Welcome back, my friend.
This is part 2 of that AI pandora's box series.
(But you probably already knew that.)
Let me begin by saying one thing.
You probably think that I'll be using this post to talk about new tools and apps that have come out in AI land since the previous post.
Given the way I finished the previous one it'd be natural to think that.
But...
That's not the case this time.
Seeing that every week after the GPT-4 release has had an increasing number of tools popping up, updates to already existing ones, new projects coming up, and so on.
And there have been some folks from the Open-Source community that have been working independently working on their own AI models.
Also, not to mention that there's also been an increase in "AI guys" and newsletters covering all kinds of "AI news".
I figured that making a post talking about new, cool, and exciting AI tools would only add to the noise.
So in this one...
I want to bring you a less news related and more of an alternative perspective one.
That being said... let's get into it.
Divided opinions
Like with everything, there are mixed opinions about AI.
Some say it's going to unlock the next level of human development.
Others say it's going to be the very thing that's will erase us from the planet.
Regardless of what it ultimately does, one thing is for sure...
It's not going away anytime soon. (Despite people calling for 6-month pauses.)
AI is an inmense power for everyone.
And the main risk is that most of us are not prepared or trained properly to use it.
As a wise old man once said:
Unfortunately, we have a long history of misusing great advancements and breakthrough technologies.
And while it's true that this technology can empower people of all kinds. So that they don't have to do the grunt, repetitive work that exists in many areas.
Freeing their time so that they can move on to a higher level of work and provide greater value to the market.
At the same time, it will replace current positions in the workplace, leaving people who have not invested in improving their skills or developing their competence out of a job.
There's a group of folks who will be forced to make a change or risk being put out of the workforce.
But those are not news anymore.
Many have already talked about it.
What I'm saying here...
Is that this is a fundamental shift in the way the world has functioned over the past decades.
A more likely scenario to occur is that there's going to be a greater divide between people and social classes.
Rather than all people using it for good, to improve others lives and building a better future.
An alternative situation
Let me describe you a scenario.
Since ancient times, knowledge has been very valuable. People used to pass it down to the next generation through oral tradition.
Then there was a shift towards saving it on books and tomes. Having access to these was reserved to scholars and important people.
The access to the right information could literally change your life. And that was the reason people of power kept it out of reach from the masses.
It's been so important than one of the treasures of the ancient world was the library of Alexandria.
One person who had access to its superior information was able to perform tasks at a higher level of competence. Essentially having a great competitive advantage.
Since it contained all sorts of books related to all the arts and sciences. Someone could figure out a better way of doing things and then bring it to the masses.
People will be getting better results from it than the traditional way making that the de facto option.
And so, the people who had no access or no knowledge of its existence would be kept in the dark about it.
Fast forward to today, a similar situation can be happening.
There are people who don't know that AI tools out there can help them do their work faster and more efficient. They will keep doing things the traditional way until they are completely outperformed and forced to find a better way to stay competitive.
But knowing about what exists and can help them is just not enough.
You can make these people aware of the existence of these tools but they still don't know how to use them properly and make the most out of them.
And those who can use them to their fullest potential will keep having the advantage.
Will AI replace you or not?
What happens when you have a properly functioning car and instead of giving it regular gasoline, you give it high-quality fuel. Along with a decent amount of nitric oxide.
You now have a machine that can get you where you want in less time and more efficiently.
What happens when you have a properly implemented business process that produces results and then you put it high-speed internet and custom-tailored technology systems.
You now can produce better results in shorter time and provide more value to your customers (among other things).
Now think of yourself as the car and AI as the high-quality fuel coupled with nitric oxide.
But here's where it gets interesting.
There are people who are specialists in one area. They produce top-notch work that's hardly equaled by others in their area.
They can, of course, free up some of their time with the help of AI to keep delivering that high-quality work faster without making compromises or cut corners.
And then there are others who are not specialized in anything in particular.
They're equally good in several areas and can produce good results in those.
And now with AI, they can skip the trivial and time-consuming tasks to focus on the bigger picture.
Since AI can now get trained with enough information in any given area to assume that position of an "expert", you can now have a whole team with you.
You can do the work that is best for you and have AI help you with the rest of details and intricacies that you don't really know well.
You can now build stuff from scratch without being dependent on a team of different roles to accomplish the objective.
There's also a third category.
In this one there are the creatives and multiskilled folks who can do great work in different areas provided they take the time and focus on one of those at a time.
They can switch over to another area and with a little bit of context start performing at a level above the majority.
These people with AI can further decrease the time they need to create great work and the one they need to get going in a new area.
These could be called "AI-enhanced performers".
They can now basically create great things in areas like writing, design, video creation, music production, branding, web development, online marketing, etc.
It's like what I mentioned of taking something that already works and giving it a nitro boost.
These people that are already getting results, now can 10x those.
And the other folks who are comfortably lounging away in a repetitive work that at least "pays the bills", will eventually get replaced by an AI.
Many jobs will cease to exist. New ones will appear.
Online businesses and startups are going to even more different than what they're now.
There are not only going to be big businesses run by 1 person. It's possible that many of them can be run by 1 or a very few.
This means again concentration of wealth and capital in a small group.
The 99% vs the 1% is going to be even more prominent.
Not only the work landscape will change is quite likely that the whole society will.
The world will be quite different by 2025.
Conclusion
Aside from all the "doom and gloom" scenarios that can sprout due to AI.
I think it's better to be practical about it.
Take a look farther ahead and see what's coming so that we can better prepare.
With this, there are few things that become apparent.
#1 Being adaptable and embracing change are going to be important traits to cultivate.
#2 Learning effectively and acquiring new skills can very well be your ticket to never being out of business whatever industry you are part of.
#3 Having access to the right tools and the right knowledge to use them will again be a differentiator between successful and unsuccessful people.
And so, it will be in your best interest to make sure you're getting a handle on all of these things.
That is easier said than done, of course. But you can have better chances to do so when you don't try to do it all by yourself and instead seek to be among others with similar goals and greater knowledge than you.
I'll leave it at that for this entry.
That's enough for you to think at this moment.
As always, thanks a lot for reading until this point.
I'll catch you again in the next post.
See ya then.
