the point that I position myself as obsolete. I need to reinvigorate my thought process around my work and find new areas to explore. So, I’ve started to get more familiar with the unknowns and learn about what gives me pause in the face of a new disruptor like AI. Discomfort usually brings about growth and this is definitely a period of growth for me. For a lot of people. It’s nice not to be alone.

Thankfully, there are far more brilliant people than me working in this space to ensure the right kinds of guardrails come in, that different voices have space, that inherent biases are identified and corrected in our data sets, that people are uplifted and protected during this season of disruption.

Ultimately, I’m on a mission to build amazing things with even better people, and do a whole lotta good while I’m at it.

If you’re one of those individuals, too, and want to share more about what you do and how, please email me: info@tekchatr.com. Until then, let us #BeHelpful, diligent, and hopeful.