Cultural Intelligence Podcast | When AI goes global: Culture, trust and the limits of scale.
23 Mar 2026 40 minutes 40 minutes

Cultural Intelligence Podcast | When AI goes global: Culture, trust and the limits of scale.

Description Transcript

In this first episode of The Cultural Intelligence Series, host Marine Esquenet sits down with Marina Pantcheva to explore what happens when global growth moves faster than our ability to manage meaning, context and trust. 

Marina helps us unpack 

  • Why culture remains one of the hardest variables for global leaders to master but also the easiest to underestimate 
  • The real-world risks of one-size-fits-all communication across markets 
  • What leaders must rethink to ensure their global strategies truly resonate across cultures 

Don’t miss Marina’s recipe for cultural confidence, blending curiosity, empathy and local insight into every decision. A powerful start to our series on Cultural Intelligence.

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Hello everyone, and welcome to the first episode
 
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of the Cultural Intelligence podcast series by RWS.
 
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Today we're welcoming Marina Pancheva to talk
 
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all things about when AI goes global,
 
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culture, trust, and the limit of scale.
 
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We are going to cover three main points today.
 
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The first one is why culture is one
 
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of the hardest variables for AI to model,
 
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and also the easiest for leaders to underestimate.
 
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We're going to talk about the risks connected to
 
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monocultural AI, and we're also going to talk about
 
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what leaders need to take into consideration for AI
 
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to work reliably in the real world.
 
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Stick around till the end to have
 
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Marina's secret recipe for enterprise AI to
 
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remain culturally impactful in the real world.
 
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Hello everyone, and welcome to our
 
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Cultural Intelligence, podcast series by RWS.
 
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Today we're going to talk all things about when
 
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AI goes global, culture, trust, and maybe a bit
 
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the limits, as well of scaling it.
 
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We are welcoming, warmly welcoming Marina Pancheva,
 
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director of Linguistic AI Services at RWS.
 
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Marina, welcome.
 
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Thank you for being here.
 
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Thank you for having me here.
 
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I'm very happy to meet you.
 
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And, it's amazing to have two
 
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Marinas on a podcast, isn't it?
 
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I'm sure everyone is going to be very
 
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happy to hear that we're interviewing you.
 
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You're just very active in the
 
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field, like, you're presenting everywhere.
 
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So, yeah, it's an honor to have you here today, really.
 
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Do you want to maybe start by introducing
 
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yourself shortly before we dive right in?
 
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So, my name is Marina Pancheva.
 
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I'm Director of Linguistic AI Services, at RWS.
 
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And I started, as a theoretical linguist.
 
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So I have an academic background and a love
 
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for research, which I still keep in me.
 
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But I joined this industry, localization and
 
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translation industry, about 10, 12 years ago.
 
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I think it's more like 10.
 
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And, yeah, I've been through it all.
 
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I first started as regular, analog linguistic, services
 
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and then had a couple of very exciting
 
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projects where I got to work a lot
 
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on quality working with translation community until I
 
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reached the stage when AI became a thing.
 
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So I started exploring AI and, gradually we formed
 
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the center of Excellence on AI Research and Development,
 
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which then branched off into delivery service delivery.
 
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And there is still the
 
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branch of research and development.
 
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So our daily work is focused on, finding ways to
 
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implement AI in linguistic services in a way that makes
 
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really sense meaning, implement AI where it really helps, brings
 
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value and also be aware of the limitations that AI
 
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has In a way counteracting the hype a bit, knowing,
 
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you know, where we can use it, where we can't
 
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use it, and researching all the time.
 
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As the field is moving at an immense speed.
 
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I was going to say, what a time to
 
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be alive when this is your topic of expertise.
 
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You know, like with all the
 
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developments and you have a lot.
 
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Yeah, it's moving so fast. I can imagine.
 
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Yeah, we even obviously outside of, you know,
 
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the expertise kind of field and I can't
 
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imagine how much there is to understand and.
 
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Yeah, yeah, it's an ever expanding
 
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kind of, border of knowledge.
 
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So, you know, the feeling the more you
 
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know, the more you know, you don't know.
 
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And it's moving so fast that I'm constantly
 
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having the feeling that I am catching up,
 
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catching up, catching up, and I'll never catch
 
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up with the knowledge that is out there.
 
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Yeah, I can imagine that.
 
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All right, let's let's dive in.
 
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How do you think leaders should define culture, in
 
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the context of enterprise, AI and global content? Yeah.
 
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Well, I mean, defining culture, my first instinct
 
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is let's define culture in the first place. Right.
 
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So there are different ways to define culture.
 
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There is the kind of psychological take on what
 
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culture is, which means like individual person's, behavior of
 
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a habit, the way they react in different situation.
 
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But I think the one we which is more
 
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relevant for us is the anthropological definition of culture
 
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as being a system of shared values, reaction styles,
 
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you know, behaviors in different contexts.
 
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And that's very important because
 
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these shared values, create predictability
 
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and the predictability creates trust.
 
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So this is a very simple explanation for a
 
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5 year old why two people from the same
 
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culture, they feel that they can have friendship easier.
 
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Right?
 
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Because by us sharing the same culture, I actually can
 
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predict how you're gonna react to what I do.
 
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And by me knowing how you're
 
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gonna react, I can trust you.
 
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I feel safer if I meet a
 
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person from a totally alien culture.
 
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I may say something means something, but
 
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it gets interpreted in a different way.
 
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The unpredictability factor rises and thereby also
 
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the insecurity and the instinct for self
 
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preservation and all those things, you know,
 
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that behavior at the very, basic level.
 
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So shared culture creates predictability,
 
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which in turn creates trust.
 
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And this is what, global leaders
 
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should actually be aware of. Right?
 
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It's the trust element, of the
 
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end customer that matters here.
 
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But thinking about enterprises, I think again,
 
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we have two levels of culture.
 
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One is the kind of the company culture or the brand.
 
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Culture is like the message you want to send to
 
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the world about your culture, your product, what you deliver.
 
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As an example, like let's take
 
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a famous shoe producer, right?
 
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Their culture and message and
 
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brand is about individual achievement.
 
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Just do it, right?
 
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It's very individualistic.
 
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So it would speak very easily to,
 
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end user from a western type of
 
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culture which is more individualistic, right?
 
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And this message is the core message.
 
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It makes the core of the culture of
 
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the brand, and it has to be preserved.
 
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Like you cannot change that for different markets.
 
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You cannot transform.
 
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Just do it to let us all do it, right?
 
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It breaks the message and the culture.
 
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So that core culture must be preserved.
 
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But then it has to be fine tuned
 
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for the regional culture of the markets, right?
 
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So while you're keeping your core message, you may
 
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have to deliver it differently for a American, for
 
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the American market and for the Japanese market.
 
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So while it is just do it and it is,
 
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placing focus on individual achievements, the way you talk about
 
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it may have to be changed when this is marketed
 
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in a more collectivist culture where the values are different
 
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and it's more like the group achievement than the individual
 
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achievement of a single person.
 
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So for global leaders, what is very important is to,
 
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on the one hand, preserve their core, culture that characterizes
 
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the brand and on the other hand, fine tune it
 
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and modify it for the regional variations, but still preserving
 
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that core message without losing it.
 
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I always think about it, you know, I
 
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always try to explain things to my kids.
 
