You Only Go Once (Y.O.G.O.)
Cheryl and Eileen explore different topics around the limited time we have on this earth to create a fully layered life. Because...You Only Go Once!
You Only Go Once (Y.O.G.O.)
Navigating the Storm of Responsible AI: Elizabeth M. Adams on Ethical Technology and Personal Joy
As we sat down with Elizabeth M. Adams, the air buzzed with the kind of anticipation you feel right before a thunderstorm of ideas. Elizabeth, an inspiring advocate in responsible AI, navigates us through her journey of turning technology into an ally of human values. Our conversation unveils how Elizabeth's transformative experiences with AI bias have led her to become a pioneer in ethical AI, shaping principles that honor our human complexity. She shares her personal quest for joy within this rigorously demanding field, harmonizing love, resilience, and innovation with her ambition to create AI that respects and enhances our lives.
The episode also covers Elizabeth’s children’s books, stories that wield simple language about technical concepts and how these stories nurture her commitment to responsible AI.
Finally, we reflect on the peace that comes from aligning one's professional life with personal values, a harmony Elizabeth has found in Savannah, Georgia's serene embrace. Elizabeth contemplates the shifts in our lives as we prioritize peace, vocation, and financial stability, in that order. We also discuss the importance of setting boundaries, the abundance mindset, and staying open to what the future holds — be it grounded in the completion of academic pursuits or the potential of penning another book when inspiration strikes. Elizabeth's upcoming leadership course on responsible AI promises to be a treasure trove of insights for those eager to lead with conscience in the digital age.
Hi, I'm Elizabeth M Adams. I hope when you look back at your life you feel comfortable following all of your passions and desires, because you only go once.
Speaker 2:Welcome listeners to another episode of you Only Go Once. I am Eileen Grimes and I am here again with my amazing and wonderful co-host and friend, cheryl Contafio. We are here tonight, on this Monday evening, to have a wonderfully insightful interview and I'm so, so excited for the guests we have on tonight and I am going to pass it to Cheryl to introduce Cheryl off to you.
Speaker 3:Thanks, eileen. Elizabeth M Adams is a responsible AI influencer, recognized as one of Forbes 15 AI ethics leaders showing the world the way of the future. She has studied the science of business and technology influences on society for over two decades, while leading large-scale technology initiatives for Fortune 500 companies and various government organizations. As a scholar practitioner, elizabeth has developed her expertise working with technical and non-technical leaders, creating alliances with leaders that translate theory into results. Elizabeth's commitment to inclusivity and ethical tech is evident in her work, driving broader employees' stakeholder engagement. Currently pursuing a doctorate in leadership of responsible AI, elizabeth's research focuses on how leaders can engage employees, particularly those exposed to AI harm, to introduce the industry to modernize technology development concepts through a societal lens. Her goal is to encourage individuals who have traditionally been excluded from the AI landscape to become active participants in building the future of AI. Really awesome stuff, elizabeth. Welcome. We're so happy to talk to you.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much. I bring you both greetings from Savannah Georgia. Lovely it's a little chilly, but it's a rainy night. Yeah, it's my enchanted place.
Speaker 3:I love it here. That's fantastic. I'm on the East Coast as well. Eileen, as you know, is on the West Coast. I would love to hear more about Savannah Georgia, but first I would love to know how you even get started on this, because this is really heady subject matter. What started your journey on responsible AI?
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I didn't just jump into responsible AI. I have been in the tech space, as you mentioned in the opening, for over two decades. My leadership philosophy has always been about advocacy, whether it was advocacy for pay equity or gender inclusion, racial inclusion or just a multi-stakeholder approach. I didn't use the term multi-stakeholder then. It was just like, oh, we have to get these people involved, whether it was marketing or finance or whomever. That philosophy has carried all of my leadership journey. But it wasn't until about eight years ago when I started to see how these technologies AI-enabled technologies were making their way into society, into the marketplace, and they weren't working for everyone. I went to just follow my curiosity. I started talking to data engineers and data scientists about what is this thing called AI bias. While I was getting some initial information, I wasn't really satisfied. I didn't really know where to go, but I just started having these learning events.
Speaker 1:In one particular learning event I was working for an organization. Over 70 people showed up. It was a learning event around racial and gender bias in facial recognition technology. I knew I was onto something when that many people showed up. That was in 2019. Then I was approached by the chief privacy officer at the time and general counsel to be a part of a small working group helping to write the first AI ethics principles. That was when the journey started, 2017, 2018. I wrote a book that I think maybe five people downloaded. It was called why Black Women Should Care About Artificial Intelligence. It was really just my way to crystallize my learning. Basically, that's how it got started.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's great. I need to get that book now. Sorry, right, no, truly, I'm sure. Since 2019, there's only more that you have continued to learn along the way when AI is being used and in all of that, there's such a broad scope now of the applications and the possibility for things going awry.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is true. It's still so. As you mentioned in the opening, I started my doctorate a few years ago, 2021. I actually thought by this time, responsible AI would be old news. I really did. I thought that the world would have caught up and we would be doing all the things and we'd be on to the next thing. I was really concerned that my research would be old but it's not.
