Videos
Watch insightful presentations and discussions from Wharton’s annual People Analytics Conference, featuring researchers, industry leaders, and data innovators. These videos capture a wide range of perspectives on the evolving role of people analytics in business and beyond.
Generative AI's Uneven Impact on Entrepreneurial Performance
2024
Speaker:
Nicholas Otis – Researcher, Wharton People Analytics
Nicholas Otis presents research on the effects of a GPT-4 powered business mentorship chatbot on the performance of Kenyan micro-enterprises. In a 5-month field experiment with 600 firms, entrepreneurs were given access to either a static training guide (control) or an AI tool providing strategic advice (treatment). Overall, the AI had no significant impact on profits and revenue. However, entrepreneurs already performing well before the intervention saw a 15% boost from the AI, while lower performers experienced a 7.5% decline, despite similar usage.
Generative AI & the Disruption of Work
2023
Speaker:
Ethan Mollick – Associate Professor of Management, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Ethan Mollick discusses the transformative impact of generative AI on work, highlighting its potential to significantly enhance productivity in white-collar jobs through examples like coding and writing assistance. He emphasizes the technology’s ability to automate tasks, create content, and improve performance.
Can Algorithms Be Fair?
2021
Speakers:
Elizabeth Adams – Chief AI Ethics Advisor for Paravision, Key Constituent of UN Roundtable on AI 2020/21, Stanford Race & Technology Fellow, Founding member of POSTME
Andy McAfee – Co-Founder and Co-Director MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy
Kara Swisher – Producer and Host, Recode Decode and Pivot Podcasts, and New York Times Contributor (moderator)
Elizabeth Adams and Andy McAfee discuss the fairness of algorithms at the 2021 Wharton People Analytics Conference, questioning if AI can overcome human biases. They explore algorithmic transparency, societal impacts, and the necessity for diverse development teams. The conversation highlights the challenge of achieving fairness in AI, emphasizing the role of community engagement and policy in guiding ethical AI use and addressing biases, particularly in facial recognition and judicial systems.
Roshni Raveendhran: The Psychology of Technology
2021
Speaker:
Roshni Raveendhran – Professor, Darden School of Business
Roshni Raveendhran explores the impact of new technologies on human psychology at the 2021 Wharton People Analytics Conference. Her research delves into behavior tracking, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence, highlighting how these technologies affect our perceptions, behaviors, and well-being. Raveendhran emphasizes the importance of understanding these psychological impacts to leverage technology positively in workplaces, ensuring ethical use, enhancing motivation, and supporting employee well-being through informed and responsible implementation.
Ethics: Arvind Narayanan and Meg Mitchell with Lyle Ungar
2019
Speakers:
Arvind Narayanan – Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University
Meg Mitchell – Senior Research Scientist at Google Research and Machine Intelligence
Lyle Ungar – Professor of Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania
This panel at the 2019 Wharton People Analytics Conference explores the ethical considerations in technology and data analytics. Arvind Narayanan, Meg Mitchell, and Lyle Ungar discuss the imperative of ethical responsibility in technological advancement, focusing on transparency, the societal impact of technology, and the ethical use of AI. The conversation emphasizes the critical need for ethical frameworks in analytics to navigate the complex interplay between innovation and ethical implications, ensuring technology serves humanity positively.
Virtual Reality for Employee Training
2019
Speaker:
Ayreann Luedders – Senior Director, Academy Operations, Walmart
Ayreann Luedders at the 2019 Wharton People Analytics Conference discusses Walmart’s innovative use of virtual reality (VR) for employee training. Walmart integrates VR to enhance learning and skill acquisition, showing significant improvements in employee engagement and assessment scores. The conversation covers the implementation of VR in areas such as customer service, safety protocols, and preparation for high-volume sales events, highlighting VR’s potential to transform traditional training methods by offering immersive, realistic experiences.
Voice Forensics
2019
Speaker:
Rita Singh – Associate Research Professor, Carnegie Mellon University
Rita Singh demonstrates how voice analysis and AI can profile speaker traits like gender, age, health, personality, and environment. She explains the voice production system and shows spectrogram examples conveying detailed acoustic signatures. Singh notes voice is unique enough that snippets can’t be perfectly recreated.
Machine Learning and HR
2015
Speakers:
Daniel Pink – Five-time New York Times bestselling Author, and Public Speaker, Thought Leader
Sendhil Mullainathan – Professor of Computation and Behavioral Science, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Daniel Pink and Sendhil Mullainathan explore machine learning’s impact on HR, highlighting its predictive power and potential biases. They discuss machine learning’s ability to analyze vast data sets for better decision-making, while cautioning against over-reliance on algorithms without understanding their limitations. The conversation emphasizes the importance of integrating machine learning with human judgment to enhance HR processes, such as recruitment and performance evaluation, ensuring a balanced approach that values both data insights and human intuition.
Podcasts
Selected episodes of Women@Work, hosted by Laura Zarrow. In these conversations, Laura speaks with extraordinary role models, authors, and industry leaders to explore tactics and strategies that support women and men at all stages of their careers.
Tora, Tora, Tora
January 4, 2024
Guest: Missy Cummings – Duke Professor, PAC 11 Conference Speaker
Missy Cummings discusses the ethical considerations and safety concerns surrounding AI in autonomous systems, emphasizing the need for responsible AI development and deployment. Drawing from her experience as a former fighter pilot and AI expert, she advocates for greater awareness of AI’s limitations and potential risks, particularly in autonomous vehicles, to ensure public safety and trust.
AI Literacy and Diversity
January 18, 2024
Guest: Susan Gonzales – Founder and CEO of AI and You
Susan Gonzales, founder and CEO of AI and You, shares her journey and vision for bridging the AI literacy gap in marginalized communities. Her work focuses on educating these communities about AI’s benefits, risks, and potential for societal impact. Gonzales emphasizes the importance of diverse voices in AI development and policy to prevent bias and ensure benefits from AI advancements.