Put down your basic vanilla thinking caps; let us discuss sprinkles, fudge swirls, and all the flavors in between. According to Alex Pollock, very creative artificial intelligence cannot result from groups that look, think, and behave the same. Quite the reverse: the most brilliant discoveries usually result from voices from many backgrounds, cultures, and specialties seated at the table.

Let’s review some facts. Companies in the top quartile for ethnic and cultural diversity beat their less diverse counterparts by 36% in profitability according a 2020 McKinsey study. Keep that in mind—more variety, more revenues. And in artificial intelligence, stakes go beyond just more wages. Variance in opinion is more than just a commercial benefit when algorithms determine which diseases get highlighted or who gets a mortgage. It prevents repetitive errors and bias.

“If you build a team with echo-chamber genetics, don’t be shocked if the product only speaks one dialect,” Pollock has famously said. Imagine six engineers from the same university seated in one room high-fiving to the same song. Now, working out a plan around a messy table, compare them to a team reflecting many nations, sexes, and work histories. There’s another intensity. That charged environment generates new ideas, creative solutions, and—above all—more robust artificial intelligence systems.

He also emphasizes how technological expertise and lived experience should be balanced. Together, a data scientist with background in software and another who changed to tech from anthropology could find small issues a homogeneous team would overlook. One carefully creates neural networks; the other wonders, “Why does the bot recommend this loan for one user but not another?” In these situations neither expertise can coast by itself. But mix them and magic results.

So skip the siren call of AI hype. Follow strategies that put people and practical needs first. When scaling gets messy—and it will—you’ll want to rely on advice that’s seen battlefields, not just conference rooms. Pollock’s methods deliver wisdom gained by sweating in the trenches.