This document contains slides from a presentation by Syed Ahmed on product management in the age of artificial intelligence. The presentation discusses how AI will impact both personal and professional lives, provides definitions of AI, and examines industries already affected by AI like transport, legal, and finance. While AI can generate creative works like music, art, and stories, product management is not considered low-hanging fruit for AI. The presentation urges attendees to start using AI techniques in their products and provides tips on how to get started with AI.

1. Leading The Product 2017
Speaker Slides
Melbourne and Sydney, Australia
Syed Ahmed
Bupa, Australia and NZ
For more information go to
www.leadingtheproduct.com

2. Working with HAL
Product Management in the age of
Artificial Intelligence
Syed Ahmed
@sokahmed

3. AI will have a profound impact
on your personal and
professional life
2
• Gates
• Pichai
• Zuckerberg
• Musk
• Bezos

4. What exactly is AI?
“Any sufficiently advanced
technology is indistinguishable
from magic.”
Arthur C. Clarke
3

5. A sufficiently useful definition
4
Autonomous
decision-making
Independent
learning
Large volumes of
unstructured data
Complex
ambiguity

6. The overly simplified AI cake
5
Interactive
Systemic
Academic
Disruption

7. (Yet another) technology
adoption curve
6
adoption
novelty
capability
Utility
Obscurity
time

8. Industries are already affected
7
Transport
(freight)
Legal
(discovery)
Finance
(trading)

9. But what about creativity?
Original
Emotion-inducing
Artisitc
C R E A T I O N
8

10. AI can make great music
9
http://www.aiva.ai/

11. AI can make great art
10
https://www.nextrembrandt.com/

12. AI can make great stories
“Konpyuta ga shosetsu wo
kaku hi”
(The Day a Computer Writes a Novel)
11

13. Still think AI can’t do Product
Management?
12
• Backlog refinement and prioritisation
• User research
• Multi-variate testing
• Feature / usage analysis

14. But it’s not all bad news
13
The tech has
a way to go
software
hardware
network
data
Accelerated
augmentation
PM is not low
hanging fruit
Product
Management

15. In the meantime …
… what can I do to get
started?
14

16. 15
Start using and
advocating for a
consistent,
directionally
correct definition
For us, AI
means …

17. 16
Ask why you
might want to
use AI
techniques in
your product
Why do we
want to do this
again …?

18. 17
Would you
ask
someone
else to do
a “thing”
for you?
Could you
please …
Interactive
Systemic
Academic

19. 18
How would
you feel if
someone
already did
that thing?
Wait …
what?
Interactive
Systemic
Academic

20. 19
It’s not just for
the devs …
START
TINKERING!
Now, repeat
after me …
https://teachablemachine.withgoogle.com

21. Key takeaways
20
• AI is not a fad – and it will affect you
• It’s progressing rapidly – but still some
way to go
• Get started, and get ahead of the
coming changes

22. 21
Questions?
Email: syed@syedahmed.net
Twitter: @sokahmed
Web: www.syedahmed.net
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/syedahmed