Content + AI Larry Swanson
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- Technology
Content and AI has two missions: to demystify the family of technologies and practices known as artificial intelligence and to democratize the use of AI across the span of content practice.
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Rob Hoeijmakers: Using AI to Transform Blogging Workflows – Episode 28
Rob Hoeijmakers
LLM-based conversational tools are revolutionizing all parts of the content ecosystem, including blogs by independent professionals.
Rob Hoeijmakers is an independent web strategist based in Amsterdam. He's using AI tools like Whisper and Perplexity to streamline and improve his research and writing workflows.
This lets him spend more time on his websites' information architecture and improves the business results he gets from his blog.
We talked about:
his work as a web strategist and his multiple blogs
his happiness with being able to delegate tasks to his LLM colleagues
the freedom that AI tools like Whisper give him to research, think, and ideate as he walks
how the abundance of content that AI tools provide helped him abandon his old scarcity mindset around information
the huge time savings he realizes from using AI-generated summaries of transcripts of interviews
how he uses AI tools to draft his blog content
his insight that the real value in his blog is in its information architecture
his preference for using his own images over AI-generated ones
the details of his content "knitting" which stitches together his current and prior content
the analytics tools he uses to track traffic to his blog
how he uses his blog as a conversation starter
Rob's bio
Rob Hoeijmakers is a passionate web strategist with over 30 years of experience. Known for his curiosity and love for recognising patterns, he excels in crafting engaging content and innovative web solutions. Rob writes insightful blogs and is a hands-on builder of content, chat, and messaging platforms. A dynamic public speaker, he frequently discusses web strategy, digital marketing, and AI, always focusing on enhancing user experiences and client success.
Connect with Rob online
LinkedIn
Instagram
Twitter
Web Strategies
Web Strategies (Netherlands version)
Chat voor Bedrijven (Chat for Business)
Video
Here’s the video version of our conversation:
https://youtu.be/FRaHqLRWT9k
Podcast intro transcript
This is the Content and AI podcast, episode number 28. Many of the stories you read in the media about the adoption of AI tools cover enterprise workflows and other uses in large organizations. It turns out that LLM-based applications can also help tiny, one-person companies. Rob Hoeijmakers is an independent web strategist based in Amsterdam. AI tools like Whisper and Perplexity have revolutionized his research and writing workflows, letting him focus on his websites' information architecture and the business of blogging.
Interview transcript
Larry:
Hi everyone. Welcome to episode number 28 of the Content and AI podcast. I am really happy today to welcome to the show Rob Hoeijmakers. Rob is a web strategist based in, are you in Amsterdam? I forgot.
Rob:
Yes. Amsterdam.
Larry:
Amsterdam. Yeah, in Amsterdam here in the Netherlands. I'm also here in the Netherlands. And also as part of any web professional nowadays, he blogs a lot and we were talking at an event a few weeks ago about his blogging and I said, Oh, tell me more. And I'm like, wait, I have a podcast. Let's talk about it on the podcast. So anyhow, welcome Rob, tell the folks a little bit more about what you're up to these days.
Rob:
Yeah. My name is Rob Hoeijmakers. I'm a web strategist and for content marketing, I blog a lot. It's not only marketing, it's also way of learning and keeping up. I am into LLMs driven chat bots. I did it with the ReSViNET, which is on the, which is RS virus thing. So that's something I'm working on currently. And then of course for my blogging, I write a blog in English, -
Chelsea Larsson: Building an AI Learning Machine at Expedia – Episode 27
Chelsea Larsson
The arrival of generative AI gives content designers a whole new toolkit. As with any new set of gear, there's some learning that comes with the new capabilities that the tools afford.
At Expedia, Chelsea Larsson is leading her team of content designers into the AI design future with fresh takes on the planning, design, and evaluation skills that designers have always relied on.
We talked about:
her work as a senior director of experience design at Expedia
how she is facilitating with her teams the shift from product development design to AI design
how she has identified new capabilities that AI brings and is incorporating them into product road maps
how content strategists and architects help them decide whether to use generative AI or structured-content methods
their shift from front-end content design to working with back-end engineers and architects
how new LLM-driven applications of conventional content-evaluation criteria permit them to scale up their content design work
their goal of creating good-quality content at scale
how content designers are shaping the future of conversational ecosystems
how AI lets content designers do more strategic thinking, in particular about how to apply their insights at scale
her take on the recent rounds of tech layoffs
one of the new roles that are emerging for which content professionals are well-suited, like the new position of model designer
the origins of their AI program in a simple application of gen AI to partner content creation
how to bootstrap the implementation of AI content practices in your org
how to identify opportunities to help your customers by matching their content use cases with your AI capabilities
her message to content designers: "don't be afraid" and keep learning
Chelsea's bio
Chelsea Larsson is a Sr. Director of Experience Design at Expedia Group where she leads the B2B Content Design team, partners on strategic design initiatives, and builds AI travel tools. Chelsea loves to chat about Content Design in genAI and UX design for travel. She shares her thoughts on both topics via the Smallish Book newsletter and conference stages around the world. Her favorite book to gift loved ones is the delightful Chirri and Chirra series. Her favorite sandwich is a turkey club.
