Socially-minded intelligence, AI in boardrooms, regenerative futures, and more

📖In this issue

• Comparing Chain-of-Thought, Tree-of-Thought etc. etc.

• “Socially-minded intelligence” to link individual and collective intelligence

• How AI is best used in boardrooms

• Jack Uldrich on the unlearning, regenerative futures, nurturing creativity, and being good ancestors

• The future lies at the intersection of collaboration and innovation

🖼️Framework

Comparing LLM Enhanced Reasoning Structures

ust in the last two weeks very interesting new papers have proposed Diagram-of-Thought and Iteration-of-Thought to complement existing LLM reasoning structures. I've created a simple diagram to compare these with Chain-of-Thought as well as the well-established Tree-of-Thought and Graph-of-Thought structures.

A substantial proportion of the progress in LLM performance over the last 18 months, especially in reasoning-related tasks, stems from the use of these and similar techniques.

These five reasoning structures are all fairly straightforward. I am sure that the commercial LLM companies are building considerably more complex variations and combinations of these kinds of structures to underpin their advances.

Here are the new papers:

On the Diagram of Thought

Iteration of Thought: Leveraging Inner Dialogue for Autonomous Large Language Model Reasoning

🧠🤖Humans + AI

“Socially-minded intelligence” to link individual and collective intelligence

An interesting paper proposes “socially-minded intelligence”, noting that IQ tests individual abilities, whereas true intelligence should be evaluated as the ability to know and achieve working with others.

“we argue that by focusing either on individual or collective intelligence without considering their interaction, existing conceptualizations of intelligence limit the potential of people and machines. To address this impasse, we identify and explore a new kind of intelligence - socially-minded intelligence - that can be applied to both individuals (in a social context) and collectives (of individual minds).”

Socially-Minded Intelligence: How Individuals, Groups, and AI Systems Can Make Each-Other Smarter (or Not)

How AI is best used in boardrooms

A top Goldman Sachs executive outlines the roles AI can best play in the boardroom:

💡 Impartial Observer: AI can serve as an "impartial spectator," offering logical, unbiased input during board discussions, or acting as a devil’s advocate with a dispassionate perspective.

📊 Data Synthesis and Contextual Analysis: AI can swiftly analyze vast amounts of data—such as market trends, customer feedback, and competitive dynamics—helping board members make more data-driven, objective decisions.

❓ Raising New Questions: AI can enrich discussions by asking novel questions that board members may not have considered, broadening awareness and identifying new risks or opportunities.

🚫 Overcoming Human Bias: AI helps reduce biases and power dynamics that may stifle discussion. It can ensure sensitive or unspoken concerns are addressed without personal biases influencing decisions.

🔮 Preparing for the Unexpected: AI tools can be helpful in risk assessments and scenario planning, simulating the effects of unexpected events (e.g., political shifts or supply chain disruptions) to help boards prepare for uncertainties.

🛡️ Guardrails for AI: AI has limitations like hallucinations and biases, so boards must implement safeguards, treating AI as a tool to complement human judgment, not replace it.

A Goldman Sachs executive breaks down how AI can be used in corporate boardrooms

🎙️This week’s podcast episode

Why you should listen

Jack Uldrich brings a particular sensitivity to how he thinks about the future. He espouses humility as the only way to be open to the signals that point to the future and to keep our mental models fresh, and he truly lives it. Great insights on not just how to think about the future, but also unleashing creativity, building resilience, and understanding how to respond to ‘black swan’ events.

💡Reflections

The future lies at the intersection of collaboration and innovation

I have been thinking about somewhat different topics over the last couple of weeks as I have been preparing for the opening keynote at POSCO Sustainable Materials Forum in Seoul on Tuesday, to 1500 client executives.

POSCO is one of the largest steel manufacturers in the world. It is also deeply committed to moving to net zero carbon emissions. The focus of the company and the conference is on sustainable materials production in a global economy that is still growing and building infrastructure at scale.

As part of my presentation I adapted some scenarios I have previously worked on with clients to create a rough framework to provoke thinking.

The deepest uncertainties in a sustainable future are the degrees of collaboration and innovation we experience.

We can work hard at and invest massively in innovation, as many in renewable energy and the circular economy are doing, but we can’t know how fast that will move.

Where we have a clear choice is in how well we collaborate across nations, industries, and organizations.

The greatest value will be created across global ecosystems.

If we do that well, we have the opportunity to spark an extraordinarly positive new phase in humanity. The opportunity is there.