Cassie Kozyrkov, Google's first-ever Chief Decision Scientist, joins us on The Augmented Life to share her insights on decision-making, data, and AI. During her tenure at Google, Cassie trained over 20,000 Googlers on data-driven decision-making and advised leadership on building data-driven organizations. Now an AI advisor and speaker, she brings an abundance of wisdom from her 20+ year career spanning data science, consulting, and academia. With a unique blend of expertise in statistics, economics, and psychology, Cassie offers a multidisciplinary perspective on how we can improve our decision-making processes.
In this episode, Cassie explores the complex relationship between human cognition, data, and technology. She challenges us to rethink our assumptions about decision-making and provides practical strategies for leveraging tools and self-awareness to make better choices. Throughout the conversation, Cassie emphasizes the importance of cognitive realism, personal data collection, and embracing the potential of AI while maintaining a critical perspective on its limitations. Her insights offer a roadmap for navigating an increasingly data-driven world and making more informed, intentional decisions in our personal and professional lives.
You won't want to miss this insightful conversation. Tune in to the full episode here:
Let's dive deeper into each of these takeaways and explore how they can help us become better decision-makers in the age of AI.
[7:02] Recognizing and Compensating for our Cognitive Limitations
[26:44] Bridging the Gaps in our Memory and Cognition
[27:58] Digitizing Personal Data for a Future of Powerful AI tools
[3:02] The Importance of Defining Terms and Operationalizing Concepts
[38:02] Balancing Intuition and Data in Decision-Making
Cassie encourages listeners to engage in a month-long exercise of tracking personal data points to gain a deeper understanding of their own cognitive limitations and biases.
"I want you to spend a month filling that thing out. A few of you will do it perfectly and really wonder what the point of the exercise was. The rest of you will learn something deep about yourselves and data. First, that it comes from humans, and a lot of the time it sucks."
By actively participating in this data collection process, we can develop greater self-awareness about the challenges we face in accurately gathering and interpreting information. This understanding is essential for improving our decision-making abilities and recognizing the potential flaws in the data we rely on.
Cassie highlights the value of tracking relevant personal data to augment our memory and decision-making capabilities, building on the idea of our inherent cognitive limitations.
"I've begun to rely on those tools, and I've thought about where the holes are in my memory, where the holes are in my cognition. Memory is definitely one of them. And how do I harness as many of the tools that we have, and maybe build new ones, to do better?"
As someone who has personally benefited from tracking various aspects of her life, from hydration to sleep patterns, Cassie's experiences demonstrate the potential for personal data collection to cover some of our weak spots. By identifying these holes and actively seeking out tools to address them, we can create a more comprehensive picture of our lives and make better-informed decisions.
Cassie suggests that by using tools like pen and paper or digital apps, we can extend our memory and make our data more accessible and useful.
"Your memory sucks. Pen and paper is better. You know what's even better? Making that searchable with electronic form. That's electronic data, but when the thing you wrote down is good in the first place."
As AI tools become more sophisticated and accessible to the average person, digitizing our personal data becomes increasingly important. By transforming our handwritten notes, logs, and reflections into a searchable, electronic format, we lay the groundwork for leveraging powerful AI tools in the future. However, the key to unlocking this potential lies in ensuring that the data we digitize is accurate, consistent, and meaningful in the first place. By starting the process of finding the right tools and digitizing our personal data now, we can set ourselves up for a future where AI tools can truly augment our decision-making capabilities.
Cassie stresses the significance of clearly defining terms and operationalizing concepts to ensure that we are all on the same page when discussing decision-making and data.
"Operationalization is essentially saying, 'Here's what I mean.' When I use the word judgment, this is what I intend by this word."
By taking the time to define our terms and operationalize concepts, we can avoid misunderstandings and ensure that our discussions about decision-making and data are productive and meaningful. This is especially important when collaborating with others or working in fields where jargon and technical terms are common.
Cassie explores the role of intuition in decision-making and suggests that it is often driven by either instinct or learned experiences.
"When we talk about intuition or going with your gut, what could possibly be driving that? I mean, if you are spiritual and you believe in spirit, that's a whole other conversation. I'm going to stick to the two other possibilities. One, it is instinct, as in that hardware and software were loaded before you were born. Or number two, you learned it somewhere. In other words, it's memory, some data was integrated."
While data and tools can be incredibly valuable in decision-making, it's important to recognize that intuition also plays a role. By understanding the origins of our intuition, whether it's instinct or learned experiences, we can better balance it with the data we collect and analyze. The key is to be aware of when we are relying on intuition and to question whether it is appropriate for the decision at hand.
Stay in the loop with exclusive content, product updates, and news: