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SheCanCode's Spilling The T
SheCanCode's Spilling The T
From flying Apache helicopters to building a future of email
Get ready to be inspired by Lorilyn McCue, a trailblazer whose career journey is as bold as it is unconventional. After earning a BA from West Point and an MBA from Stanford, Lorilyn spent 10 years in the military, flying Apache helicopters in Iraq and shaping the next generation of leaders as a cadet instructor at West Point. But in her early 30s, she took on an entirely new challenge: transitioning into tech.
Now a leading force behind the AI roadmap at Superhuman—the email app renowned for its sleek and innovative AI features—Lorilyn is helping users save time and work smarter with tools like tone-matching email drafts and intuitive thread summaries.
In this episode, Lorilyn opens up about her unique career path, how her military background shaped her resilience and adaptability, and what it’s like to break into tech later in life. She also shares her thoughts on AI’s transformative role in our everyday tools and offers advice for anyone navigating major career pivots or breaking barriers in traditionally male-dominated spaces.
SheCanCode is a collaborative community of women in tech working together to tackle the tech gender gap.
Join our community to find a supportive network, opportunities, guidance and jobs, so you can excel in your tech career.
Hello everyone. Thank you for tuning in again. I am Kayleigh Bateman, the Managing Director of Community and Partnerships at she Can Code, and today we are discussing from flying Apache helicopters to building the future of email. Yes, you did hear that correctly, and I've got the incredible Laurie-Lena McHugh with me today. After earning a BA from West Point and an MBA from Stanford, she spent 10 years in the military, flying Apache helicopters in Iraq and shaping the next generation of leaders as a cadet instructor at West Point, but in her early 30s she took an entirely new challenge and she transitioned into tech, so we're very excited to have her on here today to talk about her journey. So welcome, lauren. Thank you so much for coming on.
Speaker 2:Oh, thank you so much, Kelly. It's a pleasure to chat with you.
Speaker 1:It's an absolute pleasure. I am dying to pick into your background and how you ended up in tech and all about you. So can we start with a bit of an overview for our ladies, just to know a little bit about who you are and where you came from, please?
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure, so I think that I am a bit of an adventure seeker, so I love trying to find adventures wherever I can. So my first adventure was as an Apache pilot. So I flew Apache helicopters in the army. I flew in Korea and Iraq and just had an amazing time, had a blast doing that. And then my next adventure was a little bit different. I moved into the startup world. I had a blast doing that. And then my next adventure was a little bit different. I moved into the startup world.
Speaker 2:I worked at Slack, which was a rocket ship just taking off into the unknown, and now I'm working with AI, which I kind of think of as the adventure of today. I like kind of going into the unknown, trying something new, and I think you know like now I'm working at Superhuman doing email, which may sound boring, but I think it's exciting. I love like making people's working lives more efficient so that they can spend time doing better stuff, and yeah. So this is, you know, I find, great but great adventure in the unknown. That's been like the theme of my journey.
Speaker 1:I love that. You said, though, that that you're working in email sounds boring. This is why this podcast was started, because a lot of the jobs in tech sound like they'd be incredibly boring and very dry, and then, actually, when we talk to ladies that work in those jobs, you actually realize what they do and the impact they make and how much they really enjoy their job. And it's not just a case of I just work in email. It's actually what you do and the impact that that has on people, and that's why we wanted to start this, so other people know that, like well kept secret, that there are some jobs in tech.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, totally. I mean sound fun. I know it's funny because email doesn't sound fun, but so I work at a company called Superhuman, which is such a fun name, and it really does turn you into superhuman, because it saves you four hours a week, which is insane, you know, like, because we help you get through this kind of you know, maybe boring part of your job, make it more fun, we help you get through it faster, we make you more efficient. Like it's really a cool job, like it's really rewarding.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, and I, I, I love that. You said it is really rewarding. It really is that you get to see the impact that that actually makes on people, um, and that you're not in one of those. People also think as well, in tech roles that you probably don't have much contact with clients or customers, so you don't really get to see how things actually work, um, right through to the end. But, um, a lot of that is usually a myth in tech, and that you do really get to see, um, what kind of a difference that you're making. You're not always, um, the myth is usually that you're sitting on your own in a basement and you don't have much contact with people, and that is also another reason why we wanted to have conversations like this on the podcast, because that's usually completely wrong and a complete misconception about working in tech.
Speaker 1:But yourself, you've had a career path that is incredibly unique. You started in the military. You eventually transitioned into tech in your 30s. What was it? What inspired you to make such a bold career pivot, and how did your time in the military prepare you for the challenges of the tech world? Do you think you were set up for that?
Speaker 2:So it really ties into this theme of adventure into the unknown. So after the military, I really had no idea what I wanted to do. I literally had no idea what kinds of careers were out there, and I used my time in business school to kind of figure that out and see what was out there. And then I'm like, okay, I want to try this new thing Tech. This looks fun. And I think the military did help prepare me for this, because the military sends you into like some really crazy scenarios. You know, you're in the middle of the desert in Iraq, like circling around saying, okay, what do I do with this bad guy? Like I don't know, let's figure this out. And so that idea of having confidence in the unknown, being excited by the unknown, this maps to everything. And that's really, I think, what helped prepare me for these challenges in the tech world. You know, I get a new hairy problem and I'm like, okay, here we go, we're in the middle of the desert, let's see how we handle this one.
Speaker 1:I love that comparison. So there must be so many people in tech listening to this now going yes, that is sometimes how I feel in the middle of the desert how are we going to solve this problem? Totally, I mean, it's quite a comparison as well, like with that adventure and and that unknown. And the fact that you said now you work in AI, like that is very much the unknown and where we're going to go with that, um, is kind of you. You can see your career progression. People in our community they talk about like squiggly careers and that you know people kind of move around and it doesn't look like people have much of a straight path. But actually when you dig down into what they've been doing, the skills they've learned and where they've moved next, there is actually quite a clear path there. Same with yourself, you can almost pick out all the things that you were learning and how they've moved you into where you are and now into AI and that that thought of the unknown and constantly learning. There is always a clear path into tech.
Speaker 2:It just doesn't sound traditional some kind of theme that ties it all in together exactly, exactly, um.
Speaker 1:But transitioning into tech it does come with its own set of challenges, sometimes, um. A lot of our ladies in our community they are transitioning into tech for the first time. Some of them have been in work, you know, 10-15 years already. Or some are very new straight out of uni and they might have studied something that wasn't necessarily computing, for instance, and they've decided to go off in a different direction. What advice would you give to someone considering a leap later in their career to come into tech it? It can be quite daunting to think I'm already quite far up the ladder, but I'm going to take a side step. So will I then be really junior? Like what? What kind of challenges did you have? Like? Any advice for people wanting to do that?
Speaker 2:yeah I would say forget that you're in your 30s or your 40s or even your 50s. Ask questions, be hungry to learn, dial up the curiosity and dial down the thinking about your age and what you should quote unquote be doing at this stage of your life like management age. You aren't necessarily at management experience in this particular field, and don't worry, because that latter piece, it might catch up. Don't panic, or maybe you'll pivot again and it just won't matter. I really think the world is better, your professional world is better, when you forget your age and just adopt a beginner's mindset.
Speaker 1:I love that. That's a brilliant quote. Yes, to forget your age and just think of the mindset we get. So many ladies on our live events say is it too late? That seems to be one of our most common questions. That comes in and say is it too late to try something new? I love the fact you just said what does it matter? Maybe you'll pivot again.
Speaker 2:You know what? There's this book that I've been reading that I think was maybe applicable for your audience. It's called Range by David Epstein, and it talks about how sometimes people who specialize later in life actually do better. Like there's some people who specialize, you know, when they're like six and that's great and they may be really great in the established way of doing things, but there's these people who come in from a different field with these different analogies in their mind and these different backgrounds and they they completely change the field that they're entering into because they have all these new perspectives and experiences. And these are the people that change things, that make things like go in a different direction, that are, that are the vanguard of like of this new field, and I think that's really an underappreciated superpower, really.
