The Cohere Podcast: Episode 3 – The Role of AI in Online Communities and Networks with Venessa Paech

It’s human nature to seek connection, meaning, and knowledge through community. Thanks to the smartphones in our pockets (and the near-global access to broadband – see our previous episode), “community” now is very much a digital construct, and the way we find and participate in such gathering places is radically changing. 

As online communities and human networks have evolved, algorithms have played an increasingly prominent role in the experience, from offering rudimentary personalization to shaping and segmenting entire communities. In the future, AI and related technologies will become central to our shared digital and real-world experiences. 

In this episode of the Cohere Podcast, Venessa Paech and I discuss the future role of AI in online communities – both the tremendous opportunities and potential threats AI & related technologies pose.

In this episode, Venessa and I discuss:

• AI in the context of the digital community experience – 21:15
• The specific ways AI can enhance community experience – 33:54
• Potential risks of emerging technologies – 39:37
• Machine culture – 43:30
• Advice for organizations as they began to prepare for the changes that out AI will bring to community experiences – 46:59

Guest Bio

Venessa is a co-founder of the Australian Community Managers Network, a PhD candidate studying the intersection of AI and community, and a global authority on communities and community management. She has led Community for realestate.com.au, Lonely Planet, Envato and Australia Post among others.

She founded the Australian Community Manager Roundtables (ACM) in 2009, and created Swarm in 2011 with Alison Michalk.

She also runs the annual Australian Community Manager Career Survey and with ACM, authored the first code of ethics for the region. 

Find Venessa on the web at Australian Community Managers Network, her website VanessaPaech.com, and on Twitter @VenessaPaech.

Sources Discussed

• Australian Community Managers Network
• SWARM Conference
• A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace and other works by John Perry Barlow
• Agency by William Gibson
• The Age of Surveillance Capitalism – The Fight for the Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff
• Artificial Unintelligence – How Computers Misunderstand the World by Meredith Broussard
• Algorithms of Oppression – How Search Engines Reinforce Racism by Safiya Umoja Noble

The Cohere Podcast is part of the Cohere Project. If you know someone that you think would be a great guest, or if you are interested in learning more about the Cohere Project, please send me a message.