Jack Clark is one of the founders of Anthropic and an artificial intelligence thought leader. He spends a lot of his time ruminating on where AI is going and what it will mean to the world. He was recently on the Ezra Klein podcast; it was a conversation that blew my mind multiple times with wild thoughts around the insane acceleration of AI and its exciting and potentially horrifying promise for the future.
There was a thread in the conversation where they talked about how in the United States at least, a huge percentage of AI funding comes from the private sector, organizations that are building out technology for applications they can monetize. They talked about what we miss with this model; what if there was AI research funding available from a different lens, a vision for larger societal or human benefit? How could AI reduce inequality in the world, help with basic research that won't lead to anything patentable in the short term, or look at ways to fight climate change? It's a great thought exercise; try it with your friends sometime.
Then Klein asked Clark an interesting question. He asked Clark which application he would like to see funded by the government to best use AI to make the world a better place. Clark thought for a moment or two and came up with a very personal answer to the question. He is a new father, and he talked about all the questions that inevitably come up in the middle of the night with a new baby.
- Why has the baby been crying for four hours?
- Should I worry about this big red spot on the baby's face?
- The baby's fever isn't that high, but it's been elevated for days. Should we worry?
For the record, I made those questions up. They are not examples that he gave.
Clark talked about the many times he and his wife called their healthcare provider's advice nurse line for help and answers, how they spent a lot of time waiting on hold, and how a great deal of the time talking to the nurse was spent on simple triage, checking insurance coverage, getting basic background information, etc. His dream use case was to have AI front-end the advice nurse and do the basic triage and then pass on to the nurse with all the needed information to better use the nurse's time.
Can you picture me yelling into my phone at that point? "We don't need the government to fund this. There is a whole industry that provides this sort of capability quite profitably, thank you very much!"
And then I realized what an amazing moment this was. One of the most influential thought leaders in AI was asked for a use case for AI that was so important that the government should spend millions on its development. He came up with something that many of us have been working toward for decades: a better grade of customer self-service. Granted, I still don't see a lot of generative / agentic AI driven self-service out there in the real world, but Clarkis right, this is a perfect use for modern AI technology and current solutions don't provide acceptable experiences for worried parents in the middle of the night. We know this is coming; many of you reading this are working on solutions like this, and there is no need for government funding to make it happen.
So, pat yourself on the back, let your chest swell with a bit of pride, and feel good about what we are doing in this space. Now, all we need to do is help organizations get these applications into production. This will be a years-long journey, but we are on the path that is accelerating quickly.
One of the best and brightest minds in AI and his baby are rooting for us. Let's not let them down.
Max Ball is a principal analyst at Forrester Research.