Speaker 1:Yes, definitely, and so many companies would really benefit from those type of people, of people and that's something that we advocate here for giving people a try if they are transitioning into tech for the first time, because, you're right, it's not to be looked at as, oh, you're in tech and you've only just been in like a year or a couple of years. You actually bring all of those skills with you wherever you were and now and also you've had the mindset of wanting to transition into tech and try something new. So you're unique in that way, anyway, that you're kind of thinking, actually, I'd love to keep learning and I'd love to try something new. There aren't many people in their careers who are thinking I'm just going to try something new.
Speaker 1:A lot of people just kind of stay on that one path and every year at the end of the year, you regret that you haven't done anything new so companies really want to grab hold of those people that are, like yourself, just love adventure and trying something new, and training them up in the areas that they they need them to have skills. Um, instead of thinking that those people might lack in certain areas because they haven't been in tech that long. Definitely more companies we do advocate for that More companies should look at ladies that are transitioning into tech. Yourself, though, you've worked in two male-dominated fields, shall we say, military and tech. How has your experience as a woman shaped your perspective in these industries, and what lessons have you learned along the way?
Speaker 2:So I think I might answer this question with two completely different answers, and the first part is going to be Women are amazing at forming connections and let's use that superpower. And the second part is going to be, in some ways it's not worth thinking about it a ton of the fields that I've worked in and the military was maybe around. You know, at West Point it was about 15% women, and so I don't know what it is in tech, but it's probably around the same thing and, yeah, it's low. And when you're in the minority, you have to have your tribe, and women are really good at finding their tribe. Now, this may be a tribe of women. I think it's great to have you know your gal pals that you can talk about stuff with, but women are really good at finding their tribe. Now, this may be a tribe of women. I think it's great to have you know your gal pals that you can talk about stuff with, but women are great at making friends with men and women. You just have an in-group when you're in the minority, a place where you can relax, where you can be yourself, you can talk through things, um, and I think that women are really good at doing that and that's the way that we can feel comfortable and feel like we have a home and have a place to kind of, you know, relax and take some of the the, the the like. Sometimes you have to be a little bit, you know, different than you normally are in a male dominated industry, and it's great to have a place where you can feel a little bit you know more yourself all the time. To have a place where you can feel a little bit you know more yourself all the time.
Speaker 2:Um, okay, but here's the second piece, and I think this piece might be a little more controversial. So I, um, I honestly didn't think about it a ton, like I didn't think about the fact that I was a woman all the time. Now, I didn't like the basics. You know, like I would try not to flourish too much. You know I try not to like come across as flirty. You know like there's like kind of a base, stupid, stupid basic stuff that unfortunately we have to think about because you know guys are guys.
Speaker 2:But like barring the basics, like I didn't think about the fact that I was a woman in a man's field a ton, because, honestly, it would be exhausting if I constantly thought about about it and for the majority of men, like, it's just not an issue and for the people it is an issue, that's a them problem, that's not a me problem and there's nothing that I can do to address that impact, that all I can really do is be the best at. I am the best that I can be in, whatever field that I'm in, and so kind of like dwelling on it too much was could be exhausting for me, whereas if I just think, you know I'm a woman and that is going to be a problem to some people, some people are going to have an issue with that. That's a them problem. All I'm going to do is just be the best pilot, be the best product manager, be the best like AI knowledge person I possibly can be, and that's the important part, that's the part that I can control.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that and, yeah, what a focus as well to just think you know, I'm just gonna focus on me instead of what other people are thinking. I think that's something that comes with age as well. You're more aware of everything when you're a lot younger, um, but, yeah, it's great that you never had to think you know what. I don't even know why, um, I'm having to be thinking I'm a woman in a male-dominated field and that, um, you were just able to focus on yourself, um, and and keep moving and just being really good at what you did, um, and still do now. Um, I love the fact that you mentioned networking and finding your tribe. It is just very much in our DNA and why we started our community platform, um, because our our blog and our website. We had ladies coming through there and using the resources and everything was fantastic. But you can't you couldn't connect. It wasn't a two-way street, so you couldn't connect and find other people that are doing similar things to you and find advice and and um, you're right, it's that home, it's finding that home of other people that are thinking similar things to you.
