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Heres a troubling reality check: We are currently evaluating artificial intelligence in the same way that wed judge a sports car. We act like an AI model is good if it is fast and powerful. But what we really need to assess is whether it makes for a trusted and capable business partner. The way we approach assessment matters. As AI models begin to play a part in everything from hiring decisions to medical diagnoses, our narrow focus on benchmarks and accuracy rates is creating blind spots that could undermine the very outcomes were trying to achieve. In the long term, it is effectiveness, not efficiency, that matters. Think about it: When you hire someone for your team, do you only look at their test scores and the speed they work at? Of course not. You consider how they collaborate, whether they share your values, whether they can admit when they dont know something, and how theyll impact your organizations cultureall the things that are critical to strategic success. Yet when it comes to the technology that is increasingly making decisions alongside us, were still stuck on the digital equivalent of standardized test scores. The Benchmark Trap Walk into any tech company today, and youll hear executives boasting about their latest performance metrics: Our model achieved 94.7% accuracy! or We reduced token usage by 20%! These numbers sound impressive, but they tell us almost nothing about whether these systems will actually serve human needs effectively. Despite significant tech advances, evaluation frameworks remain stubbornly focused on performance metrics while largely ignoring ethical, social, and human-centric factors. Its like judging a restaurant solely on how fast it serves food while ignoring whether the meals are nutritious, safe, or actually taste good. This measurement myopia is leading us astray. Many recent studies have found high levels of bias toward specific demographic groups when AI models are asked to make decisions about individuals in relation to tasks such as hiring, salary recommendations, loan approvals, and sentencing. These outcomes are not just theoretical. For instance, facial recognition systems deployed in law enforcement contexts continue to show higher error rates when identifying people of color. Yet these systems often pass traditional performance tests with flying colors. The disconnect is stark: Were celebrating technical achievements while peoples lives are being negatively impacted by our measurement blind spots. Real-World Lessons IBMs Watson for Oncology was once pitched as a revolutionary breakthrough that would transform cancer care. When measured using traditional metrics, the AI model appeared to be highly impressive, processing vast amounts of medical data rapidly and generating treatment recommendations with clinical sophistication. However, as Scientific American reported, reality fell far short of this promise. When major cancer centers implemented Watson, significant problems emerged. The systems recommendations often didnt align with best practices, in part because Watson was trained primarily on a limited number of cases from a single institution rather than a comprehensive database of real-world patient outcomes. The disconnect wasnt in Watsons computational capabilitiesaccording to traditional performance metrics, it functioned as designed. The gap was in its human-centered evaluation capabilities: Did it improve patient outcomes? Did it augment physician expertise effectively? When measured against these standards, Watson struggled to prove its value, leading many healthcare institutions to abandon the system. Prioritizing dignity Microsofts Seeing AI is an example of what happens when companies measure success through a human-centered lens from the beginning. As Time magazine reported, the Seeing AI app emerged from Microsofts commitment to accessibility innovation, using computer vision to narrate the visual world for blind and low-vision users. What sets Seeing AI apart isnt just its technical capabilities but how the development team prioritized human dignity and independence over pure performance metrics. Microsoft worked closely with the blind community throughout the design and testing phases, measuring success not by accuracy percentages alone, but by how effectively the app enhanced the ability of users to navigate their world independently. This approach created technology that genuinely empowers users, providing real-time audio descriptions that help with everything from selecting groceries to navigating unfamiliar spaces. The lesson: When we start with human outcomes as our primary success metric, we build systems that dont just workthey make life meaningfully better. Five Critical Dimensions of Success Smart leaders are moving beyond