Connect with Chelsea online
LinkedIn
Smallish Book
Video
Here’s the video version of our conversation:
https://youtu.be/qKr7o5aKQrM
Podcast intro transcript
This is the Content and AI podcast, episode number 27. The arrival of generative AI tools gives content professionals a whole new palette of design capabilities. Learning how to take advantage of these new opportunities so that they can shift from product-development design into content-driven AI experience design challenges many content folks. Chelsea Larsson sees these challenges as a chance for both her and her team at Expedia Group to stretch and grow and to scale their impact as design professionals.
Interview transcript
Larry:
Hi everyone. Welcome to episode number 27 of the Content and AI Podcast. I am really delighted today to welcome to the show, Chelsea Larsson. Chelsea is a senior director of experience design at Expedia Group. And welcome Chelsea, tell the folks a little bit more about what you're up to these days.
Chelsea:
Thanks for having me, Larry. As you said, I'm a senior director of experience design. I lead the B2B content design team at Expedia Group. So we call that the partner content design team, because we work with Expedia partners. I also lead the Generative AI Experience Design Program, which we'll get into later and lean in on a couple of strategic initiatives at Exped... -
Patrick Stafford: The Future of AI and Content Design – Episode 26
Patrick Stafford
Like most tech professionals, content designers are extremely interested in how AI might affect their work and employment prospects in the future.
Patrick Stafford and his colleagues at the UX Content Collective recently conducted research to explore the impact of AI on the future of the profession, as well as the attitudes and opinions of content designers about new AI tools and practices.
We talked about:
his work as the co-founder and CEO of the UX Content Collective
the high-level findings of his recent research on the impacts of AI on content design
the coincidental timing of the release of GPT-3 and the wave of layoffs in content design and other tech professions
his take on the current content design job market, that it's now a more typical market
comparisons of the job market in 2016-18, 2019-21, and and from 2022 through now
the decline in corporate training budgets recently
his take on working "with" AI as well as "for" AI products
the emerging critical role of content designers in ensuring the ethical use of AI
his observation that most of the new AI jobs being created are being staffed from within companies, not by hiring outside talent
the growing importance stated in many job postings of being familiar with AI tools
the main benefit of AI for content designers: the ability to scale
the important role of content designers applying best practices and design sensibility to gen AI output
how the UX Content Collective curriculum has evolved in response to the arrival of AI
the surprising finding in their research that 80% of people either feel the same or more hopeful about the industry after the introduction of LLMs and AI
the upcoming revival of his podcast Writers of Silicon Valley
Patrick's bio
Patrick Stafford is the CEO and cofounder of the UX Writers Collective. He is a former Lead Digital Copywriter for MYOB, the largest accounting software provider in Australia, and has consulted with several businesses on UX content strategy.
Connect with Patrick online
LinkedIn
UX Content Collective
The Future of AI and Content Design research report
Writers of Silicon Valley podcast (reboot coming soon)
Video
Here’s the video version of our conversation:
https://youtu.be/ijMMmsWQZKo
Podcast intro transcript
This is the Content and AI podcast, episode number 26. The arrival of GPT-3 and the explosion of interest in generative AI caught many in the content-design profession by surprise. Arriving as it did around the same time that mass layoffs hit the tech industry compounded the anxiety around this new tech. Patrick Stafford and his colleagues at the UX Content Collective recently conducted research to explore the true impact of AI on the profession, as well as the attitudes and opinions of content designers about new AI tools.
Interview transcript
Larry:
Hi everyone. Welcome to episode number 26 of the Content and AI podcast. I'm really happy, today, to welcome to the show, Patrick Stafford. Patrick is the co-founder and CEO at the UX Content Collective, which you hope you've heard of. Anyhow, welcome Patrick. Tell the folks a little bit more about what you're up to these days.