Speaker 1:They might be transitioning into tech for the first time and they've got lots of questions that they would love to ask. People like you, for instance, and just say, like, how did you do it and what did you study? And am I way behind on everything? Because I don't have a computer science degree? And will I be looked at? As you know, maybe I'm not nerdy enough to be in tech and all of those things that everybody wants to ask? Um, you're so right.
Speaker 1:Just having that tribe and that home to to be able to do that um can can make such a difference to to some, to to many ladies, um, and also for ladies to be able to give back as well, because a lot of our community they want to give back and they're not quite sure where they can help. They might be quite experienced in tech and want to find somebody that they can connect with, um, that they they wish that they had had access to somebody like that or somebody like yourself to say you know, it's going to be okay, you don't, you don't have to have a traditional route. We all have that imposter syndrome feeling and, uh, it's okay to to be having those feelings, um, so, yeah, it's great, though, that you, um said that you, you just focused on on you and what was important um and found your tribe. Where did you find your tribe? Did you use different networks or um? Were there kind of meetups or anything that you went to?
Speaker 2:so I so, so I guess I there's like maybe two levels of tribe. The first one that I would say is most important to me is like your really close friend group For me that was other females in the military or other people in my unit that were regardless of gender, that were just like of a similar mindset Just that person when something funny at work happens, you're like, oh, oh my gosh, you want to hear the story. You know, like, just that. Or like you know it's the person like at work, when something crazy happens in all hands, like you're the one that, like you, you slack them. You're like, oh my gosh, did that happen?
Speaker 1:you know, like just someone shoot them an eye across the room and without anything. They know what's going on and they're like, oh god, like and that just brings, that, brings work life to life you know like it things.
Speaker 2:It makes you feel like a human. You know you can human where you work and that. So I've often found my tribe, my immediate tribe, like right where I am. I will say I also have like expanded my network, um, and I don't think of that, I don't think of it as like, as like building a network, because I like, when I first heard the term networking, like oh I hated it a lot of people like, no, that's not for me.
Speaker 2:Well, I do not like that, um. But I took um a class once that talked about networking as connecting people like other people. And so you, you find someone and you talk to them because you're a curious person and it's great to talk to people and learn about them. And they're like, oh, I really am super interested in X, y, z. And you're like, okay, you file that in your brain and then you know, half a year later you're talking to another person and they're like, oh, I'm just so interested in this and I really want to find somebody else who's interested in XYZ. And you're like you know like connection, and you're like this is so great Because now I can connect with these two people. It's just really exciting and fun and I love it. Now I love quote unquote networking, but I don't think of it as that. I, you know, like you can do this inside your own company. You know you find your person in each department, your pal in people, ops, or your friend in finance, like who's your super butt in sales. And then you know, expand beyond your company into other industries, into other generations.
Speaker 2:I'm part of a group of people in my business school class that are in different industries and we like get together and I'm like, wow, that is the problem that you're thinking about now. That's so interesting. Like, what a crazy career path. I'm also part of a group of women of different ages and we, you know it's interesting to think like, oh, wow, that's something that I will be thinking of in a couple of decades, or or, like you know, she's experiencing this problem that I had, you know, five years ago.
Speaker 2:Like how interesting, it's, so rewarding, to kind of like grow your connection to the world in these, you know, all these different ways, and I will say, like this is not I don't think this is the goal, but somehow it always ends up providing the right information or the right contact at the right time. Like I would always meet somebody in a new department and then a week later, we'd be like oh my gosh, we have to work on a project together. How crazy is this? And we already, like have formed this bond and we already know each other, like in this casual, friendly manner. It's so great yeah.
Speaker 1:Like the universe was talking to us, like, oh my God, we were meant to do that. I love that. And now you have that contact. Yeah, that way, I love that and now you have that contact.
Speaker 1:It's lovely that you you actively as well look for people in, like different industries and different ages, and to to just to get that diversity of thought and knowledge um is in and as well you said earlier about you know what you might pivot again because the people that are thinking will tech even be for me. You might end up talking to someone in a completely different industry and then be like, actually I'm going to go over there now at this point and try something totally new, totally never, you never know. And I think talking to people at different ages is so interesting because you then I always ask this question on this podcast is there anything that you wish somebody had told you, like before you went into tech, or before you, you know, started moving into leadership or any kind of challenges, that you wish somebody had just turned around and said to you just like, don't worry, is there anything that you wish somebody had just sat you down before you came into tech and told you it kind of ties to that forget that you're in your 30s thing.
