In a powerful fireside chat, Jeff Lindor, Founder/CEO of Gentlemen’s Factory conducted a candid interview with Alain Leroy, a board member of the Haitian Roundtable, about the future of technology; and how automation and AI impacts the job market, our workplaces, and our lives at large. Alain, who was born and raised in Queens, NY by Haitian-immigrant parents, has spent the last 25 years thriving as a consultant and business executive transforming enterprises, industries, and communities in a wide range of settings, from technology companies and banks to entertainment conglomerates, hospitals, health insurance corporations, and local governments. Jeff Lindor, born in Haiti and raised in Brooklyn, NY is dedicating his life to finding innovating solutions that aims to break the barriers of success and enhance the lives of boys & men of color in today’s world. 

Here’s a glimpse of what these Gentlemen had to say. 

Click here for the full interview.

PARTICIPANT

Alain Leroy, Tech and AI Expert

MODERATOR

Jeff Lindor, Founder/CEO Gentlemen’s Factory

How we got here

Alain explained, “We are in a new era. They call this the fourth industrial revolution. The third industrial revolution started in the mid 1900’s and brought us all the digital technologies we have today from mainframes to handhelds, 3G, 4G, 5G, storage technology, processing power. The difference between the third and fourth industrial revolutions is that we are now using the digital world to change the way we do things, completely. For example: a taxi company that does not own cars – Uber. Or a hotel company that has no rooms – Air BNB. 

Job market

“I don’t think robots will replace humans. Its more likely that robots will displace humans,” said Alain. “Workers need to acquire new skills and be adapable. And perhaps new leadership roles will emerge such as a Chief Analytics Officer or Chief AI Officer. Every industry will be impacted. Organizations  that don’t transform will not survive.” Alain added that people should think about how their role in business needs to change in an AI-driven world.

Our lives at large

“There are major societal implications to all this,” said Alain. “I want us to get very excited about this space. We all should be entering this field. You don’t want to look back and say damn, I missed it. We need more diversity and different perspectives around the table as these technologies are being customized and implemented. We have to be thinking about things like, who will train ‘Robocop’.  We don’t want the bias in people perfectly replicated into the artifical intelligence of machines throughout the world.”

Here is a link to the video: https://vimeo.com/435139366