traditional metrics to evaluate systems across five critical dimensions: 1. Human-AI Collaboration. Rather than measuring performance in isolation, assess how well humans and technology work together. Recent research in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons showed that AI-generated postoperative reports were only half as likely to contain significant discrepancies as those written by surgeons alone. The key insight: a careful division of labor between humans and machines can improve outcomes while leaving humans free to spend more time on what they do best. 2. Ethical Impact and Fairness. Incorporate bias audits and fairness scores as mandatory evaluation metrics. This means continuously assessing whether systems treat all populations equitably and impact human freedom, autonomy, and dignity positively. 3. Stability and Self-Awareness. A Nature Scientific Reports study found performance degradation over time in 91 percent of the models it tested once they were exposed to real-world data. Instead of just measuring a models out-of-the-box accuracy, track performance over time and assess the models ability to identify performance dips and escalate to human oversight when its confidence drops. 4. Value Alignment. As the World Economic Forums 2024 white paper emphasizes, AI models must operate in accordance with core human values if they are to serve humanity effectively. This requires embedding ethical considerations throughout the technology lifecycle. 5. Long-Term Societal Impact Move beyond narrow optimization goals to assess alignment with long-term societal benefits. Consider how technology affects authentic human connections, preserves meaningful work, and serves the broader comunity good. The Leadership Imperative: Detach and Devote To transform how your organization measures AI success, embrace the Detach and Devote paradigm we describe in our book TRANSCEND: Detach from: Narrow efficiency metrics that ignore human impact The assumption that replacing human labor is inherently beneficial Approaches that treat humans as obstacles to optimization Devote to: Supporting genuine human connection and collaboration Preserving meaningful human choice and agency Serving human needs rather than reshaping humans to serve technological needs The Path Forward Forward-thinking leaders implement comprehensive evaluation approaches by starting with the desired human outcomes and then establishing continuous human input loops and measuring results against the goals of human stakeholders. The companies that get this right wont just build better systemstheyll build more trusted, more valuable, and ultimately more successful businesses. Theyll create technology that doesnt just process data faster but that genuinely enhances human potential and serves societal needs. The stakes couldnt be higher. As these AI models become more prevalent in critical decisions around hiring, healthcare, criminal justice, and financial services, our measurement approaches will determine whether these models serve humanity well or perpetuate existing inequalities. In the end, the most important test of all is whether using AI for a task makes human lives genuinely better. The question isnt whether your technology is fast enough but whether its human enough. That is the only metric that ultimately matters.
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E-Commerce
When Marsya Ancker-Robert was younger, her father used to tell that her that he wanted to be buried naked, under a tree in the woods. The idea horrified Ancker-Robert, but when her father passed away earlier this June, the first call she made was to a Dutch company called Loop Biotech. Since 2020, Loop Biotech has been making biodegradable caskets out of mycelium, the root-like structure of mushrooms, and hemp. Unlike traditional wooden caskets, which are often treated with chemicals that leech into the soil, the company’s offerings are made of natural materials that enrich the soil as they biodegradea process that only takes 45 days after burial. So far, Loop Biotech has sold about 2,500 caskets in Europeprimarily in the Netherlands, but also in Germany and other parts of central Europe. But Ancker-Robert’s father, Mark Ancker, has just become the first person in the U.S. to be buried in Loop Biotech’s mycelium casket, called the Living Cocoon. “It was dignified, and beautiful,” says Ancker-Robert, who buried her father in a forest clearing on his property. “I have confidence that my dad will be fully part of the garden by winter.” [Photo: Loop Biotech] Growing caskets Loop Biotech was founded in 2020 by Bob Hendrikx, an architect and biodesigner known for his affinity for nature-based solutions, like a Living Bin that uses sea anemones to “eat” or compost our trash, or a Living Couch that uses algae water to cleanse