Speaker 1:Even just this weekend, when I was talking to people about different types of biases, it was a group of people that I was presenting to biases and facial recognition mentioned that in healthcare algorithms, in loan algorithms, who decides what algorithms decide what groups of people get loans and insurance rates, and you could go on and on. Every aspect of our lives. Basically, I feel like AI is a mirror of our human existence. I realized that people are still new, like the people I presented to. I think I was so over their head because I've been doing this for so long. I made assumptions that people at least understood AI bias.
Speaker 3:Yeah, sure.
Speaker 1:But for someone like me I keep trying to pivot it feels like, well, I keep trying to pivot because I really want to envision a world where artificial intelligence serves as a bridge between all of our beautiful intricacies in our human experience. That's what I want to do. I want to talk about the possibilities, because I've spent so long talking about the challenges and there are new people coming into the space and I'm like, yeah, let them do that. I want to move more towards where my heart really is. That's where I'm focused now. Is that pivoting?
Speaker 3:Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:I know.
Speaker 3:It's a lot.
Speaker 1:It is. It is it's year after year after year, and you're talking about the same thing. That's like, how do I find the joy in this work? That's one of the reasons why I moved to Savannah, okay, because I'm like if I'm going to continue in this space, I need to be able to detach in some place that's magical and enchanted and I can do all this travel to these different sea islands and I can feel myself with beautiful things, so that when I do sit down every morning to start this work, I know that at the end of the day, there's something incredible for me waiting. That's great.
Speaker 2:So how do you, now that you're working on this pivot, what does that look like? What are some of the efforts? What is? I know that and again, this is me still learning in the space, but AI is only as good as the data that we feed it right and in a world that doesn't yet exist, necessarily with the data, how do we inform that? How do we move forward into this new paradigm to allow for that data to really enhance the way we're living, to collectively help our stories, versus being something that's completely biased from the history of what data has been?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a great question. One thing I'll say is in this space of AI, a gazillion things can be true at the same time.
Speaker 1:We can continue to have AI challenges, ai bias, challenges in the data, how the data is formed, how it's annotated, how it's aggregated. We can continue to have that. But we can also envision a world that's a little bit more beautiful, where we're having conversations about how we connect to one another, and for me, that pivot looks like starting to share those stories. If I can share all those bias stories for all those years and people can get attached to them and start working on the things, then what would happen if I started talking about how our conversations help determine who has a seat at the table? The narratives that we warm about each other can help decide who we think is who we want to work beside us, right? So if we start sharing the stories that take it off of the bias and talk about the human experience whether it's AI harm or good human experience then maybe we see people for, like I said, the beautiful humanity that we are as opposed to othering. So what I have found is sometimes, when we talk about bias, we have to talk about well, why do we have bias and what groups are impacted, and when you talk to people who have never had the experience of being on the other end of AI harm.
Speaker 1:It feels to me when I'm communicating this, that I'm talking about others and not their neighbors, and not people that they go to church with or wherever they have a religious practice or whatever they do, both community center or where they go to send their kids to school. It's almost like those people that are over there that are having the problem and my hope is to say no, those are your friends, those are people that you like, but just because you don't have that experience doesn't mean that they're not. So starting to have those conversations about how we have to change the narrative around what society looks like and change society, change the views around what innovation looks like and who can be an innovator and who can help us create a world where we can all thrive All of us are going to need to do that and we're going to need to put our big boys and girls clothes on or whatever, and come to the table and just have those very, very. They can be difficult, but, in the end, awesome conversations, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And I'm only asking because I want to spark these conversations. My full-time job is in consulting with leaders and creating cultures of humans, of actually seeing each other's humanity. So on board, totally on board with this and completely behind it with you on all of that. And if we're not setting those spaces up, talking about the technology part of it, I mean it's a whole other layer right but if we can't even be human together, we've got a problem.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we do, and I just for me. Again, it's helping people reimagine where innovation might occur.
Speaker 1:It could occur kitchen table, where someone has their laptop, someone that you don't even know you're not familiar with their culture, the food they like or whatever it is, but they're learning prompt engineering skills through a community on Facebook where they're being taught and it's a safe space and that's innovation and they can certainly partner with those who have suits on every day, who have a four-year degree and are just learning about prompt engineering. Some groups are forced to have to learn, to upscale and reskill, so we just have to change the conversation about where innovation can occur and what partnerships in innovation might look like.
