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Vivien Chia
Welcome to the Cisco Community Ask Me Anything conversation!
Submit your questions from Wednesday, April 9 to Wednesday, April 23 to our guest, Annie Hardy, Global AI Architect and Futurist at Cisco. She helps Cisco partners plan for the emerging requirements that the AI Era brings, balancing the desires to evolve their workforce, be profitable, and also innovate responsibly. She has recently spoken at SXSW Austin!
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Current team: Cisco’s Global Partner Engineering team | LinkedIn
Years in the tech industry: 20
Education & certifications: Austin College B. A., certification in Strategic Foresight by the University of Houston College of Technology
Key areas of expertise: AI, Spatial Computing, Human-Machine interaction, Strategic Foresight, Thought Leadership
Hometown & where you live now: Austin, Texas area
One thing you're currently obsessed with: Finding the perfect white button-down shirt
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Lets get the conversation started with Annie...
1. What inspired you to pursue a career in tech, and what keeps you excited about the work you do today?
I actually didn’t intend to go into technology. I didn’t think I was that smart until I was in my thirties – because I wasn’t super good at math. I struggled. I liked chemistry but ended up studying communications in college after unexpectedly falling in love with public speaking. And then after college I became a social worker, wanting to save the world. But as much as I wanted to help people, I was always more curious about how my organization ran, how we could improve – I was always able to so easily explain complex topics to others and understand deeply technical topics. I learned more and more, moved into a role in tech marketing, got more and more responsibility, and then finally started my own company to do what I wanted to do, with technology companies as my clients. So, I adopted some technology products as I marketed and researched them, but entrepreneurship is what flung me more deeply into the field. No one told me I belonged in technology - I had to decide that for myself.
2. As an AI Architect & Futurist, how do you see AI transforming the way businesses operate in the next five years?
AI has been around for a while, but we've just begun entering the Generative AI age. GenAI is a flavor of AI that uses loads of data to interact with the world in a more natural way, creating text and images that are hard to distinguish from human works. Today we're mostly dealing with small AI - projects and pilots that are changing the way people access information. But within 5 years, we'll have big, quiet AI doing the work behind the scenes in massive ways. Some of it will be adopted without anyone even noticing. We'll have more code written by GenAI. We'll have more reports written by GenAI. We'll have reticent adopters finally using the tools because companies silently weave new GenAI features inside software products we already love. We'll also have to adapt to zero trust and post-quantum security strategies because basically quantum computing is going to break today's encryptions, so that's going to be a fun little organizational shuffle over the next 5 years.
I dive a bit deeper on the Future of the Internet in this recent Seeking Delphi podcast episode, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of the Internet with Annie Hardy.
3. AI safety and governance are hot topics. How is your work with the NIST US AI Safety Institute Consortium shaping the future of responsible AI?
Interesting question - we’re currently in a position where the focus of the American government is shifting from controlling AI to accelerating it. The shift has enabled us to continue to speak about the things that matter to us, but in context of values like efficiency, security, preservation of capital, and resiliency. I’m proud to be part of a team that aspires to leverage our voices and intellect to advocate for an AI Age that truly is an inclusive future for all.
4. For women aspiring to leadership roles in tech or young women considering a STEM career, what’s the one skill they should be developing today?
Confidence. Get help to work through the lies of anyone who told you that you can’t. Get help to work through the steps of being able to understand your super-powers. Join a group to practice your public speaking skills until they’re sharp. Never trust a company with your career path – find your footing, find your confidence, and make your own path.
5. Women supporting women is huge—can you share a moment when another woman at Cisco or in tech lifted you up or inspired you?
Charlotte Rose published the first report I ever wrote at Cisco. I’d written this massive paper called “The Risk of Exclusion in the Metaverse” and I was struggling to get it published because no one quite understood what I was trying to do. But she has been such an amazing light and support for me, trusting my intellect and capability and putting me in places where amazing things have happened. She’s a wonderful person and has been an immensely valuable ally in my career here at Cisco. Love you, Char.
6. You’re currently obsessed with finding the perfect white button-down shirt—have you found it yet, and what makes a great one?
There are so many directions you can go, from full tunic to finding the perfect tailored top with darts to be tucked in. I’m actually playing with the half-tucked look recently and I’m not sure it’s quite “me.” But I like something simple but feminine, and I lean towards unstructured over crisp cotton. I’ve tried wrinkle free, but I feel that many times they lack the attention to detail of one I would have to iron. That said, I do already have three different white/ivory button-down shirts I wear to different occasions, and I have to steam iron all before use. Maybe my glass-slipper-of-a-button-down is asymmetrical, sitting in a boutique in Houston right this very moment. I really don’t know. Clearly, I’m still looking for the perfect one.
7. What's the most "nerdy" or unexpected thing you absolutely love?
Personal finance. I am an absolute finance geek and I started a group at Cisco for women to talk about money, called 'Chickonomics'. It’s not my day job, but we now have like 4,400 people in Cisco chatting about money. I love it.
8. If you could instantly download any skill into your brain (like in The Matrix), what would it be?
How to survive in a world without technology. I’d love to have highly marketable skills if we ever find ourselves in a post-apocalyptic economy. For a bit more on that, you can read this interview of me by IPSOS, How we can build needed trust in AI through equity.
9. Since you’re a Futurist, where can all of us non-futurists go to learn more about the Future of the Internet?
Take a Friday night and watch three movies to experience the caricatures of my alternative futures projections: Minority Report, Wall-E, and Idiocracy.
Otherwise, I recommend following Singularity University's newsletter, MIT Tech Review, The Future Party, Politico's Digital Future Daily, IPSOS' What the Future, and The Non-Obvious Newsletter, plus listening to the a16z and Exponential View podcasts.
10. Any other special message?
Using AI will take lots of energy, and that energy consumption right now is driving climate change. Use AI intelligently – learn how to prompt intelligently and get the right responses the first time. Use a smaller model instead of a big one if it suits your needs. We can all do our part to protect the environmental impact of AI.
Take the opportunity to interact with Annie!
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