An executive with one of the most iconic sports franchises in the country visited Durham on Wednesday, but he wasn't just talking sports.
“We’re in a very unchartered space here,” said Brian Shield, CTO of the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Sports Management, on stage at the Carolina Theatre talking about artificial intelligence and its impact on productivity, jobs and yes, baseball.
Shield was speaking at the Founders First event put on by early-stage tech investor Bull City Venture Partners. Shield, previously CIO of the Weather Channel, said he’s “super bullish” on AI’s potential.
“Yeah, there’s risk, and there’s issues, but I feel like if we don’t overcome the risk, we won’t evolve,” Shield said.
But it will impact jobs – particularly those at the low-end of the market, he said.
People who “just show up for a job,” will be more at risk.
“As we’re looking for prospective employees in the future, I think we’re going to look for people who are like good athletes, people who are adaptive to change,” he said.
Shield said there will be mistakes – “but I think we’re in for a really exceptional ride.”
Today, it’s Apple iPods and iPhones. The next generation is AI, quantum computing and brain chips, he said.
Shield said it’s not like “Orville Wright trying to envision landing on the moon.” It’s already here.
But is it a threat or an opportunity?
Shield admits there’s a lot of “doom and gloom,” but said there are huge opportunities. “I think we all see something that’s going to dramatically improve employee productivity,” he said.
Cybersecurity is a “must,” he said. Data privacy, too, is a major challenge – as there are few regulations around AI. There’s also bias – “we have to be very thoughtful about that.”
Shield said he’s focused on the potential for increased productivity and encouraged entrepreneurs in the crowd to do pilots. He recommends entrepreneurs educate themselves about AI and explore what’s out there by doing pilots with vendors and potential partners.
Experiment, he said. The Red Sox organization tests technologies internally, then goes to the media, then expands the applications – a methodology entrepreneurs could follow, he said.
He advises starting small.
“These are challenging times, I would argue that most companies aren’t gifted when it comes to training up their organizations to think differently,” he said.
Shield said “lack of quality data will kill anything" and that all startups need a data strategy.
The Red Sox constantly use data, he said.
The team has cameras producing 1,000 frames a second, information it can use to discern where players are versus their peak performance. And AI will only up the game.
“There’s work to be done and I would just encourage you all to get on with the work,” he said.