How AI Expert Boris Spiegl Prioritizes Empathy While Embracing Technology

Boris Spiegl is an artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) expert with more than 20 years of experience in enterprise leadership roles. Spiegl has an extensive background in global program delivery, innovation and C-level product development.

Spiegl began his career as a business analyst and project manager before ultimately moving into development and product leadership roles and managing large projects across global teams. Over the course of several years leading global projects, Spiegl gained extensive experience learning about and applying AI, ML, natural language processing, and business intelligence.

Throughout Spiegl’s career, empathy has always been central to how he approaches client problems—and empathy continues to be critical as businesses increasingly adopt AI.

“What I've learned throughout my career is that delivering technology is a profoundly empathetic exercise because it starts and ends with the problem that needs to be solved,” said Spiegl. “I believe AI allows us not to build the most amazing solution but rather have the solution firmly come second and focus on the problem. What really determines success versus failure in business is whether or not you have the innate human quality to emotionally and empathetically understand the problem.”

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Expanding into independent work

After more than 20 years in full-time leadership roles, Spiegl was inspired by the rapid growth of AI and the birth of his daughter in early 2023 to expand his career horizons.

“I realized that my expertise might be valuable to a broader marketplace, which is why I started to use the Upwork platform to take on client projects and grow my business,” explained Spiegl.

He continued, “I previously worked with natural language processing and, like any expert in the space, I’ve been surprised by the powerful capabilities of generative AI, the explosion with ChatGPT, and other AI trends in recent years. In early 2023, I started to work on my own. Soon after, pretty much on the day when my daughter was born, I decided I wanted to make a direct impact by solving business problems for my clients.”

Spiegl’s customer base includes a mix of Upwork clients and contacts from his professional network. While some clients may want a project quote upfront, Spiegl prefers to approach initial conversations with prospective clients as a learning experience for both parties. During this time, he has the opportunity to learn more about the specific problems that clients want to solve and whether AI is truly a match for the required work.

“I only take on work that I'm fully confident about,” said Spiegl. “My approach isn’t about providing the actual technology solution with all these bells and whistles, but rather what motivates me is making a direct impact by solving business problems.”

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AI project examples

Spiegl works on a variety of AI projects with clients ranging from startups to enterprises. “Most of my work at this time involves generative AI because the demand for AI and natural language processing is so high,” said Spiegl.  

Many of Spiegl’s projects focus on two specific areas. The first is partnering with startups or entrepreneurs who have been sitting on an idea or challenge they’re looking to address for some time and are ready to determine a solution while being mindful of budget and scope. The second involves working with established businesses to optimize processes using a combination of classical automation, process management, and generative AI to bring efficiency to the business.

Two of Spiegl’s projects involved:

• Unlocking knowledge management with generative AI at a law firm. One of the first projects Spiegl completed when he expanded into independent work focused on helping a law firm to access and use knowledge contained in their documents efficiently. Similar to many knowledge-based businesses, law firms have countless documents and often face challenges with accessing relevant information when needed. Leveraging generative AI, Spiegl built a cutting-edge knowledge management system to help employees at the law firm more seamlessly access and generate intelligence from their documents. The client's problem was clear from the beginning and the team was realistic about what they expected, which made for a successful partnership on both sides, driving tangible results with generative AI.
• Implementing process automation with AI at a software company. Software companies often complete a sizable volume of work and follow a process to some degree. When Spiegl partnered with this software company, the team was using the agile framework and looking to leverage technology to make the process more seamless. Spiegl leveraged generative AI to integrate process augmentations into the entire product lifecycle, including requirements gathering, delivery, testing, project management, client engagement, and more. The project was mutually beneficial, because the client was satisfied and Spiegl learned a lot about the real-life potential of generative AI in process augmentation along the way that he can apply to his own business.

Why a human element is essential to AI success

Many businesses are eager to embrace AI simply for the sake of doing so or due to a fear of missing out. However, Spiegl emphasized that businesses should focus on the problem a business is looking to solve before determining whether AI or other technology is the right option to develop a solution. “I always tell my clients that just because you can doesn't mean that you should,” he said.

Spiegl also highlighted the importance of maintaining a human touch as AI use continues to expand. “Generative AI is not an ideal technology to do process automation, but it's a very capable technology to do process augmentation.”

He expanded, “I like to think about AI with a catchphrase. I always say 10, 80, 10, meaning 20% human inputs, 80% heavy lifting by the AI, and 10% human evaluation. AI is not something that I ever recommend to any type of client that I work with to be just hands off with it. It’s fundamentally a nondeterministic technology, so there's always an element of chance involved. This is why a human review loop is always important.”

Overcoming challenges with AI and independent work

Because AI is evolving so rapidly, keeping up with the latest advancements can be daunting. “AI is moving too fast and it’s not possible to keep up with it,” said Spiegl. “The best that anyone can do is continue to learn. My best advice to anyone is to be curious and proactive about researching AI, rather than being afraid of the latest technology. From a personal perspective, AI has really invoked my childlike curiosity.”

Some of the ways Spiegl follows emerging AI news include subscribing to industry newsletters and following innovators on X (formerly known as Twitter) who are pushing the envelope with new ways to embrace AI.

Spiegl also addressed some of the challenges he’s navigated while expanding his enterprise experience into independent work and running his own business. He offered advice to new or aspiring independent professionals.

“Working for yourself is a lot like a roller coaster,” explained Spiegl. “Sometimes, projects go extremely well and it's a fantastic rush of euphoria. And sometimes—as is often the case in technology development—projects fail. One of the biggest challenges with working for yourself is not getting too caught up in the ups and downs, but to remain focused on the longer term and remain calm during times of stress.”

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Benefits of engaging independent talent on Upwork

Prior to launching his independent business and agency, Spiegl had an active Upwork account as a client for several years. Because his initial experiences on the platform involved engaging independent talent as a client, Spiegl has a unique perspective on the benefits of Upwork from both the client and freelancer perspectives.

Some of the advantages Spiegl sees on Upwork include access to countless skills, the flexibility to solve business challenges while optimizing costs, and insight and transparency into independent professionals’ work history and experience.

“I started using Upwork about a decade ago when I engaged freelancers to complete ad hoc work,” said Spiegl. “I was always very excited, and I still am to this day, by the sheer idea of having any skills that you can imagine available at your fingertips. To me, this is still one of the most amazing benefits I’ve seen. It's like knowledge work at the press of a button and any type of expertise is available from top experts located around the world.”

Taking a customer-first approach to building a business

Moving forward, Spiegl is motivated to continue helping customers on a personal level and solving problems with empathy.

“My primary goal is to leave clients better than I found them, even if I'm just doing a 30-minute call with them,” shared Spiegl. “I've had situations before in which people cried during a call because they found it so helpful. This is what I want to get better at because I believe if I get better at this consistently and throughout my whole value chain, my business will continue to be successful.”

Spiegl continued, “I really want to help businesses be more empathetic and genuinely understand and help their customers.”

To learn more about Spiegl’s skills and experience, or to engage him for an AI or machine learning project, visit his Upwork profile.

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Disclosure: Upwork is an OpenAI partner, giving OpenAI customers and other businesses direct access to trusted expert independent professionals experienced in working with OpenAI technologies.

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