the air around it. It is part of growing cohort of start-ups shaking up the $622 million green burial market with nature-based solutions. Resting Reef, from London, turns cremated ashes into underwater memorials that double as coral reefs. Coeio, from California, makes burial suits out of mushrooms and other organisms that accelerate decomposition. For Hendrikx, nature was always the starting point. When the designer first came up with the idea for a mycelium casket, he wasn’t looking for sustainable solutions to burial. He was looking for ways to harness mycelium’s natural ability to recycle dead organic matter into nutrient-rich soil. He knew that mycelium thrives best in soil, which led him to question the kinds of applications it could most benefit. “We call it organism-centered design,” he says, contrasting the approach with human-centered design. [Photo: Loop Biotech] Today, Loop caskets are made with mycelium, hemp, and nothing else. The two ingredients are mixed and poured into a mold, and a coffin grows out of that mold in just seven days. But nailing down the exact formula took several years. “Too long,” says Hendrikx with a laugh. Mycelium is a finicky organism that needs the right conditions to grow and is influenced by several environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, CO2, and oxygen. Even the moon, which influences air pressure on Earth, can have an effect, he says: “Collaborating with nature really allows you to see this interconnectivity of the ecosystem.” The company has a 1,500-square-meter growing facility in Delft, Netherlands with the capacity to grow 500 caskets at a time. In order to scale, Hendrikx wants to double the production capacity and potentially speed up the growth, too. This facility is what the company calls their blueprint. Once it is optimized, Hendrikx is hoping to replicate the model outside the Netherlands and grow the caskets locally, using local materials. The company has raised just over $3 million to date, and is planning a new funding round to finance the expansion. And for Hendrikx, the road to success transcends mycelium caskets. “Once we are profitable, we’ve shown the world that you can enrich nature while making money, so it’s a business case for a regenerative business model,” he says. [Photo: Loop Biotech] A first for the U.S. The burial in Maine marks a new chapter in the company’s journey, with mycelium caskets ($3,995) and urns ($395) now available to customers nationwide. But Hendrikx says he’s been getting requests for years. America is experiencing a green burial revolution. The total number of green burial cemeteries in the U.S. has quadrupled over the past 10 years, going from just over 100 in 2015 to more than 400 by March 2025. Over the past two decades, the nonprofit Green Burial Council has seen a 72% increase in demand from cemeteries for more sustainable end-of-life options. Loop Biotech’s expansion will likely depend on how willing people are to spend a few extra dollars on a biodegradable casket. An entry-level casket in the United States hovers around $800 for a simple metal burial casket, though average costs range from about $2,000 to $5,000. It will also depend on how fast the company establishes a robust infrastructure in the country. Already, Hendrikx has built a network of distribution partners and sustainable funeral homes that offer green burial alternatives. They also have a warehouse in Los Angeles where they can ship their products from. But if your local funeral home doesn’t offer mycelium caskets, and you’ve never heard about the company, you may never know it exists. [Photo: Loop Biotech] Ancker-Robert found out about Loop Biotech from a Tedx talk that Hendrikx gave in January, and she was really surprised she was the first person to order one. As it happens, Loop Biotech was gearing up to launch in the U.S. on World Environment Day when she called. Ancker-Robert allowed Hendrikx to film the ceremony, which turned into a small act of generosity for the planet. People made offerings of his favorite foods as well as flowers that Ancker-Robert will plant right above her father’s resting place so they can grow into a perennial flower garden. “The process is helping to turn the grieving process into one of creation and gives me something to daydream about instead of focusing on the loss,” she says. “I would much prefer to think of my father as part of the garden than as a dead body lying in the ground.” Ancker-Robert describes her father a free spirit who, in the ’80s, would jump into dumpsters to salvage food and drive around his community to distribute it. “There’s a famous picture of the traffic jam on the way to Woodstock. In it there is a young man in a striped shirt sitting on a VW bus looking at the traffic with binoculars,” she says. “That’s my dad.