Speaker 2:Which is like, just like, take your curiosity dial, which we like we mute. We mute our curiosity so much every day because of our own ego. We're like, oh my God, I should know this. Like, forget about it. Turn up that curiosity dial, like when you hear somebody talk about something, like ask what is that or you know. Like, if you really really don't want to, like you know, google it. Or like ask on Slack. You know, but like, but don't let something pass that you don't know about it. Like, get curious and like go on that journey. Like you hear about a new technology. Like explore it. Like see what's there.
Speaker 2:I think like for me, that is that would be the piece of advice is like, like, think about this as like a whole new world. I guess this also ties into the adventure you've you've come off the ship, you're entering a whole new world. Like explore all the paths you know. Like go like pick up the rock and see what's underneath it. Like you know, like stare at that monkey doing a weird thing and like observe it and see what it's doing. And like like look in the distance and see what's there and figure out how you could get there. I mean, like be curious, like which is, you know, both fun and rewarding, um, and also I think it like kind of like takes all the stress out of it. Okay, this is fun, this is a fun adventure and I don't need to be an expert from the get-go, like I can.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah and we we all do have that thought like I can't ask, because so many ladies on you say this often that when, especially when you step into leadership for the first time, you're sitting there thinking everybody thinks I've got the answers and everybody thinks that I know everything because I'm now team leader and actually most of it is you have your team that are there, who are doing great things, and they have all the answers, and you are there, obviously, as to guide them. But you don't have to know absolutely everything, because that's why you hire a brilliant team.
Speaker 2:One of those things like I mean leadership, I must know and I can't ask, because then it looks like I don't know which is so funny, because when like think about a great leader, like are you thinking about someone who's like making the decisions at every call, or are you thinking about someone who has a great team, who listens to that great team and takes their input and like gets excited when, what somebody on their team has a great idea and runs with it? Like you're thinking about the latter, you're not thinking about someone who's like I am a genius and I have all the ideas you know. It's so funny that, like our own perception of us as our own selves, as a leader, is different than what like we observe as a great leader yes, yes, exactly, and also like those challenges that you.
Speaker 1:You seem, I mean, you're a very curious person anyway, but I love the fact that you frame it as like it's fun. It's not, you know, having to be a serious leader or like learning something new should be framed as as fun, and I suppose some of that comes as well from transitioning from one sector to another, transitioning from the military. I used to talk to a lot of people in a previous life, a previous role, about transitioning from military into tech and there was almost that you learn so many good skills, as you said, like you can transition over to tech. But it's also that kind of. A lot of them used to say I don't actually know where I fit in in terms of like the, the.
Speaker 1:If I join in a corporate, where do I fit on the corporate ladder? Because actually I've been a leader and I know all these skills, but I'm coming back into civilian life and I don't know where I sit, but I know I can do it. It's just finding a way to express you know all of those skills and show that you can do it. Did you find that at all a challenge or were you just did somebody help you to transition into your role and then just you kind of took hold of it.
Speaker 2:I think I heard a helpful analogy when I was starting.
Speaker 2:I don't remember who told me it, but it was like, okay, if you took the CEO of the biggest company in the world and you put them in the military, would you want that person to be a general?
Speaker 2:Now, if they were in the military for a while, like, would they probably rise in the ranks really fast? Yeah, they probably would. Would they maybe someday be a general? Sure, but they have to have like even some like there's, like you know, there's the leadership, you know experience and potential, and then there's the domain expertise and like so just understanding that like, hey, yes, you have the leadership experience, but you don't necessarily have the domain expertise, then you have to combine those two and eventually but like you know, it's not going to be like, oh, you have to go straight from the bottom all the way. Again, it's going to be an accelerated path and eventually they, the two, may match in level and great, but don't stress about the pace and don't stress if they do match. Yeah, I think that's. That's like like what I, what helped me think about this and kind of like feel humble, you know, yeah, like dialed on the ego and like thinking about that and dialing up the curiosity helped me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love, that just don't stress don't stress about it, just keep moving, which is really good advice for everything in life, if we're honest honest.
