In a recent interview with Christina Dixon for the Aecus Law AI Expert Series, renowned data scientist and AI strategist Sadie St. Lawrence shared her insights on the revolutionary impact of artificial intelligence in the modern workplace.
St. Lawrence, drawing from her extensive background in neuroscience and AI strategy, likens the current AI revolution to the advent of the internet, describing it as a “major platform shift” in how we work. “We’re moving from ‘doing’ to ‘asking,'” she explains, comparing the transition to evolving from a musician in an orchestra to becoming the conductor. It’s fundamentally changing the way knowledge workers operate.”
For businesses navigating this new landscape, particularly those who have a large population of knowledge workers on staff, St. Lawrence emphasizes the critical need for clear AI policies and approved tools for consistent use across the enterprise. She advises companies against prohibiting employee AI use, explaining that employees will likely utilize it regardless. Instead, she recommends updating privacy and security policies, implementing enterprise plans for AI tools, and providing thorough employee training.
“Company accounts for AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude are crucial,” St. Lawrence states, highlighting the importance of managing data privacy, security, and potential intellectual property issues. She adds that this approach allows companies to retain valuable prompts and outputs as potential company IP when employees leave.
Addressing the emerging concern of deepfakes, St. Lawrence suggests including guidelines in AI or data privacy policies and updating cybersecurity training. While deepfakes haven’t significantly impacted workplaces yet, she notes that there are tools available to detect them, with an expected improvement in accuracy over time.
Small and medium-sized businesses stand to benefit significantly from AI integration, according to St. Lawrence. She notes that AI can provide additional support without the need for hiring full-time employees. Her company, the Human Machine Collaboration Institute (HMCI), offers training and policy development services for businesses looking to effectively incorporate AI.
Looking to the future, St. Lawrence predicts the rise of AI agents capable of interacting with multiple applications and acting based on user behavior, potentially leading to increased automation and efficiency across various tasks.
For professionals, particularly in fields like law, St. Lawrence advises familiarization with AI tools and their potential applications. “Prototype and test how you work today,” she suggests, “so that you’ll have a better understanding of some of the tools that your clients may be dealing with.” Though such experimentation with AI in personal workflows, businesses can stay informed about emerging capabilities, such as data visualization and presentation generation.
As AI continues to reshape the workplace, St. Lawrence’s insights provide a valuable roadmap for organizations and professionals. By understanding AI’s potential, implementing appropriate policies, and embracing the shift from “doing” to “asking,” businesses can harness AI’s power to enhance productivity and drive innovation in this new era of work.
Sadie St. Lawrence is the Founder and CEO of the Human Machine Collaboration Institute (HMCI). HMCI pioneers research and education, to optimize human and machine interaction in the new era of knowledge work with AI, serving leading public and private organizations. Prior to HMCI Sadie founded Women in Data™, a non-profit organization with representation in 55 countries, and a community of over 70,000 data professionals. Women in Data earned recognition as a Top 50 Leading Non-Profit and the foremost community for Women in AI and Tech in 2021.
With three degrees in piano performance, psychology, and data science, Sadie’s journey from neuroscience research to over a decade in data science and AI strategy showcases her diverse expertise. Her accolades include being named one of DataIQ’s Top 100 Most Influential People in Data (2024), Dataleum’s 30 Outstanding Women in Data (2023), Top 30 Women in AI (2022), Top 10 Most Admired Businesswoman (2021), Top 21 Influencer in Data (2021), and Top 30 Most Inspiring Women in AI (2021). She has also received the Outstanding Service Award from UC Davis (2019).
Additionally, Sadie’s leadership extends to her role on the White House Council for Equitable Data and AI Training, her contributions as a DARPA community member, hosting the award-winning Data Bytes podcast, and educating over 600,000 individuals through her data science and AI courses at UC Davis, Coursera, and LinkedIn Learning.
Human Machine Collaboration Institute
Website: https://www.hmci.ai/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/human-machine-collaboration-institute/
Women in Data:
Website: https://www.womenindata.org
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-in-data