Speaker 3:So what does that look like for you? Because you've mentioned a couple of things now. Like people learn in different ways, people are innovative through different venues. Right For you. What was the spark for you? How did you find your innovative spirit?
Speaker 1:Oh, that started as a child. Yeah, that started as a child. I was always very interested in how things worked, but I was also interested in people. I could always sense when the energy was off in the room as an impact. I didn't know, I was an impact at the time so I could always sense that.
Speaker 1:So I always had this love for making sure that people thrived in whatever environment they were. So if they had a little, making sure that they felt good and were thriving in that, or if they had a lot. But the other pieces came in terms of the mechanical engineering pieces, where I was just always tinkering with things and putting things together. And then I had an architecture class once that I loved and got to intern at 3M for three summers building, oh wow. And so I was like, oh my God, that's amazing. Yeah, so.
Speaker 1:And then I write children's books. So I have four, but all of them were a way for me to use my mind in a different way. So, as I was writing the books using very simple language, I was solving large problems from a Stanford fellowship that I had in the city of Minneapolis right after George Floyd's murder, so working with policymakers and community on joining together, on shared decision making, and the way to solve that was to go write very basic language for children. It's weird, but that's how my mind works. It's like I need something where it's not as taxing, but I know this thing is over here and so that's what I need. So for me, I need these spaces where I can kind of go and act as a participant and, I guess, a researcher, now that I know that that's what I am and kind of sit and explore and then tinker with some things myself.
Speaker 2:That's incredible.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's amazing that you're using but it is you use like both sides of your brain. We just so. We just interviewed somebody last week that has a very similar like thought. Right, he's crafted these children's stories to explain financial principles and the guy is like all into the spreadsheets and what it can do and the and the possibilities and the very human stories that go with financial stability in his community. So I I really love this that you do this. Can you share the? Have you published the books Like? Can you?
Speaker 1:share those because we're happy to talk about those little. I am pity they're in online and 40 different online stores around the world. So to that I have published our little AI and PD, and then little miss Minnesota and her six brothers I'm from Minnesota. About my brothers and I and then I have them on a website, EMA bookscom, so I sing along and read alongs and just, yeah, some real fun stuff. So when I go into schools we typically sing the song called safe technology and gosh, I love this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's my, that's my other joy right is just kind of like okay, you use my mind, I get to. Just it's all the emotion, hard work.
Speaker 3:Love it, love it. I cannot wait to check out your website, because I just think that's phenomenal. That's so cool, oh my goodness. So Eileen is also a published author, and she's Eileen. Share your. Share a little bit about your book as well. Go for it.
Speaker 2:Yep, I just said no, I mean one, I'm. This is like I want to talk to Elizabeth now for like I don't many hours, because the things you're saying I just yeah. So I also wrote a children's book, but it's a. It's a collaborative parent and child journal. So so you're answer, you're both answering prompts at the same time.
Speaker 2:Whether you want to do that, I have neurodivergent kids and I am myself, and so being able to express yourself in whatever way, shape or form, whether it's through writing or art or whatever it was, was really important for me, and having that they're setting up the way that it did. So anyway. So you're answering both answering prompts, but as a way to connect with each other and see each other more fully, and I just really want, I just want other humans to feel like they can be loved and accepted as they are, without having to change what that is, and giving parents an opportunity to see their kids as they are, rather than having to feel like they're molding them into something that they're expecting you know. So, anyway, yes, I yeah.
Speaker 1:I love that so much. I just think that that is so beautiful, the way you just described it. I, for most of my life, have felt that way that I really just wanted to explore me. I've never really fit into some of the boxes that people tend to want to put a technologist in, or black, or someone from Minnesota, or whatever the boxes the boxes are.
Speaker 1:I really just feel like I'm like a butterfly where I like to just kind of land and see what's happening and then you know, get some learning from that contribute and then move on to kind of like the next thing and possibly that came from. So my mother was was killed in a car accident when I was six years old, so I did not get to grow up with that mother's kind of guidance. So I have six brothers excuse me, had six brothers, one past, and so I've always felt like I was this, this journey or if that makes sense.
Speaker 2:And so as part of that.
Speaker 1:It's where I always try to land. Wherever I try to land, I try to find some joy, because that joy was taken at a very early age and I think it's also why I just have developed this sense of why I want people to thrive and feel good in life, because that at an early age I know what that feels like. It's like devastating. And then just not at an early age, but as you get to see other people connect with their mothers and you're not even as a little girl every mother's day.
Speaker 1:So all of these things that have been a part of my life, that have felt like some sort of a gap I've tried to feel with the way that feels natural to come out of me and that's really love and that's really this heart place where I really want to see people thrive. So in my life now it just happens to be that responsible AI is that way that.
