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Monks’ new head of AI on what client success with artificial intelligence should look like


Dave Meeker, who beforehand led innovation at Isobar and Dentsu, has simply been introduced as Monks’ new head of AI. In his first interview within the put up, he tells Gordon Younger what it should entail and why the emergence of AI is probably the most profound innovation he’s encountered but.

We’ve heard a lot a couple of new industrial revolution – however Dave Meeker suggests it is likely to be even greater than that. And he should know.

He’s simply taken over as head of AI at Monks, an company recognized for its digital manufacturing roots however now setting its sights on how AI can shake up not simply its personal operations, however its purchasers’ companies too. We caught up at CES, the place hype round artificial intelligence appears to swallow every little thing in its path. If Meeker’s right, we’re all about to really feel an enormous shift.

“One factor I’m shocked that no more individuals are conscious of is Eureka Park,” he says. “If you wish to know what tendencies are going to hit in three years, yeah, go stroll round.”

That’s the place the true improvements lurk – effectively away from the company cubicles. As an alternative of flashy demos and large names, Meeker factors to startups and scrappy innovators making an attempt to make AI do one thing genuinely new.

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So, what does a head of AI really do?

There’s extra to it than a elaborate job title. “I feel success will look like our purchasers efficiently leveraging AI in a protected, efficient means that strikes the enterprise needle,” Meeker explains. “We are able to obtain unattainable concepts as a result of we now have agentic capabilities that empower concepts the place 5 years in the past simply wouldn’t have been doable. Now we are able to create unattainable issues.”

In different phrases, he’s right here to assist Monks construct AI into the company’s core – and assist purchasers work out the right way to do the identical. “It’s not nearly making content material quicker and cheaper,” he says. “It’s about creating new sorts of experiences that generate new sorts of knowledge, which then create new alternatives for AI.”

A tradition of motion, not simply discuss

Meeker’s enthusiasm for Monks is rooted in its willingness to experiment. “There was a 2,200-person group of AI lovers who’ve energetic conversations,” he says. “Workers have entry to all of these totally different fashions to do what they do.”

As an alternative of infinite mission statements, Monks merely provides employees the instruments and house to check, fail and check once more. “When you speak about reinvention or you possibly can act upon reinvention, these are two very various things,” Meeker says. “Monks is doing one thing about it, and so they’re not afraid of change.”

That vitality, he hopes, will carry over to client work too. “With out purchasers, you don’t have a enterprise,” he notes. “I need them to see AI not as a cost-saver or an add-on, however as a gateway to thoroughly new realms of chance.”

CES: nonetheless definitely worth the hype?

Meeker sees CES as a sneak peek of how AI will filter into common life, whether or not it’s wearables, voice-driven devices or the following era of data-driven instruments. And in the event you suppose the principle present flooring is all glitz, his tip is to head for the smaller stands.

“It’s fascinating,” he says. “If you wish to see the following three years, that’s the place you go.”

In the end, he hopes AI would possibly even carry us somewhat nearer to being human once more: “The expertise can lastly free us from reliance,” he says. “It’d present us a renewed sense of humanity.”

Beyond the Industrial Revolution?

So is this truly bigger than the Industrial Revolution? Meeker thinks it could be. And with the speed of AI evolution on display at CES, it’s fair to say we’re in for a wild ride. The trick, in his eyes, is sticking to what he calls “responsible innovation,” which means harnessing the technology for something more than box-ticking or superficial gains.

“We now have agentic capabilities,” he says. “And I think that we will look back and see this as the first year of the future.”

If Meeker has his way, AI will be so ingrained in everyday life that we barely think about it – but see the benefits at every turn. And judging by CES, that day might be sooner than we expect.

Whether or not it eclipses the Industrial Revolution, one thing’s clear: AI isn’t a side project. And David Meeker’s role is to make sure it delivers on its promise – for Monks, its clients and everyone else along the way.



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