Today's episode features Philippe Brissaud, a Principal Program Lead for the Power Virtual Agents platform at Microsoft - if you aren't familiar, Power Virtual Agents is a low code no code AI driven customer engagement platform (under Microsoft's Business Applications product pillar), on the platform, you can build and author topics, deploy bots and agents, and monitor performance of the these agents to enhance and enrich future customer engagements. It's absolutely amazing how commercial these AI technologies have become today, and we'll talk about the implications of AI democratization and the sensitivity to bias and other topics around these concepts. Philippe joined Microsoft, in France, in 2006, and has more than 15 years of experience in the Customer Relationship Management niche. He's spent a good amount of time in the project landscape, from technical scoping to enhancing project agility, and today spends the majority of his time today on customizing the Virtual Agent platform to the Financial Industry, namely large banking institutions.

Beyond Philippe's technical resume, what he brings to the table is a very unique story on what makes him such a great product person, from his personal experiences raising multi-racial children, to his cross cultural professional journey - Philippe is also a Diversity & Inclusion Champion, and has a lot to say around how being uncomfortable is the best way to grow.

Key Themes in the discussion:

-Building inclusive products require inclusivity based habits - how to build better habits to better understand your end user. Creating product for ALL.

-Challenges with American professional culture, overcoming differences, and "shutting-up"

-Microsoft strategies in AI: "Anything we do in AI, should connect people for the better"

-Technical professionals are the guardians of tomorrow's technology - why Diversity & Inclusion is ever more important in decision making

-Critical conversations around social accepts of AI: Creating clarity, transparency, and education on what AI means for our species

-The ambivalence between machines and humans, emotional intelligence, and the hardest challenges of all: parenting

Thanks for listening!

Ways to contact Philippe:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philbrissaud/

Employee Resource Groups mentioned:

Blacks at Microsoft

Women at Microsoft

Asians at Microsoft

Diversity & Inclusion at Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/diversity/default.aspx

BAM Scholarships: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/diversity/programs/blacks-scholarships.aspx

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/diversity/default.aspx

Resources and learning:

Netflix Documentary: The Surrounding Game: https://www.netflix.com/title/81006598

Tess Possner: Collaboration for all, a presentation on bias in Data, and how to ensure responsible and ethical AI: Ethics and Diversity in AI

Learn more at www.thedatabinge.com

Connect with Derek on LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter