You’re reading The Steady Beat, a weekly round-up of hand-picked articles for people who coordinate teams and work, like engineering managers, design directors, product managers, project leaders, team facilitators, and department heads. Brought to you by the team at Steady.
By the Numbers - AI checks AI
38 — Google DeepMind’s new LongFact benchmark for testing AI accuracy spans a comprehensive 38 topics, creating the first multi-domain factuality testing ground for large language models to strut their stuff (or reveal their hallucinations).
72% — DeepMind’s new SAFE fact-checking system agrees with human annotators 72% of the time, but in the cases where they disagree, SAFE’s search-augmented approach is right 76% of the time. (The machines are checking the machines better than we can.)
20x — The cost efficiency of using AI to fact-check AI is staggering - SAFE is more than 20 times cheaper than human annotators, suggesting the future of truth verification might be automated before our human fact-checkers even notice they’re obsolete.
2,280 — LongFact’s benchmark contains 2,280 fact-seeking prompts designed to test whether AI can give factually accurate long-form responses without making things up. That’s a lot of opportunities to catch an AI in a lie.
~16,000 — The evaluation system analyzed approximately 16,000 individual facts to determine whether AI systems are telling the truth, proving that while AI might be getting better at sounding smart, it still needs a fact-checking mechanism to ensure it’s actually being accurate.
— HackerNoon, 9m, #artificial-intelligence, #language-models, #fact-checking
Invisible AI
While Silicon Valley is busy chatting with bots and cranking out AI-generated slide decks, most of the world—including your local burrito shop owner—is still trying to figure out why their software feels more like a puzzle than a tool. This piece is a passionate case for designing AI that doesn’t announce itself with a marching band. From the underwhelming tech in the wedding industry to overwhelmed small business owners, the author makes a compelling argument for “invisible AI”—tools that solve problems without making users feel like they need a computer science degree. The future isn’t AI products; it’s great products that just happen to use AI.
— Leading Product, 10m, #ai, #product, #ux-design
From tofu to teams
John Maeda reflects on his unexpected leadership education, which began in his father’s tofu factory and continued through roles at MIT’s Media Lab and RISD. Rather than following standard management playbooks, Maeda discovered that true leadership is fundamentally creative – removing the unnecessary to reveal what matters, embracing the intersection of disciplines, and balancing precision with improvisation. He learned to reframe failure as George Clooney does (“Here’s what I won’t do next time”), to trust expertise like a sushi master crafting omakase, and to embrace emotions rather than suppress them. As he navigated academia and business, Maeda found that today’s complex challenges demand leaders who weave together art and technology, emotion and strategy – turning leadership itself into an act of creation.
— Medium, 3m, #leadership, #creativity, #personal-growth
Heisenberg management
In a refreshingly honest take on management dynamics, a seasoned leader reveals why the bigger your organization gets, the more you should keep your mouth shut. Like some corporate version of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, the mere act of a CEO observing (or commenting on) a discussion fundamentally alters its outcome. “Speaking last isn’t something I do to have the final word,” the author confesses, “I do it so my input won’t ‘taint’ the discussion.” The transition happens subtly - one day you’re debating freely with colleagues, the next you’re “The CEO” whose every utterance carries the weight of commandments. Their solution? Cultivating trusted “no-men” who’ll call BS on unrealistic plans, reframing problems rather than forcing solutions, and accepting the frustrating paradox that while you can accomplish more through others, it won’t always happen at your preferred pace or in your preferred style. It’s management as quantum physics - sometimes your most powerful move is simply not collapsing the wave function of team creativity with your premature opinions.
— Oren Eini, 5m, #management, #leadership, #team-dynamics
Refactor!
In an industry where pats on the back often outnumber hard truths, one software engineer found unexpected value in brutal honesty. After submitting a PR they were proud of, they received a deflating three-word response: “Over-engineered. Too many parts. Refactor.” Their manager’s uncompromising standards initially triggered resentment, but a pivotal moment during a sprint review – being told “You’re thinking like a coder, not an engineer” – forced a profound shift. The author began writing readable code instead of clever code, designing for failure scenarios, and thinking about future maintainers. Years later, as an engineering manager themselves, they’ve adopted a leadership style blending that tough manager’s uncompromising standards with more human delivery. The lesson? Sometimes the managers we hate in the moment are the ones who push us to transcend our limitations – demanding excellence not to be jerks, but in service of great work.
— Blog for EMs, 15m, #leadership, #engineering, #management
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