Speaker 1:I want to experience love, and part of it was we have to tell people about all these challenges so that we can get it fixed, so we can experience love. And then I realized I could be talking about this for years, as I mentioned. So now I'm like I really want to just help people think differently about people who are harmed, and not that there are others, but that they're. You know, we all think and feel and have experiences that can unite us in a great way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely, and what's interesting too, and tell me if I'm projecting, and that's totally fine. I'm just really excited to hear your story. It also sounds like you're also in that, like it is the butterfly and it's also. It's one where you're finding joy in those places. It's also one in where you're finding growth in those places and when you no longer find that you're growing, it's like you want something to now learn more of or to expand your understanding. So you know you've been doing this one thing for a while. It's kind of like okay, and now now? How do I grow now? How do I learn something more or new or bring a different kind of component into into this?
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, I hadn't really considered the growth part of it, but that could be it. I think if it were still interesting, I would not want to pivot, and what I mean by that is if I didn't have to start from ground zero with a bunch of people several times a year. Does that make sense.
Speaker 2:And so maybe through your point.
Speaker 1:We could grow together. But when I have to start, after I've been doing this for so long and it feels like I should be oh I don't know how to explain it feels like I should be on the. I should be on the 50 yard line every time when I start speaking about it, but many times I'm not one yard one and then I have to sit and listen. Well, people in this space who have influence are catching up and part of my decision is that I won't do that If that makes sense. Not because I can't, but because I just don't see myself there anymore. I see myself so. So part of it is this I saw myself as a true educator, action oriented person when I first got into this. Now I'm like no, I'm really kind of like a thought leader.
Speaker 1:Here I have an experience where I could be guiding people differently, as opposed to helping people catch up like there's enough LinkedIn courses for that and shout out I have one coming up this week. Okay, but there's enough courses for that. And I've had to make some tough choices and say it turned down some engagements because once I found out what I was going to be paid to do, even though it was good money, it was like I don't want that money, I don't want that I don't want that experience that's tied to that money.
Speaker 1:Okay, and sometimes I want the experience that there's not a lot of money, but it puts me in the light of how I see myself now.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 1:That makes sense because I know we're all over the place and I'll give you an example. I got an invitation to go to London recently to participate with some, some leaders on doing some activities that excited me like you wouldn't believe, because my pillars of life are peace. First I need peace, I have to have peace, one of the reasons why I'm down here in Savannah. Then I need the vocation that aligns with the piece.
Speaker 1:So, it has to be a vocation that I will speak, but usually when I speak I'm not doing. I'm not going to be on stage with presentation for a whole hour. That makes sense. So it has to be the way that works for me. And then the next pillar is money. Okay. So peace, vocation, money. So money is great, but if there's no peace, I don't want it. Okay. So I've had those situations where people like, oh well, can you do this and can you do this, or we need to have 10 meetings. And I'm like, oh yeah, I didn't sign up for that.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, and it's just that part of life, I think, as you get older, where you're like yeah, I don't know if that's what I want to do, this is what I want to do, and you do more of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when did those? When did you realize those were your three pillars?
Speaker 1:And actually the end of last year, as I started getting invitations for things, and so in the responsible AI community there's a group of women and we share what each other's making or what we've been offered. I love that.
Speaker 3:That's fantastic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, by different conferences, okay. So I realized that it's at some point I was like that's great, you're getting that, I would do that one for free.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:But wouldn't help the industry yeah.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:I'm taking it for free and someone else is you know what I'm saying?
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, yeah.
Speaker 1:So that was the challenge for me. But then I had to, honestly, I had to be true to myself and and I had to have this conversation with these women and say I might take something that's for no money, but it doesn't mean you should, right. But if it's something I want to do, I'm going to do it, and if you tell me that they're going to pay this much, then I'll ask for it. But there, but I'm not going to look at every opportunity that comes my way through a financial lens. It has to be through a peace lens, first Peaceful lens, and then the vocation is this what I want my life to be about right now, in this time and space? And then the money is a bonus, because I've lost a few things before, so I know how to live off of beans and rice. Honestly, not that I plan to, but I'm just saying sure, it's sure.
Speaker 3:I know how to do that. Yeah, it's really refreshing your pillars because I think you know as you enter corporate America it's it almost feels as though you are conditioned to chase the dollar right. And it's right. I think it does come with Experience as you move forward that the dollar is great if it keeps you sustained and healthy and happy and where you want to be. But that is not the be all and all. So you're in Savannah, georgia. What gives you life in Savannah? Like what, what what drew you to Savannah Specifically?
