When I think about our vision for AI and automation at Bristol Myers Squibb, I think about the music video by the band OK Go for their song “This Too Shall Pass.”
Stick with me – I promise this will make sense.
The video begins with the band’s bassist donning a pair of protective goggles and then rolling a toy truck into a line of upright dominos.
What follows is one of the most complex – and spectacular – Rube Goldberg machines I’ve ever seen. The dominoes cascade into a tethered string that propels a Hot Wheels car down a ramp, which knocks a billiard ball down another ramp, which knocks over a book connected to a string, and by then, the system is off to the races.
Over the course of about four minutes, tires roll, fans blow, and balloons and umbrellas fall from the ceiling. It ends with all four band members being sprayed with paintballs (hence the protective eyewear at the start), an outcome that began when that first domino fell.
What strikes me most about this video is that each isolated event – the dominoes falling, the tire rolling – is connected with every other step of this Rube Goldberg machine.…