Patrick:
Thanks, Larry. I'm really glad to be talking to you today. It's always a pleasure to speak to you. So yes, as Larry said, I'm the co-founder and CEO of the UX Content Collective. We started in 2019, and we offer a range of courses and workshops related to UX content. So that could be from a broad beginning in UX writing fundamentals to more specialist skills like content ops or even things like systems thinking, which is a workshop we have coming up, -
Wouter Sligter: Authenticity in the Age of AI – Episode 25
Wouter Sligter
Figuring out how to best adopt new technology is difficult at any time for any organization. AI tech rachets up this challenge to new heights.
Wouter Sligter helps companies understand the capabilities and limitations of LLMs and related technologies to create trustworthy experience-delivery platforms.
Transparency is a key element in implementing solutions that evoke and support the authentic human experiences that underlie these systems.
We talked about:
his background as a UX-focused designer and his shift to conversation and AI design
the growing number of business use cases that his work supports as well as the growing palette of tech tools that he has to work with
how he creates authentic and trustworthy experiences with LLMs and adjacent tech
the benefits of RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation)
the growing number of platforms that support building AI experiences
the huge failure rate of conversational AI implementations, and how better design might improve the success rate
the importance of being genuinely customer-centric when implementing AI projects
how his background in language and music helps his AI design work, in particular the benefits of "being comfortable with the uncomfortable"
the importance of companies being transparent about their AI implementations
how localization manifests in the AI world
the growing acceptance of chatbots by consumers
his advice to jump into AI now, beginning with due diligence about how you'll implement it in your organization
Wouter's bio
Wouter Sligter is a Senior Conversation Designer and Generative AI Engineer. He has been a committed team lead and has consulted for a large number of Conversational AI implementations, most notably in Finance, Healthcare and Logistics. He has an innovative mindset and a sharp sense for understanding user needs. Wouter always looks to improve the conversational user experience by following iterative design patterns and verifying outcomes through data analysis and user research. Both predictive NLU and generative LLMs and SLMs are part of Wouter's toolkit.
Wouter has a background in ESL and IELTS teaching at language centres and universities in Vietnam. He has developed a strong awareness for language and cultural peculiarities, with native fluency in English and Dutch and good conversational skills in Vietnamese, German, and French.
Connect with Wouter online
LinkedIn
YouandAI.global
Video
Here’s the video version of our conversation:
https://youtu.be/Ak0liSLR8_0
Podcast intro transcript
This is the Content and AI podcast, episode number 25. One of main reasons that people have taken so quickly to AI tools like ChatGPT is their conversational nature. People like talking to each other - and to computers. In human conversation, we've developed skills and instincts that help us determine the trustworthiness of the person we're talking with. In tech-driven conversations, we often have reason to mistrust. Wouter Sligter helps companies build conversational systems that express the authentic humanity of their creators.
Interview transcript
Larry:
Hi everyone, welcome to episode number 25 of the Content and AI Podcast. I'm really delighted today to welcome to the show Wouter Sligter. I met him in Utrecht in the Netherlands. He's in the co-working space we both work out of. There, he is a conversational AI consultant. He does conversation design and he's a generative AI engineer. He has his own company called You and AI Welcome, Wouter. Tell the folks a little bit more about what you're up to these days.
Wouter:
Hi Larry. Very good to be here. Thank you for inviting me. What am I up to? -
Lasse Rindom: Lying Robots, Chaotic Code, and Other AI Issues – Episode 24
Lasse Rindom
Lasse Rindom both consults with enterprises on AI projects and talks with business and technology experts about their thoughts and discoveries.
In both his consulting practice and his podcast conversations, Lasse has discovered both tremendous opportunities and potentially pitfalls when adopting enterprise-scale AI solutions.
We talked about:
his work as an AI leader at Basico,
the origins of his AI-focused podcast, The Only Constant
the unexpected opportunities that arise from the new ability to work with unstructured content that AI affords
his quest for use cases that will help identify new governance structures and operational frameworks
some examples of AI workflows that enable new business capabilities, like the ability for non-coders to query an agent that can write SQL queries for them
his candor in his consulting practive about the possible pitfalls of AI tech, in particular the consequences of LLM hallucinations
how current LLMs fall short of natural language, acting more like "chaotic code"
the unfortunately common belief that generative AI can be applied
one way that he is addressing the "lying robot" problem: using multiple AI agents to correct each other (instead of fine-tuning the models)
the current strategic AI deficit in the market, resulting in consultants pushing untested engineering solutions
the differences between how enterprises and SMBs consume tech solutions
the importance of holistic thinking and staying focused on core problems as you explore AI solutions
Lasse's bio
Lasse Rindom is AI Lead at Basico and a leading expert on AI and automation. He has previously been global technology manager at facility management giant ISS and CDO of Baker Tilly Denmark.
Lasse is a frequent debater on LinkedIn, a Gartner Peer Community ambassador and is host of the podcast “The Only Constant” in which he has deep discussions with global thought leaders on what AI and technology means for us as humans and as businesses.