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So I always think about it like, think Coca Cola.
 
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It has a taste and it has a, unique taste, right?
 
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Everybody recognizes Coca Cola, but in fact
 
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it tastes slightly differently in every market.
 
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It is sweeter in Asia, it is, a bit sharper in Europe.
 
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So just do it.
 
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The Coca Cola style, your culture, brand culture is,
 
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you know, the beverage and then you change it
 
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slightly for the different markets to fine tune it
 
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to the specific taste of the end user.
 
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Also the cultural taste.
 
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I always ask myself this question about culture.
 
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Where does it really end?
 
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Because a family in itself is a culture, you know, so
 
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yeah, you have the country, the culture of the country.
 
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But how far can you take it?
 
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You know, it's kind of never ending really.
 
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Obviously you have general standards that apply
 
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for groups of people in general.
 
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But can you really.
 
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It's like nearly Persona per person, per
 
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person at this point, you know?
 
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Well, that is a bit the transition from
 
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the psychological definition of culture, which starts with
 
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the individual, to the anthropological definition of culture,
 
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which basically applies to a whole ethnic group.
 
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But you're totally right.
 
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Culture is not a discrete thing.
 
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It's not that if we have a
 
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border between two countries, suddenly, you know,
 
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you have completely different behavior. It flows.
 
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It flows.
 
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And there is constantly the interaction between different
 
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cultures which generate new cultures and so on.
 
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That's the fascinating thing.
 
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But you'd be surprised how many
 
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universal things there are about culture.
 
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Like there are cultural universals and universal
 
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human values that are shared, across cultures.
 
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Just like, even, you know,
 
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body language facial expressions.
 
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Facial expressions differ in different cultures. Right.
 
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The way people smile. Nodding.
 
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You're nodding at me. Right?
 
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If you were in Bulgaria, that would mean no all the time.
 
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Because it's reversed. Right.
 
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In Bulgarian, nodding is negative and
 
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shaking your head is positive. Right.
 
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Super confusing. But there are.
 
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So that's definitely not universal.
 
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Yeah, but smiling is universal everywhere.
 
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Now it depends on how much you smile.
 
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In some cultures, it's not appropriate to show one's
 
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teeth, so you smile without showing your teeth.
 
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In other cultures you can laugh
 
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out loud and it's totally appropriate.
 
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Sadness, crying these are univers, kind
 
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of, messages that you can send.
 
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And it's the same with culture.
 
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If we have time, we can dig
 
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into cultural universals which, have been established,
 
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through a fascinating social and cultural experiment
 
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called, Moral Machine, where different...
 
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Which basically asks people from all over the planet.
 
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There were like 233 countries that were
 
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surveyed and more than 40 million, answers
 
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to the survey about moral decisions which,
 
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which reflect moral values and cultures.
 
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And there were a couple of universals that
 
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applied to all, decisions that people make.
 
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Yeah, we can get into that if there is time.
 
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I might have a little question that I think
 
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will lead you to talk again about this later.
 
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Looking forward.
 
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How do cultural bias creep,
 
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into AI models and workflows?
 
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And why does it happen? Where does it happen?
 
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Unfortunately, there are many doors and even portals
 
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through which cultural bias creeps into AI models.
 
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The one that is biggest, probably
 
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is, through data, training data.
 
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So unbalanced data sets where one culture is
 
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overrepresented, are going to lead to, AI models
 
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adopting this culture, absorbing it from the training
 
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and becoming basically a monocultural AI.
 
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Even even though this model might be multilingual,
 
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it will still be a monocultural, AI model.
 
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And in reality, that's what's happening because between 70
 
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and 95% of training data for the really large
 
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models, you know, the ones coming out of Silicon
 
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Valley and other big models is actually English data.
 
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And the rest is primarily data
 
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coming from the western digitalized world. Right?
 
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That would be Spanish and German and so on.
 
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Minority languages, long tail
 
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languages are under represented.
 
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So by necessity AI models actually learn about
 
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western culture and they absorb the western cultural
 
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values like the so called weird culture.
 
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I'm not a big fan of this acronym.
 
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But it's like Western, educated,
 
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industrialized, rich, democratic society.
 
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So data is one of the portals through which bias
 
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creeps into, and cultural bias creeps into AI models.
 
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But then there are also other ways.
 
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One is another source for bias
 
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and cultural bias comes from the
 
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humans themselves, human labeling, for example.
 
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So in the process of training a
 
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large language model, there are different stages.
 
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In the first stage it is called pre training.
 
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So you use massive amounts of data.
 
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And this data, as we already
 
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mentioned, is unbalanced data, predominantly English.
 
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But then in the next stages you actually
 
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use humans to fine tune the model and
 
00:13:40.260 --> 00:13:42.900
teach the model to be a helpful assistant
 
00:13:42.980 --> 00:13:45.780
and respond adequately to questions and so on.
 
00:13:45.780 --> 00:13:48.580
And there is one stage called reinforcement learning through
 
00:13:48.580 --> 00:13:54.180
human feedback, where humans need to provide feedback which
 
00:13:54.260 --> 00:13:57.980
responses from the AI are best to teach.
 
00:13:57.980 --> 00:13:59.420
The model produce the kind of
 
00:13:59.420 --> 00:14:01.220
completions that humans like best.
 
00:14:01.380 --> 00:14:04.090
And that's where a lot of cultural bias comes in.
 
00:14:04.560 --> 00:14:06.760
Because you as a human, if you are given three
 
00:14:06.760 --> 00:14:09.840
versions of a prompt completion and you are asked to
 
00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:13.280
choose the one that you like best, to rank them,
 
00:14:13.280 --> 00:14:17.400
you are gonna rank the one that is aligned to
 
00:14:17.400 --> 00:14:21.200
your culture, your beliefs, your values as the best one
 
00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:22.960
because it aligns with you.
 
00:14:23.040 --> 00:14:24.480
This comes from the so called
 
00:14:24.560 --> 00:14:26.640
confirmation bias that humans have.
 
00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:31.040
We like and we choose and we think that
 
00:14:31.200 --> 00:14:35.850
those answers, completions, you know, facts that align with
 
00:14:35.850 --> 00:14:39.330
our own beliefs and understandings and values are correct.
 
00:14:39.730 --> 00:14:43.970
Unfortunately, this bias, this cognitive bias, is so
 
00:14:43.970 --> 00:14:47.170
strong that not even intelligence can beat it.
 
00:14:47.170 --> 00:14:49.290
In fact, there is a very disturbing piece of
 
00:14:49.290 --> 00:14:52.370
research which shows that the more intelligent a person
 
00:14:52.450 --> 00:14:56.610
is, the more they are susceptible to confirmation bias.
 
00:14:56.610 --> 00:14:58.370
Yes, this is bad news, I agree.
 
00:14:58.610 --> 00:15:01.090
Yes, very bad news.
 
00:15:01.170 --> 00:15:03.170
But there is a logical explanation to that.
 
00:15:03.170 --> 00:15:06.530
The more, the more intelligent the person is, the
 
00:15:06.530 --> 00:15:12.170
more they can interpret evidence in a way that
 
00:15:12.170 --> 00:15:15.690
it would in the end confirm their preconception. Right?
 
00:15:15.930 --> 00:15:16.410
Yeah.
 