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E-Commerce
Cities, and those who live in them, are clamoring for more green space, and the benefits parks, trees, and recreation areas provide. The Trust for Public Lands annual ParkScore report found nearly a quarter of Americans in the 100 largest cities dont live within a 10-minute walk of a park or green space. While few cities have acres and acres of space to transform into parkland, they do have opportunities to create new types of urban parks, such as elevated parks, pocket parks fashioned from vacant lots, rails-to-trails projects or capping highways to create new greenspaces. New research, including exclusive project analysis for Fast Company, finds that these projects have a significant cooling impact, showcasing how these kinds of infrastructure interventions can provide some of the densest parts of urban America with much-needed cooling. A study conducted by Climate Central on behalf of the High Line found that New York Citys iconic linear park offers unique cooling and shading benefits, in addition to the social and environmental benefits of adding park space. High Line, NYC [Photo: Max Harlynking/Unsplash] We always had a suspicion that we can also make our community more healthier and livable, and we wanted data around it, says Alan van Capelle, Executive Director of Friends of the High Line. Researchers started by tracking the urban heat island intensity (UHII) of the areas surrounding the High Line in Manhattan. This measurement captures the additional heat created in urban environments by buildings and pavement, as well as density. Some neighborhoods near the High Line exhibited a 12.9 degrees Fahrenheit UHII, among the highest temperatures Climate Central has found after analyzing 65 U.S. cities. But the parkvia the obvious shading impact from the structure itself, but even more importantly, from the additional shading, transpiration, and overall cooling benefits of so many additional trees and plantscut the UHII to just 4.7 degrees Fahrenheit along many stretches of the park, creating an 8 degree Fahrenheit cooling impact. There was variance along the High Line, with areas that are primarily rocks and shrub exhibiting a less pronounced cooling impact, underscoring how its not just shading that makes the difference. And its not exactly news that parks provide cooling benefits to cities. But evidence that adaptive reuse parks in the midst of cities can achieve such pronounced temperature differences suggest that they can be an important tool for urban cooling. High Line, NYC [Photo: Polina Rytova/Unsplash Climate Central found that other such parks exhibit similar impacts. In exclusive research for Fast Company, Jennifer Brady, senior data analyst for Climate Central, applied existing data and research to a number of newer urban parks across the country and found similar cooling impacts. Chicagos 606, an elevated rails-to-trails project on the citys near northwest side, may cool the adjacent neighborhoods 6 degrees Fahrenheit to 8 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on the precise build type and density. Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, which caps a highway adjacent to downtown and runs through one of the citys hottest neighborhoods, yields approximately 4 degrees Fahrenheit to 6 degrees Fahrenheit cooler temperatures. The Lafitte Greenway in New Orleans and Railroad Park in Birmingham, Alabama, both located in relatively cooler parts of their respective cities, still cool adjoining areas by 4 degrees Fahrenheit. Chicago, 606 Trail [Photo: Shep McAllister/Unsplash The design of these parksincluding shade structures, shading impact with bridges and overhangs, and of course plants and tree covercan make a big difference, said Brady. It also helps that much of this kind of abandoned industrial infrastructurecomposed of cement and old buildingsadds to the heat, so simply removing them reduces urban heat gain. But it also shows that targeting particular dense areas with the most pronounced heat island effect can be done, and make a dramatic change. Theres always been a strong case to transform vacant lots and leftover lots in areas without park access, both from a recreation and health angle as well as public safety. Adding cooling and climate resilience to the list should make an even stronger case for more investment in these kinds of industrial reuse park projects. Klyde Warren Park, Dallas. [Photo: TrongNguyen/iStock Editorial/Getty Images Plus] Last year, the nations 100 largest cities invested a record $12.2 billion in parks; steering more of that funding towards these types of projects can have serious resilience impacts in an era of heightened climate change. Van Capelle said theres currently 49 other such reuse park projects taking place across North America that are part of the High Line Network, an advocacy group for these kinds of green space projects. He sees the heat island mitigation impact as just another reason to advocate for and invest in these projects. Being able to step out of your apartment and go into a cool location, being able to know that in the summertime, when the city can become uncomfortable, theres a place like the High Line that runs along a number of neighborhoods is vitally important, said van Capelle.
Category:
E-Commerce
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