Speaker 1:So, as somebody who has broken barriers, how do you think organizations can better support women pursuing leadership roles in traditionally male dominated fields and I want to ask you a little bit about AI in a minute and what superhuman is doing around that but do you think organizations can work better with ladies to pursue leadership roles in male-dominated fields? You haven't really had much of a problem yourself, so what do you think?
Speaker 2:Oh, I totally think they can, and you kind of already mentioned it, which is, I think that your organizations can provide mentorship and coaching, so they can provide mentorship from within. For example, slack had this great program where senior women at Slack would mentor other women in the company and that was a way to kind of like, develop and promote their natural leadership and help them rise from within. Some companies they offer coaching benefits. Some companies they have employee resource groups, ergs, for women and they offer classes or speakers for those ERGs. It's a place to ask questions and get advice and get the good tidbits that you need. I think mentoring and coach up and coaching are power-ups for women yes, definitely.
Speaker 1:We have a mentoring program at she Can Code and we had to bring the launch forward, um because so many people wanted to be a part of it. People want to give back and be a mentor. They want to find, um a mentor themselves. It's so awkward to find somebody sometimes, uh, and you don't want to just reach out sometimes to random people on LinkedIn and be like, will you be my mentor? And then they say no or it doesn't go well and all of those things.
Speaker 1:So we started connecting people inside our community to be able to do that, because it's so important to find people that can help or ways that you can help people as well. Um, so definitely and you can have a great one is um sponsorship and male allies. I've had some brilliant male sponsors throughout my career. When looking back, they've all been men that have said the right things about me in the room when I'm not in the room, that have just kind of pushed me in the next direction, and it's so important to have those as well in your network as just brilliant male allies that push you forward for for other things when you're not there.
Speaker 2:Totally, I totally agree.
Speaker 1:I wanted to ask you a little bit about superhuman. So superhuman is at the forefront of integrating AI into email. We've already busted the myth that working on email is not boring. So what excites you about the potential of AI to improve productivity, and how do you balance innovation and practicality in product design?
Speaker 2:So for me, I think that AI unblocks you so you can't think of how to write that tough email to your boss. Okay, well, let write with AI, start with for you. Like, okay, you type into superhuman, like you hit a little AI button, you say like write an email to my boss that says blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 1:Okay, there you go, Bam you at least got started, you have something to work with, even the bare bones, and then you can be like well, that doesn't sound like me exactly, exactly, way too nice in that, no, or let's say you're.
Speaker 2:or let's say you're writing a project update email and it's just too long. You're like, oh, no one's gonna read this. Okay, well, hit, hit ai and say like, make this more concise, make this shorter bam, you're done. Shorter, bam, you're done. Or let's say you get somebody else didn't do that and gave you an email that's way too long. Okay, well, start off with the summary. We provide a little summary at the top of every email, both like a one line summary and, if you click on it, like a little multi bullet summary, so you can at least get the gist of it before you even start reading it. Another feature that I love personally is like you can't find a piece of information in your inbox, like you can't find Sam's phone number. Well, okay, then you have to, like you know, the original way is look up, search for his email and then look through all of his emails to find his phone number. We have this thing called Ask AI, where you just like ask a question what is Sam's phone number?
Speaker 2:And then it's like hey, his phone number is blah, blah, blah. Like you find the answers in your inbox. Like you're blocked on the question, bam, we give you the answer right away. And that I think, like that unblocking feature, is what's most exciting to me about AI. But I will say you don't always need AI. Our goal is to be there when you need it, ideally as smoothly and unintrusively and seamlessly as possible, like when you're blocked. Bam, it's there, it's ready, it's ready to go, ready to like get you past that step, keep you in your flow, get you to the next thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that and everything.
Speaker 1:We look back now and we're like god, I don't know how we did things or how I manually wrote a lot of things without the help of AI, because, you're right, if you do something I always used to even at school our teachers used to say, oh, that was too long, long-winded, and that was, that was too much, and just to ask, like AI, to be like, could you condense that a little bit, because I know I've gone too far again and nobody's gonna read it, so that is just so much easier now.