00:15:16.570 --> 00:15:18.970
So another source of bias comes from labeling.
 
00:15:18.970 --> 00:15:21.570
Like sometimes we just need to have label data.
 
00:15:21.570 --> 00:15:23.810
For example, sentiment labeling.
 
00:15:23.810 --> 00:15:25.490
Like label these images.
 
00:15:25.490 --> 00:15:27.610
Is the person here happy or unhappy?
 
00:15:28.340 --> 00:15:31.690
Or label this message, is it polite or impolite?
 
00:15:31.850 --> 00:15:34.150
Now a very direct message.
 
00:15:35.830 --> 00:15:39.110
Say a response to a user flagging an issue, right?
 
00:15:39.110 --> 00:15:41.370
If it needs to be labeled, a German,
 
00:15:41.830 --> 00:15:44.310
labeler will say, it's perfect, it's direct.
 
00:15:44.390 --> 00:15:47.110
It immediately gets to the point. I like it.
 
00:15:47.350 --> 00:15:50.550
A Japanese person may be like, it's very rude.
 
00:15:50.550 --> 00:15:52.230
You know, it needs to have this whole
 
00:15:52.230 --> 00:15:55.390
apologetic preamble, you know, it doesn't use the
 
00:15:55.390 --> 00:15:58.630
right kind of, doesn't sound respectful enough. Right.
 
00:15:58.630 --> 00:16:02.510
So if you have predominantly Western labelers or people
 
00:16:02.510 --> 00:16:06.570
who label Western data, then you're gonna teach the
 
00:16:06.570 --> 00:16:10.730
model to be very direct, low context kind of
 
00:16:10.730 --> 00:16:15.490
communication, transactional relationships, and that sort of thing.
 
00:16:15.490 --> 00:16:17.330
So that's another source for
 
00:16:17.950 --> 00:16:19.890
cultural bias in AI models.
 
00:16:19.890 --> 00:16:22.690
And they exhibit it, big time really.
 
00:16:23.170 --> 00:16:26.930
There's a lot of research benchmarking evaluations
 
00:16:26.930 --> 00:16:29.410
of language models over and over again.
 
00:16:29.490 --> 00:16:33.050
They show that large language models from the
 
00:16:33.050 --> 00:16:36.610
big providers align with Western cultural values.
 
00:16:36.610 --> 00:16:40.130
I mean, yeah, is there such a
 
00:16:40.130 --> 00:16:43.250
thing as an unbiased AI model?
 
00:16:43.410 --> 00:16:45.250
We all bias to some extent.
 
00:16:45.570 --> 00:16:46.770
Everyone out there, right?
 
00:16:46.770 --> 00:16:48.410
Like biased based on our life
 
00:16:48.410 --> 00:16:52.290
experience, our parents, I guess.
 
00:16:52.290 --> 00:16:54.610
Like, is it, how do we do this?
 
00:16:54.610 --> 00:16:57.490
Because so an AI model learns from
 
00:16:57.490 --> 00:17:00.370
the, what we give them, you know.
 
00:17:00.850 --> 00:17:04.530
So is there anything like an unbiased model?
 
00:17:05.650 --> 00:17:07.849
Well, bias in a way is in the
 
00:17:07.849 --> 00:17:10.369
eye of the observer in one sense. Right.
 
00:17:10.690 --> 00:17:13.210
While I can interpret something as being biased,
 
00:17:13.210 --> 00:17:15.170
you may say, no, that's totally fine.
 
00:17:15.250 --> 00:17:18.210
I think bias is very, very culture specific.
 
00:17:19.869 --> 00:17:23.569
But then again there is objective
 
00:17:23.569 --> 00:17:26.410
bias, for example gender, racial bias. Right.
 
00:17:26.410 --> 00:17:27.329
Age bias.
 
00:17:27.490 --> 00:17:29.880
And a lot of that bias is also historic bias.
 
00:17:30.350 --> 00:17:34.710
So these are biases that AI creeped
 
00:17:35.270 --> 00:17:40.230
into AI models, from historical training data,
 
00:17:40.230 --> 00:17:43.070
for example literature from the 19th century.
 
00:17:43.710 --> 00:17:48.990
Unfortunately, it is enough to have very few examples
 
00:17:49.310 --> 00:17:52.990
of bias for a model to learn that bias.
 
00:17:54.830 --> 00:17:57.390
This also has been explored a lot in
 
00:17:57.710 --> 00:18:00.990
data poisoning and trying to misalign models.
 
00:18:02.010 --> 00:18:05.770
Recent research came out which shows that 250,
 
00:18:07.810 --> 00:18:11.890
poisoned examples are enough to actually make a
 
00:18:11.890 --> 00:18:14.770
model learn a behavior or learn something that
 
00:18:14.770 --> 00:18:16.970
is undesired, an undesired feature.
 
00:18:17.210 --> 00:18:23.530
So it's enough to have 250 data chunks,
 
00:18:24.500 --> 00:18:27.330
that exhibit a particular type of bias for
 
00:18:27.330 --> 00:18:29.760
the AI model to actually absorb it.
 
00:18:29.840 --> 00:18:31.200
It's a shocking finding.
 
00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:33.440
And what is even more shocking is that it actually,
 
00:18:33.760 --> 00:18:36.040
it doesn't depend on the size of the model.
 
00:18:36.040 --> 00:18:38.960
It's not a percentage, it's an absolute number.
 
00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:42.460
So whether your model will be 6B,
 
00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:47.200
parameters or 13B parameters, it's about 250.
 
00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:50.240
Imagine how easy it is to skew
 
00:18:50.320 --> 00:18:52.880
the behavior of a large language model.
 
00:18:53.520 --> 00:18:56.160
Yes, very interesting, thank you.
 
00:18:58.340 --> 00:19:00.580
My next question is a bit more
 
00:19:00.580 --> 00:19:03.460
language related from, you know, my translator.
 
00:19:03.700 --> 00:19:05.060
Translator past.
 
00:19:05.060 --> 00:19:09.420
I guess it seems like it's so easy for
 
00:19:09.420 --> 00:19:13.419
a model to learn language patterns and, you know,
 
00:19:13.419 --> 00:19:16.900
understand that, but then it struggles with the culture
 
00:19:16.900 --> 00:19:19.700
and the context part of things. Why is that?
 
00:19:20.260 --> 00:19:21.220
Yeah, yeah.
 
00:19:22.800 --> 00:19:26.330
Let me just maybe start with the learning.
 
00:19:26.570 --> 00:19:29.130
What does a language model learn when it is language?
 
00:19:29.130 --> 00:19:31.690
Well, it basically learns statistical patterns.
 
00:19:32.250 --> 00:19:36.250
So, this is a very, very fancy autocomplete state
 
00:19:36.250 --> 00:19:38.170
of the art models are more than that because
 
00:19:38.170 --> 00:19:41.690
they're also trained on reasoning, they're trained on code,
 
00:19:41.850 --> 00:19:45.050
they are trained to access, they can access tools.
 
00:19:45.130 --> 00:19:45.530
Right.
 
00:19:46.730 --> 00:19:51.290
But they still work based on pure statistics.
 
00:19:51.770 --> 00:19:54.530
And you can extract statistical patterns from
 
00:19:54.530 --> 00:20:00.070
linguistic, identify relationships, but it stays at
 
00:20:00.070 --> 00:20:02.150
the level of the linguistic data.
 