Speaker 1:that's such a great question. So a few years ago, as I mentioned, I was in Minneapolis. I'm from Minnesota, I've spent 25 years in DC and then my father got sick. I moved home and it never really felt like home after I had been off and been away and been in DC and I felt so connected there.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Um, and I just felt like I was suffocating. I felt like I was doing really, really phenomenal work and I was To help with a city initiative Excuse me that eventually resulted in the community and policymakers deciding that there was a certain AI enabled facial recognition tool that they did not want in their in their community, and they unanimously voted to ban it. So there's any policy. So I was like it was really. It was going really really well. I Just felt like there wasn't enough for me To do outside of, I mean, in beautiful lakes, but no one was really talking about AI, it's I don't know, it's just something about about the area, and so I started thinking about where else to go.
Speaker 1:It was just kind of serendipitous. I had Savannah in the back of my mind because I had visited St Simon's Island a couple during cold it, and then a friend of mine visited. She shared these pictures. I was like, oh my gosh, it's almost like Fernwaugh. Do you know what Fernwaugh is? It's, I think the German word is insatiable desire to be somewhere you haven't been before.
Speaker 1:Oh, Okay so it just kind of leaped in me, and so Then I started an opportunity with this organization and one of the persons I interviewed with has had just purchased a home here. I was like, oh my gosh, please share your realtor information. They did. Two months later I'm down here looking for a house. And then I put a Contract on a house, had it built and move last March.
Speaker 2:Wow, my gosh.
Speaker 1:So and I know that I'm in the right place, because it just every day I wake up and I'm like good morning.
Speaker 1:Good morning because I have behind me an enchanted forest. It's just and oh Beautiful. But at night there's all these creatures that my camera catches, but during the day you see the smet Spanish moss and the way the sun beams on the trees. It's just, it's just amazing. So it just lifts me and Then to be able to do my doctoral work, which was from here Again, to be able to be a good Store it and honor the stories that have been shared with me, this just feels like that place to do that Wonderful.
Speaker 1:I get that I want really hard to get here it. There really are places for us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I Feel for me. I feel at home in the mountains, like that's when I'm in mountain, that's my like. I just feel like there are things that call yeah, and it feels like Savannah was calling you.
Speaker 1:Well it, yes, I don't know if this is my final mode, but it was calling me for this reason in my life, because I really wanted a Place where I could do my interviews for my research and not feel interrupted by the noises of the day or distractions. I just I don't know. I just felt like when I was interviewing participants for my study that I was actually Outside with a notepad that's how it felt, notepad taking their stories in, because I was here in Savannah and and I just was like, oh my god, I'm so blessed, this is so great to be able to do this, and so now I'm writing up the findings From all of those stories and, yeah, this is just the right moment for me here.
Speaker 3:Fantastic, yeah, fantastic. I know Eileen says that she's, you know, she's happiest in the mountains. I Disappear into books, so that's kind of my jam. So you know, I was just sharing with Eileen A story that I had read about. You know all fiction, I love all fiction and things like that.
Speaker 3:So yeah, yeah it's, it's a peaceful, peaceful thing I'm so glad that you found a place, though I have a. I have a friend who is traveling the East Coast at this point, trying to figure out when her place is in the world, because she's she's had a lot of let's just say, she's had a lot of Challenges in 2020, challenges in 2023, and she is trying to find her place and she's been talking about the South quite a bit, really excited, and I don't think she's coming back to Pennsylvania. I think she feels like you did in Minnesota, maybe a little bit stifled. So I'm I'm wishing her well on that. Do you generally like to travel or do you like to be in? Okay, so, so for the folks that listening in the, elizabeth is shaking her head.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sorry, is there no, that's okay.
Speaker 3:Do you have a dream destination that you'd like to visit?
Speaker 1:Hmm, I don't know. I, for whatever reason, st Barts has been this elusive place for me, because I've been all over the world, I've had the fortunate pleasure of traveling to many different countries and, for whatever reason, I am a big fan of opulence. Okay, I love. I tell you like I love opulence, like I could sit in opulence for my whole life and never, ever Come out of it, and so, and that's all the things, that's all. So I was in Saudi Arabia, let me see, oh, september of 2023 and I'm going there in a couple weeks, and that experience was like, totally opulent for me.
Speaker 2:No so.
Speaker 1:I don't know. I just picked these kind of opulent places in my mind to go to and then I'll go and create a vision board of all the things that I that I like about them, but I can't say that there's one one place. I would go anywhere where there's opulence. So I was in Charleston, south Carolina, last weekend for my birthday and it was a really good experience my birthday and it was my first time spending time there. Had been to go to a museum last year but I didn't get a chance to move around the city and friend flew in, we went, we drove over, it's like under two hours and I was like this is like the Beverly Hills of the south and I used to live in Beverly Hills. Okay, I decided just to give you an idea. One time I was was done with Minnesota and put all my things up for sale and moved to Beverly Hills for a year. Wow, explore this sense of perceived opulence like I didn't know again it was an armoire, to sensational desire to be somewhere you've never been.
