Joe: Alright Lewis, I've got a book for you today. It's called Superhuman Innovation. What's the first image that pops into your head? Lewis: Superhuman? Honestly, I'm picturing a Silicon Valley CEO in a cape, promising to 'disrupt' my morning coffee with an AI-powered toaster. I'm already tired. Joe: You're not that far off on the Silicon Valley part. The author, Chris Duffey, is a major player at Adobe, deep in the world of AI. But what makes this book truly wild is that he co-wrote it with an AI he developed named Aimé. It's the world's first book about AI, co-authored by AI. Lewis: Hold on. He wrote the book with an AI? That's not just a case study; that's the ultimate 'show, don't tell.' That alone makes me curious. It even picked up a top technology book award at CES, so it's clearly not just a gimmick. Joe: Exactly. It’s a demonstration. And Duffey’s whole argument is that this partnership, this human-plus-AI model, is the real revolution. It’s not about machines taking over; it’s about them giving us, for lack of a better word, superpowers. Lewis: Okay, an AI co-author is a serious power move. So what's the big 'superhuman' idea he's selling? Is it just 'use more tech,' or is there a real strategy here? Joe: There is, and it's surprisingly practical. He boils it all down to a single, powerful framework. He calls it the SUPER framework.

Lewis: Oh boy, another business acronym. I can already feel my eyes glazing over. Break it down for me, Joe. What does SUPER actually stand for, and please tell me it's not something like 'Synergistic User-Powered Engagement Routines.' Joe: I promise, it's better than that. It’s actually a really clean model for how to think about applying AI. SUPER stands for: Speed, Understanding, Performance, Experimentation, and Results. Lewis: Okay, that’s straightforward enough. Speed, Understanding, Performance, Experimentation, Results. But those words could apply to any business project. What makes them specifically about AI? Joe: That’s the key. Duffey argues that AI supercharges each of those elements in a way that was never possible before. Take 'E' for Experimentation. He frames it as 'actionable curiosity.' It’s not just messing around; it’s experimenting with a purpose. The best example he gives is SpaceX. Lewis: Right, the rocket guys. How do they fit in? Joe: Well, for decades, the problem with space travel was the astronomical cost. You’d build this magnificent, multi-million-dollar rocket, and then just dump most of it in the ocean after one use. It was like buying a new Boeing 747 for every single flight. Insane. Lewis: I see the problem. So where does the experimentation come in? Joe: Elon Musk and his team looked at that and asked a ridiculously curious question: 'What if we could land the booster back on Earth?' Everyone thought it was impossible. But they started experimenting. Their first few attempts were just spectacular explosions. They literally blew up millions of dollars' worth of equipment. But with each failure, their AI and control systems gathered terabytes of data, learned, and adjusted. Lewis: So the explosions were part of the plan? That’s a brave R&D budget. Joe: In a way, yes. They were experimenting in public, learning from each fiery failure until, in 2015, they did it. A Falcon 9 booster landed perfectly upright on a landing pad. They used actionable curiosity, fueled by AI-driven analysis, to solve a problem that had grounded humanity's ambitions for half a century. That's the 'E' in SUPER. Lewis: That makes sense. So SpaceX isn't just building rockets; they're running the world's most expensive science experiments. That 'E' in SUPER is about being willing to blow things up to learn something. Joe: Precisely. And it’s not a new idea. Duffey draws a parallel to the Roman aqueducts. The Romans had a massive problem: their city was growing, but their water supply was dirty and unreliable. So, out of necessity, they got curious. They experimented with arches, gradients, and materials to build these incredible structures that carried fresh water for miles, all powered by gravity. They didn't have AI, but they had that same 'actionable curiosity' to solve a critical problem. Lewis: I like that. It grounds the futuristic AI talk in something real and historical. But I'm still stuck on the human part of this. I get the framework, but this still feels like something for billionaires building rockets or ancient Roman emperors. What about the rest of us? The book's title is Superhuman, not Super-machine. How does AI actually make us better?

