If you don’t yet know the scope of the new generative AI tools, have a chatbot like ChatGPT create a concept for a topic you know well. If you’re not covering your mouth in amazement, you’ve made the wrong request.
AI tools will turn the world as we know it upside down.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be a confusing and intimidating concept to wrap your head around.
But understanding the basics is key to unlocking the potential of AI and using it to its fullest.
This is an attempt to provide a framework for getting started with generative AI tools. There are several components that come into play when discussing this new breed of chatbots, and understanding each one will help you better understand the topic as a whole.
What happened to the development of AI?
Why are we here in the first place?
Neither symbolic AI, which focused on using logic to solve problems, nor connectionist AI, which attempted to simulate the workings of the human brain, were able to create truly intelligent machines.
In the 1990s, a new approach called machine learning emerged. This approach focuses on developing algorithms that can automatically learn and improve from experience.
Machine learning has been extremely successful in recent years and is now responsible for many of the impressive achievements of AI, such as facial recognition, self-driving cars, and machine translation.
With the advent of chatbots like ChatGPT and the underlying Large Language Models, AI-powered tools are now available to anyone with a keyboard. They are used to generate all sorts of new content based on a simple text prompt. No coding required.
Why it matters to anyone who uses a keyboard
If you use a keyboard, chances are you’re interacting with AI every day.
Even if you don’t realize it, AI is probably powering the search engine you’re using, the social media platforms you’re scrolling through, and the email inbox you’re managing. In short, AI is everywhere, and it’s only getting more ubiquitous by the day.
Even with a minimal understanding of AI, you can start to think about the ways it’s impacting your life and the world around you.
Here are three reasons why it matters to anyone who uses a keyboard:
- AI is changing the way we interact with technology
- AI is changing the way businesses operate
- AI is changing the way we live and work
- A Conversation With Bing’s Chatbot Left Me Deeply Unsettled – The New York Times
- Sequoia Capital on the development of generative AI
Development of generative AI disciplines according to Sequoia Capital
What the evolution of AI means for knowledge workers
As artificial intelligence (AI) evolves, it will increasingly touch every aspect of our lives-including the workplace. For knowledge workers in particular, AI will present both challenges and opportunities.
On the one hand, AI will automate many tasks currently performed by human workers. This could reduce the demand for knowledge workers in certain areas and increase competition for jobs that cannot be automated.
On the other hand, AI will also create new opportunities for knowledge workers. For obvious reasons, those who are comfortable working with data and have experience in areas such as machine learning or natural language processing will be well-positioned to take advantage of new AI-powered tools and applications.
Either way, it is clear that the evolution of AI will have a significant impact on the future of work – and knowledge workers in particular.
How are we going to wrap our heads around AI?
Here’s my attempt to compile a framework for getting our heads around the implications of AI.
So far, these are just a few pointers from which I want to build the framework. Food for thought.
600+ AI tools available Feb 2023 and counting
How can we tackle a task with confidence if we don’t know if there isn’t an AI that would do it in a blink of an eye?
In case you were wondering, probably there’s an AI for that. As of February 2023, it listed 1,831 AI tools for 484 tasks like copywriting, video editing, slide creation, etc based on a simple text prompt.
New tools appear on a daily basis at an increasingly rapid pace.
Counterintuitively, AI killed creative jobs first
Contrary to expectations, AI has made creative jobs obsolete first: graphic designers or conceptual consultants are the first to be affected by the new chatbots.
What does that mean for your profession?
If you are in a coordinating role, you might be safe for now.
If you are a coder, you should start looking around for AI features like pair-programming based on chatbots. No kidding! Bug hunting is also very popular with chatbots.
If you are a copywriter or translator, try embracing your new aids as quickly as you can! Become an AI tool advisor or prompt engineer. Run as fast as you can!
If you are a consultant, use chatbots as your personal assistant. Ask them for comprehensive and complex concepts. You will be surprised!
Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Baidu, others?
Is Big Tech dominating the further development or will small, more flexible outlets lead the way?
What difference does it make if we know which business model is behind which chatbot response?
How do we teach our children AI literacy?
I don’t have an answer to this question at all yet:
If AI can do better math, better writing, better reasoning, better programming, what else are we teaching our children?
How are they supposed to learn to judge whether what the AI suggests to them is right or wrong?
And whose interests lie behind the suggestions when a chatbot is run by one Big Tech representative or another? How is their business model related to the answers?
