Rob Whiteman – Medium

Featured Book

Artificially Human: Making Sense of Automation and AI

Artificially Human: Making Sense of Automation and AI

"Artificially Human" is your guide to making sense of automation and artificial intelligence (AI)

2023

Robert Whiteman

Robert Whiteman

Stories

Rob Whiteman

Look Who’s Talking: Speech as a Modality

Adding speech as a modality to large language models is a bigger deal than most people realize.

May 16

Illustration of a person communicating ideas through speech

May 16

Rob Whiteman

The Interns: AI in the Workplace

Why are large organizations struggling to adopt the latest AI technologies? Perhaps AI has a lower tolerance for uninspiring managers.

Apr 26

Breakdown of managers from my career (18 percent great, 23 percent terrible, 59 percent fine)

Apr 26

Rob Whiteman

Gathering Dust: Why Hasn’t VR Taken Off?

I don’t think we’re having the right conversations about VR. The “killer features” have yet to be fully discovered.

Mar 5

Image of a black virtual reality headset

Mar 5

Rob Whiteman

Paper Money: The OG Crypto

Is crypto the future of money? Perhaps we can learn something from the money of the past.

Feb 19

Paper Money: The OG Crypto

Feb 19

Rob Whiteman

A Year of Being (Mostly) Retired

One year ago today, I retired as a partner at McKinsey. This is how I made it work and what I’ve done with my newfound time…

Jan 1

Chart showing how I allocated my extra time this year

Jan 1

Rob Whiteman

AI Safety: Alignment Is Not Enough

Are we on the right path when it comes to AI safety? I’m not convinced solving the alignment problem is possible or even sufficient.

Dec 24, 2023

AI Safety: Alignment Is Not Enough

Dec 24, 2023

Rob Whiteman

Bridging the Achievement Gap with AI

Today, more than 50 million American children are sitting in K-12 classrooms. They’re learning to read, conducting science experiments, and

Nov 7, 2023

Picture of a classroom with futuristic technology elements

Nov 7, 2023

Rob Whiteman

Unpacking McKinsey: What’s Going on Inside the Black Box?

It’s been a rough couple of years for McKinsey & Company. The criticism is valid, but outsiders frequently misplace the blame.

Oct 26, 2023

View of the Chicago skyline, including the McKinsey office

Oct 26, 2023

Rob Whiteman

Data Assets: Castles in the Air

Firms are investing billions of dollars in data assets. Is there value in tabular data, or are companies caught in a speculative bubble?

Oct 9, 2023

Chart showing current and projected market sizes for supervised learning (largest), generative AI, unsupervised learning, and reinforcement learning (smallest)

Oct 9, 2023

Rob Whiteman

Time: the final frontier?

GenAI has experts moving up their predictions for when we could achieve AGI. If we fail, it might be a matter of “time.”

Oct 5, 2023

Chart from McKinsey & Company showing how generative AI accelerates estimates for when various human capability levels will be achieved

Oct 5, 2023

Rob Whiteman

Rob Whiteman

Book Author

Retired (mostly) consultant excited about technology, operations, education and anything tangentially related to automation

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