To conclude Business+Tech’s annual Tech Literacy Download, Sam Shillace, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, spoke about innovation and artificial intelligence at the Ross School of Business. Ironically, despite his title at Microsoft, Shillace said he is “more of a Mac guy.” A 1989 University of Michigan alum, Shillace talked about his startup experience including founding Writely, which was acquired by Google and would eventually become known as Google Docs.
Shillace described himself as “mathy, sciencey, and nerdy” when he arrived at the University of Michigan in 1984 as a mathematics undergrad student. He initially wanted to become a math professor, but soon realized academia wasn’t for him. He proceeded to build a video game which would prove successful enough to fund a series of startups. He describes his initial years as an entrepreneur as “one quasi-failure after another.” During his first 10 years in Silicon Valley, he also considered pursuing a career in medicine as opportunities in technology were not as plentiful as they are today.
Shillace advised students to think short-term and not look for a long-term plan, as the world is too complicated. “Try to find a place where you can add as much value as you can,” he said, noting that his career has been guided by doing things he finds interesting and there is “no roadmap once you graduate.” He also commented that the rate of change in technology is accelerating, which brings an interesting, chaotic set of opportunities: “I think the next 30 years are going to be as disruptive as the last thirty, if not more so,” he said.
Shillace doesn’t see the appeal of social media or the Metaverse. “I think social media is a complete waste of time and energy,” he said. And the Metaverse? “I don’t see the appeal or the problem it’s trying to solve.” He is more interested in Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is “challenging assumptions about scale.” He foresees a shift soon which eliminates the constraints that challenge AI today and will make AI applications for industries like education easier.
Advising the audience to take a disruptive approach to innovation, Shillace suggested following user value and solving problems, either for a problem that hasn’t been solved before or making an existing solution ten times better. “You’re at a point in your life where risk is the easiest thing for you,” he shared with students as his parting words.