There is a word I didn’t know in January. By August I was saying it in every client meeting. AI creates specious results, and almost nobody knows what that means.
Last year, in My AI Is Out of Printer Ink, we talked about the dangers of getting stuck in our thinking. This year, I want to talk about how to think so that you prevent AI from quietly taking a shortcut. That shortcut can cost you credibility in any circle, but the costs are highest at work. Everyone knows that AI can solve problems. Few know how to direct it to get the work done with objectivity, at the complexity and specificity the work demands.
I built AI systems inside eight companies this year, and the word showed up in every one. In dashboards that stayed green while the numbers underneath were wrong. In automation that made hundreds of tasks nobody worked. Once, in an agent I built myself.
Come learn the word, the misses, what caught them, and the five rules I build into all my work.
Join us at ProductCamp Atlanta 2026 to vote on this session and dozens of others! The attendees will choose the agenda for the day, and can be part of it!
Session Details
Type of Session: Presentation
Presented By
John Field
John Field is the founder of ValleyGate Partners, an Atlanta practice that helps founders and small teams build businesses that last, with AI doing a surprising share of the work. He spends his weeks embedded in client companies as a fractional Chief Product Officer and Chief AI Officer, building the AI systems those businesses run on and teaching the people inside them to run them.
Before ValleyGate, John spent 25 years leading product and engineering teams, including at National Instruments, Silverpop / IBM, MessageGears, Terminus, and Talogy. He is a Purdue computer engineer, a recovering golfer, a mediocre pickleball player, and one of last year’s ProductCamp Atlanta keynote speakers (My AI Is Out of Printer Ink).
ProductCamp Atlanta is a collaborative, participant-organized professional unconference, focused on Product Management, Marketing and UX topics. What’s great is the variety of sessions that are offered by our attendees. You’ll have the option to select from several different sessions throughout the day. We need you to share your insights in a panel, workshop, or presentation.