00:20:02.550 --> 00:20:05.110
In order to absorb culture, you need to go
 
00:20:05.110 --> 00:20:08.670
one level deeper and actually go beyond language.
 
00:20:08.670 --> 00:20:10.790
Language, it's like a tip of an iceberg.
 
00:20:10.870 --> 00:20:13.030
Language is 10% of culture.
 
00:20:13.110 --> 00:20:14.950
The rest is shared history,
 
00:20:15.590 --> 00:20:19.350
religion, interpersonal relationships, traditions.
 
00:20:19.670 --> 00:20:22.470
And that is not encoded in language in
 
00:20:22.470 --> 00:20:25.530
such a way that it's statistical, right? It is.
 
00:20:25.690 --> 00:20:28.450
You can see at the culture
 
00:20:28.450 --> 00:20:30.090
through the lens of language.
 
00:20:30.250 --> 00:20:33.610
And to a certain extent the two are correlated. Right.
 
00:20:33.610 --> 00:20:36.190
You've probably, studied about the famous Sapir
 
00:20:36.810 --> 00:20:40.210
Whorf hypothesis which says that language influences
 
00:20:40.210 --> 00:20:41.810
the way people see the world.
 
00:20:41.810 --> 00:20:44.810
You know, if you have 1000 like hundred words
 
00:20:44.810 --> 00:20:48.730
of snow, you know, it's gonna, you know, make
 
00:20:48.730 --> 00:20:51.170
you perceive snow in a different way than if
 
00:20:51.170 --> 00:20:53.530
you have words for something else.
 
00:20:53.850 --> 00:20:56.710
So language does influen thinking to a certain extent.
 
00:20:56.710 --> 00:20:58.230
I think it's also the other way around.
 
00:20:58.230 --> 00:20:59.550
Like if you live in a place with
 
00:20:59.550 --> 00:21:02.070
snow, you're gonna have hundred words about snow.
 
00:21:02.150 --> 00:21:03.830
And if you don't have snow, then why do
 
00:21:03.830 --> 00:21:05.590
we need the words in the first place? Right.
 
00:21:05.670 --> 00:21:06.510
One would be enough.
 
00:21:06.510 --> 00:21:08.230
Like something white and cold. Yeah.
 
00:21:08.870 --> 00:21:12.310
So, but when AI learns language,
 
00:21:12.310 --> 00:21:15.110
it basically extracts the statistical patterns.
 
00:21:15.350 --> 00:21:16.710
It learns code as well.
 
00:21:16.710 --> 00:21:18.950
AI is excellent at learning code.
 
00:21:18.950 --> 00:21:23.440
Does it understand the goal of programming when
 
00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:26.440
it programs an app, writes the code, which
 
00:21:26.440 --> 00:21:28.960
is a type of very well regulated language.
 
00:21:29.120 --> 00:21:31.560
Like does it actually intend to
 
00:21:31.560 --> 00:21:33.200
create the thing it creates?
 
00:21:33.280 --> 00:21:35.080
No, it's the same with language.
 
00:21:35.080 --> 00:21:36.360
So it produces language, but
 
00:21:36.360 --> 00:21:37.840
does it understand the intent?
 
00:21:37.840 --> 00:21:39.360
I think the best way to put it
 
00:21:39.360 --> 00:21:42.840
is like with humans, when we communicate, when
 
00:21:42.840 --> 00:21:44.960
we read, we read between the lines. Actually.
 
00:21:45.040 --> 00:21:47.400
Communication is a lot about the things you
 
00:21:47.400 --> 00:21:49.940
don't see than the things you actually Say
 
00:21:50.420 --> 00:21:54.020
AI reads the lines, we read between them,
 
00:21:54.100 --> 00:21:57.140
and it's between the lines where culture hides.
 
00:21:57.700 --> 00:21:59.060
And how big is this problem?
 
00:21:59.380 --> 00:22:04.220
When AI is deployed globally, the
 
00:22:04.220 --> 00:22:05.620
problem is big and growing.
 
00:22:06.420 --> 00:22:08.540
And the problem has as a root the
 
00:22:08.540 --> 00:22:10.540
fact that most of the models that are
 
00:22:10.540 --> 00:22:13.300
being used globally are Silicon Valley models.
 
00:22:14.190 --> 00:22:16.590
There are some Chinese models, but to a
 
00:22:16.590 --> 00:22:18.350
certain extent they are trained on the same
 
00:22:18.350 --> 00:22:21.710
data or they distill mutually outputs.
 
00:22:21.870 --> 00:22:24.270
So it's Silicon Valley culture.
 
00:22:25.710 --> 00:22:31.190
And, when these models are deployed globally, then
 
00:22:31.190 --> 00:22:34.070
in markets where regions where the culture is
 
00:22:34.070 --> 00:22:38.870
very different, they still produce this, American centric
 
00:22:38.870 --> 00:22:42.150
or Western centric type of output with the
 
00:22:42.150 --> 00:22:43.830
values shining through, right?
 
00:22:43.830 --> 00:22:45.220
The cultural values, the communic
 
00:22:45.290 --> 00:22:47.210
communication style, and so on.
 
00:22:47.210 --> 00:22:50.650
So you have probably experienced that whenever you ask
 
00:22:50.730 --> 00:22:53.410
one of the big models a question, often they
 
00:22:53.410 --> 00:22:55.850
come back with, this is such an excellent question.
 
00:22:56.330 --> 00:22:57.330
Genius. Brilliant.
 
00:22:57.330 --> 00:22:58.690
You know, especially some models
 
00:22:58.690 --> 00:23:02.730
are really very, exaggerating, right?
 
00:23:03.050 --> 00:23:06.730
And in my culture this feels like, what did I do wrong?
 
00:23:07.050 --> 00:23:08.610
What was happening here?
 
00:23:08.610 --> 00:23:11.010
Like, I just ask a simple question and I
 
00:23:11.010 --> 00:23:13.320
don't need to be convinced I'm, a genius.
 
00:23:13.320 --> 00:23:14.960
And it's amazing even if the
 
00:23:14.960 --> 00:23:16.680
question is really silly, right?
 
00:23:16.760 --> 00:23:19.480
So for my culture, this sounds annoying.
 
00:23:19.560 --> 00:23:24.040
This is like you are not, really honest with me here.
 
00:23:24.040 --> 00:23:25.480
You're trying to please me.
 
00:23:26.430 --> 00:23:28.120
But I guess in other cultures this is
 
00:23:28.120 --> 00:23:30.080
just taken as granted and you ignore it.
 
00:23:30.080 --> 00:23:31.760
Like you don't really take it seriously,
 
00:23:31.760 --> 00:23:34.120
asking yourself, am I really a genius?
 
00:23:34.360 --> 00:23:35.720
Yeah, I never thought so.
 
00:23:36.040 --> 00:23:40.280
So, now on a more serious note, this
 
00:23:40.280 --> 00:23:42.720
is also dangerous because this leads us to
 
00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:46.420
this algorithmic monoc culture and cultural flattening.
 
00:23:46.420 --> 00:23:49.420
I just opened an article, like just before our
 
00:23:49.420 --> 00:23:52.300
podcast, as I was taking a break, I opened
 
00:23:52.300 --> 00:23:55.540
an article which was all about language flattening.
 
