Superhuman Innovation: Transforming Business with Artificial Intelligence by Chris Duffey.
Chris is Adobe’s creative director. He previously worked for healthcare communications network Sudler & Hennessey.
I found this book a bit of a challenge after learning it was a recommended technology book from CES 2020. However digesting via audiobook provided a twist as the book is actually an ‘interview’ with an AI Chatbot. So, my immediate reaction was “what is the hallucination rate” and how will mislead the reader? The reader would expect an Adobe employee to provide striking visualizations and Chris does not disappoint.
The opening chapters simply trace the historical development of AI and the impact to business. The focus of this book is for business to adopt AI. There was also a marketing driven SUPER framework introduced that I have never found anywhere else in my readings. This is introduced as an invention of his book title. This is a push to establish SUPER: Speed (facilitating work processes), Understanding (revealing and mastering deep insights), Performance (customization of delivery to customers), Experimentation (the iterative process of reinvention and feedback) and Results (tangible, measurable and optimizable results).
Missing the mark
Like many books this hypes the promise of AI as the new electricity of our times. Chris is focusing on how AI will serve “superstar innovators” via AI’s prediction services. Honestly it would be best if Chris was not constantly selling Adobe Sensai. By his third reference it was becoming a bit much as it seemed like an Adobe product placement. The book has 14 references to Adobe Sensei.
To be frank, to read a book that is an interview with an AI chatbot is not really a book. It would be just as easy to have this interview via ChatGPT. As a result, there is no ‘flow’ to his chapters, rather just short snippet conversations with his AI chatbot Aimé. So, it reads more like a transcribed podcast. Any business that wants to understand the real world impact of AI must read Rewired as a substitute
Potential was there but missed
In conclusion, I would pass on Superhuman Innovation. Actually, his closing section regarding his most influential sci-fi books is rather worthless. Ultimately, Chris is conveying that AI services must enhance workers rather than replacing them over a large marketing approach.