Something Bigger than You or Me

Artificial Intelligence has made a lesson I learned in 1977 relevant to every one of us.

In May of 1977, I began working for American Airlines as a computer programmer in the Operations Research Department. My first day was spent in Human Resources learning about policies, procedures, and benefits.

At the end of the day, when I met with the head of HR for the entire firm, I had one thing on my mind: the unlimited free systemwide travel privileges that came with the job.

“I want to welcome you aboard and give you this American Airlines lapel pin to wear with pride while on duty,” he began.

He handed me the pin. I tried to take it, but he would not let go.

“It is important that we both touch the pin while you listen to what I am about to say,” he continued.

“You need to know that there is one thing more important than profits. In fact, it is more important than everything else. It is more important than you, and it is more important than me.

“That one thing is passenger safety.

“Now, you will not be working on the flight deck or maintaining the planes. You will have a desk job, and you might imagine this does not apply to you. But you would be wrong.

“When you are flying as a passenger, your flight attendant is not there to merely serve food and drinks. That is secondary. They are there to ensure passenger safety. When you are on a plane, they are your commanding officer.

“That means that when the flight attendant asks the passengers to pay attention to how the seat belt works, that is a direct order and you will pay close and careful attention so as to model good behavior for all those around you.

“Feel free to socialize with your flight attendants, but the moment they say they must attend to something else, you will let them. And if they ever write you up in their log for interfering with their duties, you will be fired without a hearing, regardless of whether you are the CEO or a janitor. It will be your word against theirs, and we will always take their word.

“Am I making myself clear?”

“Perfectly clear, sir,” I said.

“Then I want to welcome you aboard,” he said as he released the pin.

A shiver ran down my back. Looking back, it was one of the defining moments of my life, up there with starting a family. It is a wonderful feeling to be part of something bigger than oneself, don’t you think?

I soon learned that what happened in HR was not a hollow ritual.

There was a programmer I’ll call Frank who was excellent at his job, but he had a terrible attitude toward the women in our department. In those days, women mostly put up with it.

One Monday morning, Frank returned from a weekend flight bragging about a flight attendant he had been flirting with. In the middle of the story, our boss came for him. Fifteen minutes later, Frank was on the street with a cardboard box. The flight attendant had written him up.

One of the things I loved about the culture at American Airlines was that you could be forgiven for almost any mistake you made. What was not tolerated, however, was dishonesty or shirking responsibility.

On April 15, 1926, Charles Lindbergh took off on his first flight for Robertson Aircraft Corporation. That was the first flight of what would eventually become American Airlines.

At the time, flying the mail was considered the most dangerous job in the United States. Of the first 40 mail pilots, 12 died within two years.

By 1938, commercial airlines were well established, and the death rate was between 4 and 5 deaths per 100 million revenue passenger miles.

By 1977, when I joined American Airlines, that rate had dropped to 0.04 deaths per 100 million revenue passenger miles.

By 2023, that rate fell 13 times lower to 0.003 deaths per 100 million revenue passenger miles. It is now about 200 times more likely that you will die crossing the continent on the ground than in the air.

After American, I did stints at a small entrepreneurial computer firm and Mobil Oil. After getting my MBA in Finance I moved to Wall Street, where, by airline standards, integrity was nowhere to be found.

Regardless of what their corporate mission statements said, I came away with the impression that if anything was more important than employees, customers, society, or even the long-term survival of the organization, that one thing was the stock price. My longest tenures were at Merrill Lynch, which went belly up in 2008 and survives in name only, and Maple Financial, which is now out of business because the firm had committed massive fraud and now the CEO is in jail.

I believe that when the price of AI companies aligns with value, correction we will experience will be to Tulip Mania of the 17th century as a hurricane is to a gust of wind.

What’s worse, while tulips are pretty, I’m sure we agree they are harmless.

I believe, however, that Artificial Intelligence may be an existential risk to humanity.

The safety of humans whose lives may be shaped by what we do is bigger than profits, or you, or me. If we collectively do not make safety paramount, humanity is doomed.

You may imagine this does not apply to you.

But you would be wrong.