00:23:55.620 --> 00:23:56.780
So it's not even only
 
00:23:56.780 --> 00:23:58.780
culture, even language gets flattened.
 
00:23:58.780 --> 00:24:00.500
And we are using the same linguistic
 
00:24:00.500 --> 00:24:03.180
patterns that come from English, even when
 
00:24:03.180 --> 00:24:05.300
writing in different languages, right?
 
00:24:05.780 --> 00:24:08.980
So, if that happens in language, just
 
00:24:08.980 --> 00:24:11.770
think about what happens with culture. Okay?
 
00:24:11.930 --> 00:24:14.010
So this also leads to digital
 
00:24:14.250 --> 00:24:15.850
imperialism in a way, right?
 
00:24:15.850 --> 00:24:20.290
You have this western centered culture, being
 
00:24:20.290 --> 00:24:22.730
in a way imposed through AI models
 
00:24:23.050 --> 00:24:26.730
in Africa, in India, in China. Right?
 
00:24:27.850 --> 00:24:32.490
So, it is definitely not a good development if
 
00:24:32.490 --> 00:24:36.090
you want to preserve diversity and the cultural richness.
 
00:24:36.250 --> 00:24:38.930
But there is an even bigger problem, and that is trust.
 
00:24:38.930 --> 00:24:41.020
As I mentioned mentioned, as I mentioned,
 
00:24:41.420 --> 00:24:44.060
culture, shared culture is the most important
 
00:24:44.300 --> 00:24:46.820
factor for building trust, right?
 
00:24:46.820 --> 00:24:48.980
So if an AI model starts telling you
 
00:24:48.980 --> 00:24:52.060
how fantastic your silly question was, are you
 
00:24:52.060 --> 00:24:54.700
actually really gonna trust what it responds. Right.
 
00:24:54.700 --> 00:24:57.060
It's not that you need to trust AI models blindly.
 
00:24:57.060 --> 00:25:00.380
I always say fact check, they hallucinate. Right.
 
00:25:00.380 --> 00:25:04.020
But imagine that you are communicating.
 
00:25:04.020 --> 00:25:06.740
You're an end customer and you're communicating with
 
00:25:06.740 --> 00:25:10.420
an AI powered chatbot for user like assistance.
 
00:25:10.420 --> 00:25:15.160
Say you have an, you want to return your package or
 
00:25:15.160 --> 00:25:17.160
something happened or you want to know where it's stuck.
 
00:25:17.160 --> 00:25:17.480
Right.
 
00:25:17.720 --> 00:25:22.440
And then you start communicating with an AI chatbot
 
00:25:22.760 --> 00:25:27.000
which just doesn't use the right tone and doesn't
 
00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:31.360
approach your issue from the right angle.
 
00:25:31.360 --> 00:25:34.920
It can be too direct or it can be overly polite.
 
00:25:34.920 --> 00:25:36.120
I had a problem recently.
 
00:25:36.520 --> 00:25:39.520
I was communicating with a Chinese based chatbot which
 
00:25:39.520 --> 00:25:42.670
was so polite that I was at some point
 
00:25:42.670 --> 00:25:45.430
wondering is this thing ever gonna resolve my problem
 
00:25:45.430 --> 00:25:49.310
or is it just gonna profusely apologize forever? Right.
 
00:25:49.310 --> 00:25:50.670
In the end I got it resolved.
 
00:25:50.670 --> 00:25:53.990
It was actually a very well done AI powered chatbot.
 
00:25:53.990 --> 00:25:55.670
I really enjoyed communicating with it,
 
00:25:55.910 --> 00:25:58.150
trying to see how it's made. Right.
 
00:25:58.150 --> 00:26:01.110
I mean I started actually trying to dismantle
 
00:26:01.110 --> 00:26:04.190
it and say like, does it use tools? Yeah.
 
00:26:04.190 --> 00:26:06.030
Will it make an agentic call there
 
00:26:06.030 --> 00:26:07.470
and there like in the end? Yeah.
 
00:26:07.470 --> 00:26:10.540
It hallucinated twice on numbers but
 
00:26:10.540 --> 00:26:11.540
then it got it right.
 
00:26:12.260 --> 00:26:14.580
So back to the topic of culture.
 
00:26:15.730 --> 00:26:17.460
Yeah, it is a very big problem.
 
00:26:17.860 --> 00:26:22.300
And the more enterprises adopt AI, the
 
00:26:22.300 --> 00:26:25.860
more they risk to flatten the way
 
00:26:25.860 --> 00:26:30.900
they talk to different markets, homogenize culture.
 
00:26:31.060 --> 00:26:32.420
And I think it's going to be
 
00:26:32.420 --> 00:26:34.260
a problem in general for humanity.
 
00:26:35.940 --> 00:26:36.260
Yeah.
 
00:26:36.260 --> 00:26:38.260
I mean when you say it, I can see that happen.
 
00:26:38.900 --> 00:26:43.220
Like you, it's just gonna be standardized. Everything.
 
00:26:43.380 --> 00:26:46.500
In a way, it's a bit scary. Yeah.
 
00:26:47.140 --> 00:26:48.780
Well, in a way it is a
 
00:26:48.780 --> 00:26:52.300
natural development of this whole globalization trend.
 
00:26:52.300 --> 00:26:52.580
Right.
 
00:26:52.580 --> 00:26:54.700
I mean when you think about it, when I was
 
00:26:54.700 --> 00:26:56.580
a kid and I would go to a foreign country
 
00:26:56.580 --> 00:26:59.540
on a holiday, I was so excited because you go
 
00:26:59.540 --> 00:27:02.940
to a shop and it's completely different stuff. Right.
 
00:27:02.940 --> 00:27:04.380
And you've never seen that.
 
00:27:04.380 --> 00:27:08.720
Even nowadays I go to shop in any European countries
 
00:27:09.440 --> 00:27:12.440
country and it's all the same on the supermarket shelves.
 
00:27:12.440 --> 00:27:12.720
Right.
 
00:27:12.720 --> 00:27:14.840
I mean you have these little things like you
 
00:27:14.840 --> 00:27:17.400
are going to get fish, what is it called?
 
00:27:17.400 --> 00:27:18.960
Fiske kaker in Norway. Right.
 
00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:21.280
I mean, I don't know the word in English. Fish.
 
00:27:22.300 --> 00:27:22.879
Cakes.
 
00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:24.160
Fish cakes, Yeah.
 
00:27:24.160 --> 00:27:27.040
I don't think you can buy fish cakes in Spain.
 
00:27:27.200 --> 00:27:28.880
Pretty sure we can. Yes.
 
00:27:29.040 --> 00:27:32.000
So there are a few things that have remained local,
 
00:27:33.010 --> 00:27:35.810
but apart from that it's all very, very standardized.
 
00:27:35.810 --> 00:27:37.890
So it becomes boring to travel in a way.
 
00:27:38.130 --> 00:27:40.690
Well similarly, culture gets standardized.
 
00:27:41.890 --> 00:27:47.570
How should leaders ensure that AI remains culturally
 
00:27:47.570 --> 00:27:52.450
competent, trustworthy and accountable at scale as well.
 
00:27:53.160 --> 00:27:56.410
Okay, so I've been thinking about that and I
 
00:27:56.410 --> 00:27:59.690
think I have a recipe with the main ingredients. Right?
 