Speaker 1:And that's what I felt about Charleston. I felt like it was the Beverly Hills of the south. I was like, oh my gosh, these look at the all these little stores Top into. It was fabulous, not a great time.
Speaker 3:That's terrific, and happy birthday, thank you. Oh now, are you a person that has that celebrates a birthday month, or are you a person that just celebrates the day? Because I have friends that are like it's my birthday month. Like what are we doing? So what does that like? What does what does your celebration of, of your life look like?
Speaker 1:This year was just a day, okay, but in the past I've done like several years ago I worked for an airline service organization and I could fly for free. So that particular year I did I don't know I attempted to do a number of cities. I got up to 50. Wow. So as long as I hit the zip code, that's how I was, that's how I didn't have to be an overnight stay. So, yeah, just really really depends. I would like to celebrate all year just the good things and just have a nice Wyatt birthday dinner or something like that on a yacht.
Speaker 1:again, we're talking opulence with love it Okay, but but I would really like to just celebrate all year.
Speaker 3:That's great. It is awesome. So getting back to AI for a little bit.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:You know I lean and I are big fans of celebrating women and STEM, women and science, women and technology All the different technologies that are out there. Yesterday was the International Women and Girls Day in Science. If there was any advice for the next generation that you had, if they're interested in technology, responsible AI, anything that's that's coming up, what would your advice be to them?
Speaker 1:I would say that to play with as many AI tools as you can, or tech tools, or whatever it is, and then, wherever your curiosity takes you or your passion, go there. Start there, I would say, because no one ever gave me that advice and I was all over the place and took me years to really figure out what I liked, and I kept other people kept telling me that what I liked wasn't normal but I knew what I liked.
Speaker 1:And so had I been groomed, or guided, I should say, into a path of passion, I think my life would be very different. It would still be in technology, but I think I wouldn't have had to work so hard for so many years to advocate for myself. Because I think some again, because we need to appreciate that innovation is going to look differently. So it would be play with as many tools as you like. If you like PowerPoint, play with as many AI PowerPoint type tools, I shouldn't say PowerPoint presentation type tools. If you like mechanics, play with as many AI tools that can help you think about doing being a mechanic differently, whatever it is, and see where that curiosity takes you. If it takes you down a path of passion. That would be my suggestion.
Speaker 2:I love that and I also I was doing some RPA work a little while ago, and one of the things that I loved about that was the group that we had was not just with the bunch of 20 year olds, it was also with people who were later in their careers. And you know, to me, there's no wrong time to start either, right, it's not something that you are finding interest in or pull towards right, there's no too late for this stuff either, and I just I think that's really great and there are accessible ways to find that. Yeah, I just that's one of the things we like to encourage here on the you Only Go Once podcast, right, where it's like so what if you're, you know, 70 years old and you want to do something different? Go for it, right. So I just that's been an amazing thing about the AI side of things, too. I've seen a lot of people dive into it, at whatever age.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just. That is my philosophy, so I'll tell you a quick story. In December, I happened upon a Facebook group that was called it's, where you share AI prompts.
Speaker 1:Now, I have been focused on my doctorate work that I didn't really get into a lot of generative AI, I didn't have time to take another certification, I didn't have time to do a whole lot of reading of other books because I had all these articles associated with my research. But again, because you guys know, based on what I said, I like to have this other part of my brain where it's kind of like mindless, where I'm just exploring, and so in this community I can't help but to be a researcher. I was just shocked at how many people were trying prompt engineering for the first time and just getting so tickled by these images or things that they were creating and without even realizing the skills that they're building. But the fact that it was a safe space to make mistakes, it was a safe space to ask questions, and that's what I just really think that no matter what your age is, to find these communities where you can learn.
Speaker 1:I'm also in another one for my doctorate program and there are several people in there who just kind of sit and observe and then every once in a while you'll see a post where someone's like oh, I just got accepted to this doctorate program, thank you. I've been here for five years watching you all taking it in, and I'm right, and I just think that sometimes you just need a place where you can kind of just go at your own pace and see what others are doing, feel comfortable to ask questions and then, when it's your time to come out the gate or whatever it is, there you go and not to force people into a timeline or box or a type of study Like just go where your heart leads you, because at the end of the day, your heart knows what work you're supposed to do and you can feel it in every part of your body.
Speaker 1:You light up when you are doing work that just excites you and so. But part of that means you have to have a safe space to explore, to kind of test out some of these things that you think. Like when I first started my doctorate, I wanted to take my dissertation and have it be a movie, short or a book. So three years ago I don't have that desire anymore. I've played around with some things and it's not on my on the top of my list anymore If someone comes, maybe. But I pursued some different avenues and I'm like, yeah, that's not anymore and so.
