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IWB Blog

A collection of observations, news and resources on the changing nature of innovation, technology, leadership, and other subjects.

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What I’ve Learned from Collaborating with My AI Editor

When I began writing a weekly blog in May of 2005, I expected that artificial intelligence would someday become one of the subjects I would write about. I didn t expect that AI would eventually become my editor. Writing each weekly post takes many hours. Before I write a single sentence, I spend considerable time thinking [ ]

Should We Fear an AI-Induced Jobs Apocalypse?

“The launch of ChatGPT in 2022 ignited the artificial-intelligence boom — and elicited a chorus of warnings from AI bosses of an impending jobs apocalypse,” said The Economist in “Prepare for an AI jobs apocalypse,” the lead article in its May 16 issue. “Never mind that they have reason to talk up the disruptiveness of [ ]

Higher Ed Is Sending Mixed Signals on AI

Earlier this year I wrote a blog about the continuing debate across higher education on whether — and how — university students should be taught to properly use generative AI, “How Should University Students Be Taught the Proper Use of AI.” I mentioned in the blog that the debate about AI reminds me of my [ ]

Proprietary vs Open AI Models: Experiment → Learn → Specialize → Scale

Open AI models present an intriguing economic puzzle. They can often deliver performance approaching that of leading proprietary models at a fraction of the cost. Yet enterprises continue to overwhelmingly favor closed, proprietary models — and by some measures, their share of enterprise AI spending is actually increasing. Why is that the case? The answer [ ]

AI Moves Toward Organizational Deployment

“Much of the effort and attention around AI for the last several years has been around technical developments,” wrote Babson College professor Tom Davenport in a recent Substack post, “The AI World Moves Toward Organizational Deployment.” “New model announced! New benchmark surpassed! New contract for massive data centers! New world-class technologists hired! You know the [ ]

Why AI Hasn’t Replaced Software Engineering? — and Probably Won’t

A couple of weeks ago I posted “Why AI Can t Replace Software Engineering,” a blog in which I discussed an important distinction that is often overlooked: software engineering is not synonymous with programming. I keep coming back to this topic because, in my opinion, the difference between programming and software engineering offers a particularly concrete [ ]

Some Personal Reflections on a Long Career

On May 5, 2012, I gave the commencement address at Penn State s College of Information Sciences and Technology. Then Dean David Hall offered me excellent advice on what makes for a good commencement speech: make it personal, tell us about yourself and your background, share a few lessons you ve learned over the years, and keep [ ]

Why AI Can’t Replace Software Engineering

AI s potential threat to programming has been widely debated over the past few years, as evidenced by the growing number of provocative headlines. For example, “The End of Programming” argued that “the end of classical computer science is coming, and most of us are dinosaurs waiting for the meteor to hit.” Other articles have predicted [ ]

The 2026 State of Tech Talent

The “2026 State of Tech Talent Report” was recently published by Linux Foundation Research. “Over the past several years, the Linux Foundation has surveyed hiring and training stakeholders to capture the state of the technical talent market amid technological shifts and economic changes,” wrote authors Adrienn Lawson, Marco Gerosa, and Anna Hermansen in the report’s [ ]

The State of AI in Higher Education: Widespread Use, Unclear Rules

“Artificial intelligence is shaping how many college students think about their academic paths,” said a recently published Gallup article, “College Students Weigh AI s Impact on Majors and Careers.” Forty-two percent of bachelor’s degree students say AI has caused them to give serious thought to changing their major, including 13% who say they have thought about [ ]