00:27:59.690 --> 00:28:01.090
Step by step. Manual.
 
00:28:01.330 --> 00:28:02.770
Instruction manual. Simple.
 
00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:04.600
So let me break this down.
 
00:28:04.600 --> 00:28:07.720
So leaders, the first thing they need to do
 
00:28:07.800 --> 00:28:12.840
is actually establish the culture of their brand.
 
00:28:12.840 --> 00:28:15.280
Like what we were talking about, right? Just do it.
 
00:28:15.280 --> 00:28:18.600
Like what do you want the message to be?
 
00:28:18.600 --> 00:28:20.080
Like who are you? Exactly?
 
00:28:20.080 --> 00:28:21.760
As you put what are your values?
 
00:28:21.760 --> 00:28:25.880
How do you market your products?
 
00:28:26.610 --> 00:28:28.680
What do you want people to take from that?
 
00:28:28.840 --> 00:28:32.720
The main message, the main emotion is well, right?
 
00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:34.560
And then this is non negotiable.
 
00:28:34.560 --> 00:28:35.760
This shouldn't change, right?
 
00:28:35.760 --> 00:28:37.080
As we said, just do it.
 
00:28:37.080 --> 00:28:39.040
Shouldn't be like let's all do it together, right?
 
00:28:39.040 --> 00:28:40.160
This is your message.
 
00:28:40.480 --> 00:28:44.960
So define the core and then start fine tuning
 
00:28:45.040 --> 00:28:47.719
the recipe, you know, the way the core feels
 
00:28:47.719 --> 00:28:50.880
and sounds for different regions and markets.
 
00:28:51.440 --> 00:28:55.360
For that what you need to do is actually benchmark
 
00:28:55.600 --> 00:28:58.880
identify what are the cultural values of every region.
 
00:28:59.120 --> 00:29:02.160
I believe not all enterprises have mapped
 
00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:05.100
out the cultures of the markets.
 
00:29:05.260 --> 00:29:07.500
So they probably have a lot of data
 
00:29:07.900 --> 00:29:12.300
about you know, sales, conversion rates, whatever.
 
00:29:12.620 --> 00:29:14.940
But do you actually as a leader
 
00:29:15.340 --> 00:29:18.300
have a cultural map of your markets?
 
00:29:18.460 --> 00:29:22.860
Do you know whether this market is a collectivist type
 
00:29:22.860 --> 00:29:29.660
of culture which value cohesion and being together, respect for
 
00:29:29.660 --> 00:29:35.090
the elderly and for example have kind of a, a
 
00:29:35.170 --> 00:29:37.570
let's say non linear idea of time.
 
00:29:37.890 --> 00:29:41.930
And that market might be valuing efficiency and directness and
 
00:29:41.930 --> 00:29:45.010
they are very low context and they have this linear
 
00:29:45.010 --> 00:29:48.810
plan time and they need to be talked to in
 
00:29:48.810 --> 00:29:52.610
a very direct, very short and condensed type of way.
 
00:29:52.850 --> 00:29:55.650
So after you've defined your core culture
 
00:29:55.650 --> 00:29:58.330
and the values, then go out onto
 
00:29:58.330 --> 00:30:01.010
the markets and map them culturally.
 
00:30:01.010 --> 00:30:03.330
For that you need cultural specialists, you need
 
00:30:03.330 --> 00:30:05.850
people who will tell you on these dimensions.
 
00:30:05.850 --> 00:30:08.990
And there are various ways like there are
 
00:30:08.990 --> 00:30:12.230
various studies, you know, of cultural dimensions.
 
00:30:12.230 --> 00:30:15.070
You have the famous hofstede cultural dimensions.
 
00:30:15.310 --> 00:30:16.950
Six different dimensions, right?
 
00:30:16.950 --> 00:30:19.870
You have some frameworks with 12 different dimensions.
 
00:30:19.870 --> 00:30:22.789
So choose your favorite framework and define
 
00:30:22.789 --> 00:30:25.150
you know, where each market sits.
 
00:30:26.110 --> 00:30:27.430
Next thing that needs to be
 
00:30:27.430 --> 00:30:30.230
done is start testing, right?
 
00:30:30.230 --> 00:30:31.710
Create prompts because this is
 
00:30:31.870 --> 00:30:33.790
for AI implementation, right?
 
00:30:34.110 --> 00:30:38.990
Create prompts that will, will tweak the message, the
 
00:30:38.990 --> 00:30:42.030
core message, so that it talks to the people
 
00:30:42.030 --> 00:30:45.550
in the different regions, to their culture, right?
 
00:30:45.550 --> 00:30:47.510
So create different types of messages.
 
00:30:47.990 --> 00:30:49.030
Play with prompts.
 
00:30:49.030 --> 00:30:52.550
Create basically a test set, like a rich test
 
00:30:52.550 --> 00:30:57.510
set for modifying the core messages so that it
 
00:30:57.990 --> 00:31:00.790
speaks to the end users in each market.
 
00:31:01.510 --> 00:31:04.810
And then evaluate, okay again evaluate
 
00:31:04.810 --> 00:31:07.690
using local experts, cultural experts.
 
00:31:07.930 --> 00:31:10.890
Cultural, specialists, you know, people who understand,
 
00:31:11.610 --> 00:31:14.490
gather the feedback and incorporate again into
 
00:31:14.650 --> 00:31:16.970
your prompt your solution, your workflow, whatever
 
00:31:16.970 --> 00:31:18.210
you have there, right?
 
00:31:18.210 --> 00:31:22.930
So that you actually gather the learnings test again until
 
00:31:22.930 --> 00:31:25.570
you've gotten it right now I bet your next question
 
00:31:25.570 --> 00:31:27.810
will be like, how do you implement that?
 
00:31:27.810 --> 00:31:29.970
How do you tweak an AI model, you know,
 
00:31:29.970 --> 00:31:34.670
to talk to Japanese audience in one way and
 
00:31:34.670 --> 00:31:36.470
to a German audience in another way?
 
00:31:37.110 --> 00:31:40.390
Well, there are again different solutions and each
 
00:31:40.390 --> 00:31:43.670
one of them has different level of invasiveness.
 
00:31:43.670 --> 00:31:45.110
I call it invasiveness.
 
00:31:45.350 --> 00:31:46.470
First one, you can try to
 
00:31:46.470 --> 00:31:48.230
do it through prompting, right?
 
00:31:48.310 --> 00:31:49.670
You can try to start your
 
00:31:49.670 --> 00:31:51.550
prompt with this famous role prompting.
 
00:31:51.550 --> 00:31:54.510
Like you're a Japanese I
 
00:31:54.510 --> 00:31:57.430
don't know, customer support, agent.
 
00:31:57.510 --> 00:31:59.510
And you are very polite.
 
00:31:59.590 --> 00:32:03.750
You always apologize to the user and
 
00:32:03.750 --> 00:32:07.250
so give the guidelines for the model.
 
00:32:08.680 --> 00:32:11.090
If that doesn't work, because sometimes this
 
00:32:11.170 --> 00:32:13.730
role prompting actually doesn't work that well.
 
00:32:14.450 --> 00:32:17.570
You can go one level more invasive and
 
00:32:17.570 --> 00:32:19.810
use something that is called soft prompting.
 
00:32:19.810 --> 00:32:22.769
For that you already need more technical expertise.
 
00:32:23.490 --> 00:32:25.130
Soft prompting is a very interesting,
 
00:32:25.130 --> 00:32:26.610
it's not very much talked about.
 
00:32:26.690 --> 00:32:30.090
Soft prompting is a bit similar to fine tuning
 
00:32:30.090 --> 00:32:32.690
a model, but you actually don't really change.
 
00:32:34.180 --> 00:32:35.860
You know, when you fine tune a model,
 
00:32:35.940 --> 00:32:38.420
you go under the hood and you basically
 
00:32:39.500 --> 00:32:42.340
change the value of these little parameters.
 
00:32:42.340 --> 00:32:44.100
You know, you tweak the numbers inside
 
00:32:44.260 --> 00:32:46.580
because it's the numbers that encode knowledge.
 
00:32:46.660 --> 00:32:48.380
Knowledge is stored in the numbers.
 
00:32:48.380 --> 00:32:49.820
And if you want to change the
 
00:32:49.820 --> 00:32:51.420
knowledge and the behavior of a model,
 
00:32:51.420 --> 00:32:53.740
you change those numbers through fine tuning.
 
00:32:53.740 --> 00:32:55.700
But then you risk that the model is
 
00:32:55.700 --> 00:32:57.540
going to forget what it knew before, right?
 
00:32:57.540 --> 00:32:58.980
Because you've changed the numbers.
 
00:32:59.060 --> 00:33:03.140
Cultural soft prompting is you kind of append a special
 
00:33:03.140 --> 00:33:05.440
type of a vector in front of, of the prompt
 
00:33:05.520 --> 00:33:08.760
which in a way sways the behavior of a model
 
00:33:08.760 --> 00:33:12.280
to a particular like way of say talking.
 
00:33:12.280 --> 00:33:14.320
So you can kind of prepend this.
 
00:33:14.320 --> 00:33:16.560
Like there's a preamble, a vector preamble which
 
00:33:16.560 --> 00:33:19.040
can make the model be more polite or
 
00:33:19.040 --> 00:33:23.680
more direct, more verbose or like really concise
 
00:33:23.680 --> 00:33:26.120
or flattering or non flattering.
 
00:33:26.120 --> 00:33:28.320
And yeah, if that doesn't work, fine
 
00:33:28.320 --> 00:33:30.240
tuning, partial fine tuning, not full fine
 
00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:32.080
tuning, full fine tuning is very risky.
 
00:33:32.080 --> 00:33:34.320
Partial fine tuning, may be the
 
00:33:34.320 --> 00:33:36.290
solution if that doesn't work.
 
00:33:36.370 --> 00:33:37.290
Human in the Loop.
 
00:33:37.290 --> 00:33:38.650
I actually think you always need
 
00:33:38.650 --> 00:33:39.850
to have human in the loop.
 
00:33:39.850 --> 00:33:43.330
But human in the loop is not very scalable. Right?
 
00:33:43.330 --> 00:33:45.090
Human in the loop is not very scalable.
 
00:33:45.410 --> 00:33:47.330
So there are different levels.
 
00:33:47.730 --> 00:33:50.450
The best thing would be of course train your own model.
 
00:33:50.450 --> 00:33:51.890
But this is hardly feasible.
 
00:33:52.050 --> 00:33:56.610
Yeah, this is too time consuming.
 
00:33:57.170 --> 00:34:02.210
And yeah, you probably wouldn't have the capabilities and
 
00:34:02.210 --> 00:34:04.730
the resources to train a large language model.
 
00:34:04.730 --> 00:34:06.250
It's going to be a small language model.
 
00:34:06.250 --> 00:34:08.389
And after all the capabilities, capabilities of
 
00:34:08.389 --> 00:34:11.790
models are directly correlated to their size.
 
00:34:11.870 --> 00:34:13.790
So the bigger the model, the more capable.
 
00:34:13.790 --> 00:34:16.190
So that, that is a little bit of a trade off there.
 
00:34:16.350 --> 00:34:16.909
Yeah.
 
00:34:17.429 --> 00:34:19.790
And once this is done, like depends on which
 
00:34:20.110 --> 00:34:22.949
method you have used to actually, get the model
 
00:34:22.949 --> 00:34:26.870
to produce the culturally fine tuned and appropriate, type
 
00:34:26.870 --> 00:34:30.469
of text or interaction or images. Can be anything.
 
00:34:30.469 --> 00:34:32.270
This applies to any modality.
 
00:34:32.590 --> 00:34:34.480
Right, then monitor all the time.
 
00:34:34.708 --> 00:34:36.708
Time monitor all the time. Right.
 
00:34:36.708 --> 00:34:39.708
You need to have constant sampling, monitoring
 
00:34:39.708 --> 00:34:41.668
to make sure that the model still
 
00:34:41.668 --> 00:34:44.149
behaves, produces the right output.
 
00:34:44.149 --> 00:34:46.389
Cultures change, you know, model behavior
 
00:34:46.389 --> 00:34:47.509
may change for some reason.
 
00:34:47.909 --> 00:34:51.109
So especially if you are not working with your own model,
 
00:34:51.109 --> 00:34:54.389
but you are using a model by a third party provider,
 
00:34:54.900 --> 00:34:57.269
then you have to monitor all the time monitor.
 
00:34:57.269 --> 00:35:01.829
Okay, we have the little secret recipe here. Yes.
 
00:35:02.229 --> 00:35:03.429
Try that recipe.
 
00:35:03.669 --> 00:35:04.869
Tell me what you've cooked.
 
00:35:08.290 --> 00:35:10.490
Can I ask you, do you have something to add?
 
00:35:10.490 --> 00:35:12.570
Maybe something like an anecdote, something you would
 
00:35:12.570 --> 00:35:16.210
like to mention that we haven't covered before?
 
00:35:16.370 --> 00:35:19.810
Anecdotes, Many of AI models going wrong. Right.
 
00:35:19.970 --> 00:35:21.250
But I actually want to
 
00:35:21.250 --> 00:35:22.850
add something more philosophical.
 
00:35:22.850 --> 00:35:25.410
I've been on a bit of a philosophical wave lately.
 
00:35:26.550 --> 00:35:28.570
I was thinking a lot about innovation.
 
00:35:28.570 --> 00:35:30.050
There was an innovation Week,
 
00:35:30.650 --> 00:35:33.650
last week organized by rws.
 
00:35:34.590 --> 00:35:37.860
And this is what struck me me one day.
 
00:35:38.580 --> 00:35:41.620
And I find that like a very interesting observation.
 
00:35:42.180 --> 00:35:45.620
I don't know, might not be very unique, but here it is.
 
00:35:46.970 --> 00:35:49.180
Any innovation that we have had so
 
00:35:49.180 --> 00:35:52.940
far in human history has been fully
 
00:35:52.940 --> 00:35:56.500
explainable by the creator of the innovation.
 
00:35:56.900 --> 00:35:59.900
So people invented the wheel, they
 
00:35:59.900 --> 00:36:01.300
could explain how it works.
 
00:36:01.850 --> 00:36:03.740
James Watt invented the steam machine.
 
00:36:03.740 --> 00:36:05.780
He could explain every little detail.
 
