When everything looks perfect and alike, how to spot what's still genuine and "real"? And why does it matter? How to become an authenticity detector and use the power of intention for self-empowerment, development and the "greater good"? What does this have to do with AI?
I don’t think what is currently happening has happened many times. The examples you gave have nothing to do with AI, as the operator of said equipment was still a human. The nature of operation changed but the action and initiative was human origin. In the case of AI agents and AI at large, that won’t necessarily be the case. And outsourcing thinking has happened yes, e.g. in the case of a simple calculator, leading to generations of humans who cannot calculate as they could before, which may be acceptable. But (my point) outsourcing creative and critical thinking is extremely dangerous and has not happened before, with the exception of perhaps believing the mass media without doing own research.
This is a great summary of the dynamics and reflections on where things are heading. I’m a big fan of the action-reaction mental-model of the world and social progress. GenAI/LLM AI applications are causing a lot of new actions, yet there will be a reaction to those changes, and new actions, reactions, etc and a continued back and forth as people figure out what range of trade offs they are comfortable with.
I see this most obviously in business. People are increasingly biased towards face to face discussions with filtered / orchestrated groups of people because telemarketing, LinkedIn and email are increasingly “hyper personalised nonsense”.
People will become increasingly apt at figuring out what is honest and what is engineered but also on evaluating credibility beyond first impressions. There was a time when you could build a relationship via text because well thought out and context aware messages were hard. Now that it’s easier, the line moves.
I also wonder how much of this is because it’s still possible to capture some alpha by faking it with AI. Yet it also seems that window is closing quickly. Once there isn’t any “easy” money through slacking off with AI, people will be forced to find other ways to differentiate.
Thank you for sharing! So many nice ideas to consider.
You’re absolutely right: Once there isn’t any “easy” money through slacking off with AI, people will be forced to find other ways to differentiate.
If it happens within 2-3 years, good for mankind. Painful but a steep learning experience with a clear opportunity to evolve. If it happens in 20 years though, it’s gonna be much harder as we would have lost a couple of generations in the process which may not easily be recover then.
Good point. I suspect it will be a bit of both. Just like we see with “manager class” roles from our and more so our parents generation - there will be a lot of people (as there are today) who have spent too long not really building skills beyond operating within an org politics or using available tools as instructed.
There certainly are people entering the workforce who in 5 years time will look back at how “this were much easier!”.
I don’t think we will loose entire generations any more than general industry change has resulted in lost generations before - manufacturing jobs, etc… But we will certainly feel it in the moment much more than what we think past generations faced.
One person sees a hammer and they use it to build a house, another uses it go on a killing spree - the same goes for AI.
It is amazing, incredible stuff that we really should be calling Alien Intelligence rather than artificial. We know so little about its true potential.
Those who have great imaginations, the true creatives, are going to find AI the most incredible tool and use it as a digital collaborator to enhance what they already do.
The lazy will do what the lazy have always done - and if you scan the brain of a lazy person using AI it's going to look even worse than before.
I've stopped concerning myself with what others do with AI and started realising its full potential, though I don't use ChatGPT - that's just fodder for the masses.
Once people don’t know how to drive in a nail without a hammer and what if the hammer starts to make his own call whether to create or destroy is what I’m talking about. It’s not about potential or control at this point. It’s about self awareness and making sure we don’t lose certain abilities even when using new hammers…
Very true. It's an interesting idea that humans are the only species, smart enough and yet stupid enough to invent technology that can replace them.
What your talking about has happened many times, not many can thatch a house, read a map, plough a field etc.
The key, I imagine, is to decide what skills are worth keeping and what are part of human evolution?
I don’t think what is currently happening has happened many times. The examples you gave have nothing to do with AI, as the operator of said equipment was still a human. The nature of operation changed but the action and initiative was human origin. In the case of AI agents and AI at large, that won’t necessarily be the case. And outsourcing thinking has happened yes, e.g. in the case of a simple calculator, leading to generations of humans who cannot calculate as they could before, which may be acceptable. But (my point) outsourcing creative and critical thinking is extremely dangerous and has not happened before, with the exception of perhaps believing the mass media without doing own research.
Google maps replaces physical maps, horses replaced men on tractors. We had an entire industrial revolution where machines replaced men.
What is happening now is nothing new. The key is how we learn from the pest.
Lazy people will do what they can, to do less. Others, will use the new tools they are given to do more.
AI has given us huge advances, and generative AI, has only been around 3 years, effectively.
We get to choose what to focus on, I choose to focus on how I can use AI to advance my own skills and help others.
I have no spare time for what lazy people will do.
This is a great summary of the dynamics and reflections on where things are heading. I’m a big fan of the action-reaction mental-model of the world and social progress. GenAI/LLM AI applications are causing a lot of new actions, yet there will be a reaction to those changes, and new actions, reactions, etc and a continued back and forth as people figure out what range of trade offs they are comfortable with.
I see this most obviously in business. People are increasingly biased towards face to face discussions with filtered / orchestrated groups of people because telemarketing, LinkedIn and email are increasingly “hyper personalised nonsense”.
People will become increasingly apt at figuring out what is honest and what is engineered but also on evaluating credibility beyond first impressions. There was a time when you could build a relationship via text because well thought out and context aware messages were hard. Now that it’s easier, the line moves.
I also wonder how much of this is because it’s still possible to capture some alpha by faking it with AI. Yet it also seems that window is closing quickly. Once there isn’t any “easy” money through slacking off with AI, people will be forced to find other ways to differentiate.
Thank you for sharing! So many nice ideas to consider.
You’re absolutely right: Once there isn’t any “easy” money through slacking off with AI, people will be forced to find other ways to differentiate.
If it happens within 2-3 years, good for mankind. Painful but a steep learning experience with a clear opportunity to evolve. If it happens in 20 years though, it’s gonna be much harder as we would have lost a couple of generations in the process which may not easily be recover then.
Good point. I suspect it will be a bit of both. Just like we see with “manager class” roles from our and more so our parents generation - there will be a lot of people (as there are today) who have spent too long not really building skills beyond operating within an org politics or using available tools as instructed.
There certainly are people entering the workforce who in 5 years time will look back at how “this were much easier!”.
I don’t think we will loose entire generations any more than general industry change has resulted in lost generations before - manufacturing jobs, etc… But we will certainly feel it in the moment much more than what we think past generations faced.
One person sees a hammer and they use it to build a house, another uses it go on a killing spree - the same goes for AI.
It is amazing, incredible stuff that we really should be calling Alien Intelligence rather than artificial. We know so little about its true potential.
Those who have great imaginations, the true creatives, are going to find AI the most incredible tool and use it as a digital collaborator to enhance what they already do.
The lazy will do what the lazy have always done - and if you scan the brain of a lazy person using AI it's going to look even worse than before.
I've stopped concerning myself with what others do with AI and started realising its full potential, though I don't use ChatGPT - that's just fodder for the masses.
Once people don’t know how to drive in a nail without a hammer and what if the hammer starts to make his own call whether to create or destroy is what I’m talking about. It’s not about potential or control at this point. It’s about self awareness and making sure we don’t lose certain abilities even when using new hammers…