An interview with Notion's CEO, Ivan Zhao

How AI is going to fundamentally change the way millions of people work.

If you've paid much attention over the past few weeks, you may have noticed that A.I. is having a moment. Specifically, ChatGPT and Microsoft's new version of Bing have gotten a lot of attention. Mostly, that's because Bing's A.I.-powered chat feature has been giving people a bit of attitude as Microsoft tries to, let's say, work out the kinks. 

Of course, Bing doesn't actually have an attitude or a personality, it just makes for very entertaining stories. The responses you get from chatting with Bing, or ChatGPT, are mostly a reflection of the user, not the current state of A.I. computing.

Still, A.I. isn't just for arguing with chatbots or getting recommendations for a sample itinerary for your vacation to Mexico. It actually has a lot of real-world implications, especially for work. 

I spoke with Notion's CEO, Ivan Zhao, about how the company is building A.I. into its software, and why it could completely change the way most of us work. You can also listen to the entire conversation on the Undigital Podcast (Apple Podcasts/Spotify). 

Listen to the podcast:

If you aren't familiar with Notion, Zhao describes it as a "connected workspace for your documents, for your knowledge base, and for your tasks and projects." I use Notion every day. It's how I manage projects, organize my work, and keep track of pretty much everything. 

I've also had a chance to play around with the new A.I. features in Notion, which the company is rolling out publicly starting today. After using A.I. in my own work for a few weeks, I had some questions.