00:36:05.780 --> 00:36:08.760
Like why is it that if you water there and you
 
00:36:08.760 --> 00:36:11.440
heat it, then steam comes out there and it works? Right.
 
00:36:11.950 --> 00:36:14.640
People invented Bell, invented the telephone.
 
00:36:14.640 --> 00:36:17.920
He could explain the telephone in every detail.
 
00:36:18.160 --> 00:36:20.480
And that was a predictable machine.
 
00:36:20.560 --> 00:36:22.320
It's a deterministic technology.
 
00:36:23.040 --> 00:36:26.640
And that has been always true of technological innovations
 
00:36:26.880 --> 00:36:30.640
until the transformers came out and AI in general.
 
00:36:31.120 --> 00:36:33.360
Now we are creating Models.
 
00:36:33.360 --> 00:36:35.440
We are creating technology that we
 
00:36:35.440 --> 00:36:37.600
have no idea how it works.
 
00:36:37.680 --> 00:36:39.600
In fact, there is a whole branch of
 
00:36:39.900 --> 00:36:45.980
science emerging, which is AI neuroscience, researchers, machine
 
00:36:45.980 --> 00:36:49.500
learning researchers are peeking under the hood of
 
00:36:49.500 --> 00:36:53.420
AI models, basically using the same methods to
 
00:36:53.500 --> 00:36:57.020
investigate what is happening there, which neurons get
 
00:36:57.020 --> 00:36:58.620
activated when I do this?
 
00:36:58.700 --> 00:37:00.460
How can I tweak the behavior?
 
00:37:00.460 --> 00:37:02.380
What will happen if I deactivate
 
00:37:02.380 --> 00:37:04.300
that neuron or activate that one?
 
00:37:04.460 --> 00:37:07.580
That's exactly what neuroscientists do with our human brains
 
00:37:07.580 --> 00:37:09.420
when they want to understand how it works.
 
00:37:09.500 --> 00:37:11.570
What will happen if we kind of send mild
 
00:37:11.800 --> 00:37:13.960
electricity impulse to that part of the brain?
 
00:37:14.040 --> 00:37:16.920
Oh, the hand goes up. Interesting. Yeah.
 
00:37:17.160 --> 00:37:21.320
So we are using the same technology to explore
 
00:37:21.640 --> 00:37:25.080
the electronic brain as we are exploring the human
 
00:37:25.080 --> 00:37:27.360
brain, which is one of the big mysteries. Right.
 
00:37:27.360 --> 00:37:29.040
We still don't understand how that works.
 
00:37:29.040 --> 00:37:31.120
And it strikes me that we have
 
00:37:31.120 --> 00:37:35.720
created something that we ourselves then need
 
00:37:35.720 --> 00:37:37.600
to research to understand how it works.
 
00:37:37.600 --> 00:37:39.880
We are as if playing God here.
 
00:37:39.960 --> 00:37:43.200
We have creating something that is beyond us and
 
00:37:43.200 --> 00:37:45.620
we cannot explain it in the tiniest detail.
 
00:37:45.700 --> 00:37:47.540
And this is why we are
 
00:37:47.540 --> 00:37:50.820
having this whole cultural, dimension conversations.
 
00:37:51.460 --> 00:37:54.660
Because now culture becomes relevant, right?
 
00:37:54.660 --> 00:37:57.740
When you have created an entity, a type of
 
00:37:57.740 --> 00:38:02.260
intelligence, which is not just a tool anymore.
 
00:38:02.260 --> 00:38:03.940
It's not deterministic.
 
00:38:03.940 --> 00:38:06.140
You cannot predict what it's gonna do.
 
00:38:06.140 --> 00:38:08.140
Like the way you can predict what a hammer is
 
00:38:08.140 --> 00:38:11.260
gonna do, or what a telephone, is gonna do, or
 
00:38:11.260 --> 00:38:14.710
like how electricity, electricity flows through the wires, right?
 
00:38:15.350 --> 00:38:19.030
That's when you stop interacting with that
 
00:38:19.030 --> 00:38:21.110
technology as a tool, but you start
 
00:38:21.110 --> 00:38:24.870
interacting with this technology as a collaborator.
 
00:38:25.430 --> 00:38:27.750
AI is already a collaborator.
 
00:38:27.750 --> 00:38:28.710
It's not a tool.
 
00:38:28.950 --> 00:38:30.190
You know, people use it as
 
00:38:30.190 --> 00:38:34.390
a brainstorming partner, idea generation partner.
 
00:38:34.550 --> 00:38:38.230
Some people use it as a psychiatrist and even a friend.
 
00:38:38.390 --> 00:38:39.030
Okay?
 
00:38:39.190 --> 00:38:41.590
This becomes a different type of intelligence
 
00:38:41.590 --> 00:38:43.510
which is now collaborating with us.
 
00:38:43.970 --> 00:38:45.730
And because of that, we need
 
00:38:45.730 --> 00:38:48.530
it also culturally attuned to us.
 
00:38:48.850 --> 00:38:51.130
Until now, you don't really care what the culture
 
00:38:51.130 --> 00:38:53.850
of your phone is because it's just irrelevant, right?
 
00:38:53.850 --> 00:38:54.850
That's not even a question.
 
00:38:55.090 --> 00:38:57.650
But you do want to have the culture.
 
00:38:57.730 --> 00:38:59.890
You want to have this new type of tool,
 
00:38:59.969 --> 00:39:04.930
a, collaborative tool to actually share your values, share
 
00:39:05.010 --> 00:39:10.080
your moral principles, share your ethical principles, because it's
 
00:39:10.080 --> 00:39:12.520
gone beyond the stage of being just a tool.
 
00:39:12.840 --> 00:39:15.320
So that's what I've been thinking about lately.
 
00:39:16.110 --> 00:39:16.760
So interesting.
 
00:39:16.760 --> 00:39:17.880
Yeah, so interesting.
 
00:39:18.280 --> 00:39:20.120
Thank you for sharing that with us.
 
00:39:20.280 --> 00:39:22.560
Thank you, for giving me the opportunity. Maybe.
 
00:39:22.560 --> 00:39:24.040
I have one last question.
 
00:39:24.200 --> 00:39:25.760
Very, very quick answer.
 
00:39:25.760 --> 00:39:27.640
What is cultural intelligence for you?
 
00:39:27.800 --> 00:39:30.840
So for me Cultural intelligence, both in humans and
 
00:39:30.840 --> 00:39:35.240
AI, actually means being able to make yourself understood
 
00:39:35.240 --> 00:39:38.520
and communicate with any culture which is out there.
 
00:39:38.840 --> 00:39:42.420
Not have any stereotypes, preconditions, conceptions.
 
00:39:42.890 --> 00:39:47.940
Be open and have the ability of communicating and
 
00:39:48.020 --> 00:39:52.420
understanding a, human being or an, end user or
 
00:39:52.420 --> 00:39:55.300
an AI model, whatever it may be, that has
 
00:39:55.300 --> 00:40:01.460
a different system of values, rules, behavioral patterns.
 
00:40:01.620 --> 00:40:03.780
That's what cultural intelligence is for me.
 
00:40:04.020 --> 00:40:05.700
Okay, thank you. That was it.
 
00:40:05.860 --> 00:40:08.060
Thank you so much for being here with us. Thank you.
 
00:40:08.060 --> 00:40:09.940
And stay tuned for the next episode.