Engines of Engagement - A Curious Book about Generative AI

In this illustrated book, Julian Stodd, Sae Schatz, and Geoff Stead explore central questions that Generative AI raises within our organisations, from structures and systems to identity, trust, and the nature of truth.

Engines of Engagement traverses a broad landscape of change, with deep consideration of how these powerful systems will impact our familiar mechanisms of creativity and productivity, artistry and education at individual, organisational, and societal levels.

Generative AI technologies act as our new Engines: things that give us evolved forms of power and surface emergent abilities; things capable of driving prolific change but that also spew out significant uncertainty, discomfort, ambiguity, and risk.

This discussion considers how we arrived at where we stand today, and it explores the varied paths that lie ahead, littered as they are with ethical, social, and technical hurdles.

It's a book intended for leaders who hold a responsibility to set aside their certainty and to forge a path of curiosity. This isn't a guide to 'prompt engineering' nor will it give easy answers. Rather, through the authors' three respective lenses, and with contributions from thoughtful and provocative guests, we've sought to set a stage for debate, discovery, and perhaps even inspiration.

Julian Stodd is a writer, researcher, artist, and explorer. His work explores the context of the Social Age, a place where technology has evolved what it means to be human. His work typically exists at the intersection of systems: Social Leadership, Social and Collaborative Learning, and views of Culture, Innovation, and Change held more as social movements than structural affairs. Julian has written seventeen books and works to a principle of #WorkingOutLoud, sharing iterations every day and frequently finding new ways to be wrong.

Sae Schatz is a creative designer of systems, strategies, and artefacts for sense-making. Her professional work resides at the intersection of human cognition and learning, technology, and data. She's lived several lives: working as an assistant professor in academia, a chief scientist in business, and most recently, leading the Pentagon's Advanced Distributed Learning programme to develop AI-enabled and data-driven lifelong learning. Today, she advises governments and other organisations worldwide on using emerging technologies and learning science.

Geoff Stead is a learning technologist, an inventor of products, and a shaper of the creative teams it takes to make them real. He's happiest working in the blend between humans and technology, adapting emerging tools to find better ways to reach or teach learners across the globe. He divides his time between leading Product for MyTutor and advising other EdTech start-ups that are working to make a meaningful difference in the world.