Speaker 1:But I've had an opportunity to be in some safe spaces where I could explore some other things, if that makes sense. If I would have cut those other things off because my mind was just set on this one thing, and if that were the thing for me, my mind would be set on that. Do you know what I mean? If that was exactly the road I was supposed to take, then my mind would be set on that, but the fact that it's not there anymore. It's still a hope, but it's not necessarily any. There's no action behind it. So these safe spaces are important to be able to explore what we want out of life.
Speaker 3:Sure.
Speaker 2:Definitely. What you said, just, I don't know, hit me real really deeply. Just the knowingness in your heart about we know, we know where we're meant to be, what we're meant to be doing when we're in those spaces, right, when you find those and I, you know, I found things like that, like with people too. I mean, the fact that Cheryl and I get to do this podcast is one of those heart-knowing spaces for me, right, yes, you know, how do you? What does that feel like for you when you were in that heart space? What is that knowingness for you? Or maybe, what is it when it's not Like, how do you get to the point to say, hmm, yeah, I'm not there right now? I need to relook at this or start thinking differently.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So again, I think it goes back to the pillars, which is it would be peaceful. Right Is the way that someone approached me. Is there energy? Is this thing? Does it put me at ease? Because if I'm at ease, then I can be my full self and whatever my full self is for that particular moment. But it has to start with peace for me and then I go from there. So and I'll give you an example of some things that don't feel peaceful, I had mentioned that I did this presentation last.
Speaker 1:I mentioned, I had to do a presentation and and that I thought I was speaking this beautiful life into the room. I really did it Like it was on me, but it wasn't received that way, it wasn't celebrated that way. Not that there was anything wrong with the people. They were looking for something else. Does that make sense? So then I get a call from another group of people and they're telling me how they want me to do the presentation and tears almost welled up in my welled it up in my eyes because I'm like that's what I want to do. I want to talk about how technology or AI can act as a way to help harmonize technology and humanity. When they said it and this is how they were talking about it we would really like you to do something that kind of brings us along gently. And what that was so warming for me Versus this other conversation, which is people need to know X, y and Z, was almost like they were trying to force me into a conversation to help them grow. I get that.
Speaker 1:And does that make sense? So, yes, the different ways. Now some other people might say, oh yeah, I'm on that the other way or this other way that I like. They might say, oh, that's too soft, how can leaders? That's not how leaders lead. But when I was done with that presentation, I just my whole body was just full of unadulterated joy Because I knew that what I put out into the universe was received. It was from the purest part of me and the people were able to receive it from that purest place, versus some fake version of me, because I've already entered into some contracts and I didn't really ask the right questions and so now I've got to perform for you.
Speaker 3:Mm, hmm, mm, hmm, and that's the sense. Yeah, yeah, there's a mix of vulnerability and authenticity in that, for sure. And then it's just the whole bravery of will people get this and I love that you got somebody who made the connection and they're like help, help us along the way, like come and share your story with us so that we can help others connect with this, like that's a, that's a beautiful thing when that happens. Like that's good. Kismet is what that is. That's a. That's a wonderful space.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and after that I just said, I want more of this, Like I just want more of this because it was so peaceful, and so there was the piece, the vocation, and they paid me really really well. Hey right.
Speaker 1:And then there's yep, had me really, really well to come and be gentle with it and to talk about a world, that where we envision, where all of us are successful with AI. And it was the first time I didn't use a professional type presentation and had all these Zen colors and greens and you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Like it's just different.
Speaker 1:And then I but this thing I've always said is that I wanted to be like the Brené Brown of AI, where I really wanted a platform where we talk about empathy and vulnerability and just really finding your passion and being okay with that, no matter what others would say, and talking about what that looks like. Because I've had to do that with family and friends and colleagues, I've had to say no, that doesn't work for me, at the risk of people who don't normally do that it can become. It can feel as if I'm offensive to them Because they're not used to people advocating for themselves to continue in a light and so. But I've had to learn how to deal with that as well.
Speaker 3:Sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, oh, my gosh and such. It's so well, whether or not you believe in the universal laws of abundance or whatever it is right, but there are doors that open for us, that are meant for us, and then those keep coming. When we acknowledge that, like this yes, this is what I want, keep it coming. Like these are the engagements that I want to be a part of, these are the people, those are the parts that I'm meant to speak to and these are the voices that are meant to, or this is who is meant to hear my voice, and I just think I don't know. That was really helpful to know that not everyone is for me and I'm not for everyone either, and the right ones will come to me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it takes enough experiences to your point where you were, Excuse me, where you ask yourself well that didn't feel right afterwards. You've done like 50 of these. That don't feel right.
Speaker 2:Is this what?
Speaker 1:you want, right? So how are we going to change it? So then I started sharing. So this is one of the things I did. So I did I used to speak for an hour and then I changed and say I'm only going to speak for 20 minutes and then I'll do Q&A. I'll do 30 minutes and then Q&A.