Speaker 1:Um, that must be quite difficult, though, with the whole the, the innovation and and um, trying to find that balance with practicality in in the product design. Do you get moments where you kind of like, well, I want to do this and we've gone a bit too far and it actually still needs to be practical, and you kind of like, well, I want to do this and we've gone a bit too far and it actually still needs to be practical, and you kind of need to like bring it back a little bit, and how do you balance that?
Speaker 2:yeah, we, we really think about AI being deeply interwoven into the product. For example, that ask AI product. Originally it was like its own little like chat area and it still is. It still has its own designated like little chat area. But we also said like hey, you probably would also want this functionality when you're doing a normal search. So we said okay, like let's also, when you are searching for something, give you the option of like okay, ask ai, because maybe you're not finding what you're looking for in normal search. Like okay, it's also available For us.
Speaker 2:This has to be, it has to be practical, it has to be useful. Another example of this is that summary thing that I told you about. That's available in every email. You don't have to think about it. It's available the moment you open the email. It's available the moment you open the email. It's not like you have to like click a button and ask for it, because if you have to click a button and ask for it, it's already like too late. That's not as practical as it could be. Yeah, ready to go, bam, like. That's what we wanted to start with.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because you are right. Sometimes you do need to put all of that detail in an email, but nobody's going to read it, so having that summary at least does help when people are searching back through things A little bit. On AI, though, that many people they're really wary about the rapid adoption of AI and daily tools. How do you approach building AI powered features that are not only innovative but also user friendly and also trustworthy, because that has been a big one recently.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. Yeah, the most important part of that question is definitely trustworthy Superhuman. We take trust so seriously and it's no matter how seamless the features are like. The trust piece is first and foremost. So a couple of things we do. First of all, there's like a clear opt-in moment, like we're not just going to like spring this on you. You have to say like I do want AI inside of superhuman. The second piece is we have what's called a zero day retention agreement with open AI. So what does that mean? That means like your information isn't going into open AI and then being stored and like kept and training other models. They're literally not storing it at all. It's going in. It's saying like you send the email in. It's like here's your summary. And then we're like great, thank you. And they're like, okay, well, that's my job is done. Like I development of that feature is that we had this piece locked down.
Speaker 2:But then again there's one more piece which is sometimes you do want to say like hey, that wasn't a very good answer, like you missed the mark on this, because AI isn't 100% perfect. You want us to make the feature better. You want to get better answers, better summ. You want us. You want to get better answers, better summaries, and so we give you a way to tell us and you say like hey, this did not meet my bar, this did not. Like, this did not exceed or meet my expectations. And you can say like I do want to share my information for this particular thing so that you can use that to make the product better, and um, and then we'll say, okay, we, if you've given us permission, then we can look at the example and figure out, like what happened here, like why did they get this wrong, and then we can go back and make the product better and work to improve it so your experience is better later on. And then we increase the trust again. You know, superhuman ai, it's like ungrained, it's trustworthy. That is the.
Speaker 1:That's the most important part for us yeah, it's just such a big thing to put people at ease that, like so many, we share so much information everywhere. Nowadays, it's kind of like, yeah, but where is it? What are they doing with it? Why are they? What are they going to send me? What kind of ads are they going to try and send me because of something that I've put in an email? And all of those things where you're like, what are they storing or what kind of picture are they building of me? And we do that all the time with so many things that we have to share freely.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, as you mentioned at the start, email and your role is not what people would call the traditional boring techie role. It is something that sounds super interesting. And AI the world is kind of your oyster at the moment. And, yeah, thank you so much for sharing that with our ladies as well that are thinking about going into those types of roles in tech, because the more that we hear about them, the more that ladies think actually I could be doing something in there, in there, and I hadn't even perhaps hadn't even considered a career in that, in that direction as well. That's the thing. The visibility is so important to share that, um. So thank you so much for coming on, thank you for chatting about your career journey, which is one of the impressive, most impressive career journeys that we've had on here, I must say and also for telling us all about superhuman. So, laurie-lynne, thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Thanks, kayleigh, this was a real pleasure.
Speaker 1:Thank you for everybody listening, as always. Thank you so much for joining us and we hope to see you again next time.