Joe: That is the most important question, and it’s the second core idea of the book. Duffey argues the goal isn't to build an AI that can beat a human. The goal is to build an AI that can make a human unbeatable. He uses the concept of a 'Centaur.' Lewis: Like the mythical half-man, half-horse? Joe: Exactly. In the world of chess, after IBM's Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov, people thought human chess was over. But then something strange happened. They started holding 'freestyle' chess tournaments where anyone could compete—a grandmaster, a supercomputer, or a team. And who won? Lewis: The supercomputer, obviously. Joe: Nope. The winners were consistently teams of average human players using standard laptops. They called them 'Centaurs.' The human provided strategy, intuition, and creativity. The AI provided brute-force calculation, memory, and pattern recognition. Together, they were better than the best human or the best AI alone. Lewis: Ah, so it's less like a robot replacing a factory worker and more like a GPS for your brain, helping you navigate complex problems. It’s like Iron Man. Tony Stark is a genius, but the suit, the AI Jarvis, makes him a superhero. The human is still the pilot. Joe: That’s a perfect analogy. And Duffey didn't just write about it; he lived it. Remember his AI co-author, Aimé? He fed it his research, his notes, and his outlines. Aimé helped him summarize complex topics, find connections he might have missed, and even generate draft paragraphs. It wasn't a ghostwriter; it was a research partner, a creative assistant. Lewis: That’s fascinating. It’s one thing to talk about AI in the abstract, but it’s another to actually collaborate with one on a creative project like a book. It reframes the whole relationship. Joe: It does. And it’s happening everywhere. He talks about 'superartists' using AI tools like Adobe Sensei to do in seconds what used to take hours of tedious work, freeing them up to focus purely on creativity. He talks about 'superdoctors' using AI to scan thousands of medical records to spot patterns a human doctor could never see, leading to earlier diagnoses. Lewis: Okay, that's a cool story for an author or a doctor. But for the rest of us, doesn't this 'collaboration' just mean the AI does 90% of the work, and eventually, the human becomes obsolete? Critics do say the book is very optimistic, maybe even a bit utopian, about this. Joe: That's the fear, right? And Duffey addresses it, though maybe not as directly as some critics would like. His perspective is that AI is a tool, and like any tool, its purpose is defined by the user. He tells this great little story about the 'monkey selfie' copyright case. Lewis: The what? Joe: A few years ago, a photographer left his camera unattended, and a macaque monkey took a selfie. It was a brilliant photo. The animal rights group PETA sued, arguing the monkey owned the copyright because it pressed the button. Lewis: That's amazing. What happened? Joe: The courts ruled against the monkey. They said that creativity requires intent. The photographer had the intent—he set up the equipment, the lighting, the location. The monkey just accidentally pressed a button. There was no 'actionable curiosity' on the monkey's part. Lewis: I see the connection. The AI is the camera, but the human is the photographer. The AI can execute, but the human provides the vision, the curiosity, the why. Joe: Exactly. The AI can generate a million images of a cat, but it takes a human to ask, 'What if the cat was painted in the style of Van Gogh and riding a bicycle on the moon?' The quality of our imagination is what unlocks the AI's potential.

Lewis: So the message isn't 'learn to code or be left behind.' It's 'get better at asking questions.' The quality of our curiosity determines the quality of the AI's output. Joe: That's the heart of it. The book argues that digital transformation isn't just about technology; it's about aligning people, processes, and technology with a clear strategy. And that strategy starts with a human question. The SUPER framework is just a guide to help you ask better questions and experiment your way to an answer. Lewis: It’s a shift from fearing AI as a competitor to leveraging it as a collaborator. It’s not about being replaced; it’s about being amplified. Joe: Right. The book is ultimately a call to action. It says the future has no patience for the timid. AI is here, and it's giving us the tools to solve problems that once seemed impossible, from curing diseases to exploring the stars. Lewis: That’s a powerful thought to end on. It makes you think. If you had an intelligent partner like this, an AI that could handle the data and the calculations, what problem would you actually be brave enough to try and solve? Joe: That's the question Duffey leaves us with. The potential is limitless, but it all starts with our own human curiosity. Lewis: A great place to leave it. A call to be more curious. I like that. Joe: This is Aibrary, signing off.