Speaker 1:So that was a little better for me because I really wanted to engage. Then that time less and less. So now I'm asking for the same amount of money, but I'm doing it for I'm talking for 15 minutes because I really want to engage.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I want to know what are the things that are interesting to the people so that I can have that conversation with them. So it's shared learning. But it took me a while to get there and say you really prepped like eight hours for that and it wasn't peaceful, it wasn't what you wanted to do and you didn't make as much money as you thought you need because you spent all this time preparing. So just thinking about all of that.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's so helpful. It takes a while to get. It takes a while to like be in those shoes and to learn that right, Like data input, yeah, and we're learning that from that as we go along and as long as we're self-reflective and take those moments to look back and think is that the right data that I want? Is it? Does this actually make sense for me moving forward? It takes time to pause and that can be hard too.
Speaker 1:It can be hard because we all have to eat and we all have bills to pay.
Speaker 3:Yes, right.
Speaker 1:And so sitting there and so I think honestly where I am in life is I have this 100% posture of trust. That's taking, taking years. So, for instance, I may not know where the next six presentations will come from, but I know that they'll come. So, taking that worry out of the equation, because I've spent so much time in reflection and honoring my intuition that I know I'm being guided where I'm supposed to be guided, and that looks very weird for my family and friends, I bet. They want to know what is? Your plan.
Speaker 2:I mean other than the doctorate.
Speaker 1:I don't really have a plan until after the doctorate. Then I can say oh yeah, I want to, I want to hang on on the beach and be next to a Tiki bar, but right now I have to finish the doctorate. So that is my, my plan, and my wish in prayer had always been that I could honor this doctorate and really take in these stories that people would tell me and then do the writing, and not be forced into someone else's program for 40 hours a week and not be able to honor these, these stories, if that makes sense. And so, and that has come true, so I'm able to honor the stories and, lo and behold, someone pings me through the, my website or something like that, or someone contacts me and I'm like okay, thank you.
Speaker 2:That's great, amazing, yeah, and now that, because we're already hit, we're hitting up at the hour, so one of our last questions is literally what's on your? This is happening, so this is happening for us. Is this like call to what's next? This, you know, feeling like we don't want to leave any cards on the table, and it seems like you're just open to that. The next thing is finishing the dissertation, right, and then honoring that, and I think that that, in and of itself, I mean that answers the question right. That is what's incredible, and that you're open to see where that goes at the completion of that too.
Speaker 1:I am, but I am living a life where I'm open to the experiences that show up and I get courage every day when I can say yes or no, because, again, I have found these pillars that work for me. And so what's next is honoring those pillars in every decision that I make, which I know will lead me to ultimately where I'm supposed to be always.
Speaker 2:Sounds like a next book really to me, it really does, it really does.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm waiting for the perfect. So I what I don't want to do is self publish. So I just believe that somebody else figure some big money for me and that's what I'll wait for. I won't. I won't self publish.
Speaker 1:So so not saying there's anything wrong with that. I know my, I know my path, if that makes sense, because self publishing, I did that with four, two books. It wasn't peaceful, it was great, but it wasn't peaceful. And so now that I know, yeah, so I'll just continue to honor my pillars and let life unfold in the magical way that it has been.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, I want to live in your peace. I love.
Speaker 3:I know right, this is so wonderful talking with you.
Speaker 2:I like I can feel it coming from you as we're having this conversation, and that's incredible.
Speaker 1:It took a long time to get here.
Speaker 3:Sure, it sounds like you're on your way and I hope that sometime in the near future somebody says I want to be the Elizabeth Adams of responsible AI. Wouldn't that be cool?
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, we're just going to put that out there. That's right, we're putting it out there in the universe. We are, we love it.
Speaker 3:Elizabeth, how can people connect with you?
Speaker 1:Well, there are a few ways. I have a website, so it's eadamstech. So it's eadamstech. I have a website for my oh and on eadamstech, there are a number of leadership guys around responsible AI, so they're one pagers that people can look at, download. They're all free to help them with understanding some basic concepts around AI, bias or other leadership principles. I have the website for the books, emabookscom, so there are downloadable books, two downloadable books, as well as the read-alongs and the sing-along, and then, of course, on LinkedIn. So I'm appreciative of being a LinkedIn top voice and I hope that people will follow me there, because my course will be launching in the next few days and I want as many people around the world to spend 30 minutes with me. That's it Spend 30 minutes with me learning about some principles of leadership and responsible AI.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much, Elizabeth. It was an absolute pleasure speaking with you. Thank you for sharing all that you have and for our audience until next time. This is Cheryl Cantafio, with my co-host, Eileen Grimes, and this is the end of this week's episode of you Only Go Once. Take care everyone. Bye.
