AI is Overwhelming

I have been trying to write this newsletter about AI and have started it a few times, stopping each time as I feel like I am not approaching from the right angle. Shoud it be about the creative industry, or maybe about the impact technology has had on us as a whole, or maybe about how science fiction is predicting our inevitable future.

It has overwhelmed me, and I think this is my general state of mind about it currently. The current state of AI is that it is overwhelming. I am subscribed to a few newsletters and follow people on Twitter who speak about all the new tools that are being created every day by individuals and companies that have an idea of which industry they want to disrupt with it. And it is getting a bit much trying to keep up with it all.

Every single person will, one way or another, be affected by it. For good or for bad, it is really hard to make a case for what the outcome of this will be.

But I really don’t think it is all doom and gloom. It might sound like it, but the lens through which I look whenever I try to assess anything is: do the positives outweigh the negatives of this? And I actually believe that in this case, they do.

This was inevitable. In a couple of years' time, when all this technology gets implemented, the work world might look very different. I believe the current state of AI will be capable of replacing a lot of jobs that we do not necessarily think of as fulfilling jobs, jobs that are mundane and most likely, if given the choice, the workers themselves would rather do something more fulfilling. A lot of new jobs will be created. Will that happen quickly enough so society doesn’t collapse?

I don’t know.

But what else can we do? Sit and complain about the speed of change, or embrace the change that has the power to solve world hunger, end poverty, and improve the average person's quality of life.

Our current use of technology is unsustainable. Social media, porn, and shopping dominate the internet space, and people are realizing that there must be a better way to use all this power than just to deplete the population's dopamine. By "better way," I don’t just mean companies being "nicer," but actually being economically better by embracing technology and innovating in a way that adds to the human experience. I believe we can reach a future that is brighter and more prosperous than what most currently think our trajectory is.

There are currently very few technologies focused on self-improvement. Can you imagine an AI chatbot like ChatGPT that would provide sound advice, keep you accountable for your goals, and ensure you stay on top of your basic needs like good nutrition, hydration, sleep, and social interaction? It would be like having your own personal life coach that everyone can have access to. People who are in need of therapy or help are often the ones who cannot afford it. But what if it were affordable and accessible through the use of this technology?

Perhaps I'm overly optimistic, but trust me when I say that I'm both excited and terrified about it all. When confronted with significant changes that we don't understand, our natural human response is to assume that they must be somehow negative. We're simply afraid of change, because we're not accustomed to it.

30 years ago, when IBM invented the "AI" that defeated the best chess player in the world, people thought that was the end of chess. However, today, chess is arguably more popular than ever before.

What does that tell us about the future of AI, well probably nothing I just thought it was interesting fact lol.

We have never been good at predicting the future and one thing I believe is that living in a state of “well we are fuc*ed anyway” is not a good way to go about life. Let’s not pretend to know what we don’t. And I certainly have no clue what is to come.