Connect with Lasse online
LinkedIn
Video
Here’s the video version of our conversation:
https://youtu.be/_fdAweq3Wuw
Podcast intro transcript
This is the Content and AI podcast, episode number 24. I generally focus these interviews on content practices, but I'll zoom out now and then to explore the broader strategy and technology landscape. Today I'm talking with Lasse Rindom, a thoughtful and knowledgeable consultant who works with enterprises on big AI projects. He's also a podcaster who talks with business leaders around the world about AI and tech. In his conversations and consulting work, he has discovered a world of lying robots, chaotic code, and strategic deficits.
Interview transcript
Larry:
Hi, everyone. Welcome to episode number 24 of the content and AI podcast. I'm really delighted today to welcome to the show, Lasse Rindom. I'll have him pronounce his name correctly in just a minute. I don't speak Danish, apologies. But Lasse is the AI lead at Basico, a Danish consultancy that works with big enterprises in Denmark and other places, I'm assuming as well. But welcome to the show, Lasse, to tell the folks a little bit more about what you're doing there at Basico.
Lasse:
Hi, Larry, and thank you for having me on the show today. I'm really thrilled to be here. So my name is Lasse, Lasse Rindom. That's how you say it in Danish so people could know that. I always say it's okay to say Lasse. Everyone knows that, that's dog.
Lasse:
I am the a AI leader at Basico, which means I'm defining our go-to-market strategy and our products in the AI space, and we focus very much on the back office function. So that's your legal, facility management, -
Gerry McGovern: The Environmental Impacts of AI – Episode 23
Gerry McGovern
As we navigate our paperless offices and admire our sleek compact computing devices, it can be hard to imagine the impact that our digital experiences are having on our communities and the planet.
Gerry McGovern studies the environmental impact of the digital industry. He has uncovered an alarming story of unsustainable growth, toxic side effects, and human misery, which he shares in his book, World Wide Waste.
We talked about:
how he became an environmental activist focused on the impacts of digital
the phenomenal pace of growth of digital infrastructure
the impact on local communities of the big data centers that house cloud infrastructure
how the compute-intensive nature of AI exacerbates
his observation of the long-standing lack of transparency in the AI industry
the "snake oil sales" aspects of AI
the troubling use of "forever chemicals" by the semiconductor industry
the material impact of computer chip manufacturing
how human over-consumption and the environmental impacts of AI overlap
his advice for actions you can take to mitigate your personal impact:
slow down and use your brain more
think local - local foods, local computer storage, etc.
prefer text over images and other high-bandwidth communications
Gerry's bio
Gerry’s latest book, World Wide Waste, examines the impact data waste and e-waste are having on the environment and what to do about it. Gerry also developed Top Tasks, a research method used by hundreds of organizations to help identify what truly matters.
Connect with Gerry online
Mastodon
LinkedIn
GerryMcGovern.com
Video
Here’s the video version of our conversation:
https://youtu.be/W5-BMTTEUik
Podcast intro transcript
This is the Content and AI podcast, episode number 23. It's easy to think of digital media and experiences - including our new AI explorations - as ethereal things that magically traverse the computing cloud to enlighten and entertain us. Gerry McGovern is here to remind you that that's far from the case, that "digital is physical." The data centers that power cloud computing are lapping up water and consuming electricity at an alarming pace, and the arrival of AI is accelerating these troubling patterns of overconsumption.
Interview transcript
Larry:
Hi, everyone. Welcome to episode number 23 of the Content + AI podcast. I am really delighted today to welcome to the show Gerry McGovern. Gerry is the author of the book The World Wide Waste: How Digital is Killing the Planet and What to Do About It. He's also probably better known ... and I originally met him almost 15, 20 years ago when he was talking about customer care words, and subsequently out of that arose, I think, his work on top task methodology. So anyhow, Gerry's a well-established figure in the discipline, has a lot of important stuff to tell us about the environmental costs of AI. But welcome, Gerry. Tell the folks a little bit more about what you're up to these days.
Gerry:
Thank you, Larry. It's lovely to be speaking to you again. I suppose what I'm up to mainly is ... In a sense, I never thought it would happen, but I've become a type of environmental activist focused on the impacts of digital and how to use digital in a better way, in a less damaging way. I don't think digital can be green in any sense, but I think it can be used to help more our environment and at least to reduce the damage it causes to our environment. So, that's the main stuff I'm focused on.
Larry:
Yeah. Well, I got to say, I love the idea that you're an environmental activist now, because we need plenty of that. But one of the things about your work that I think has r...