AI - Take The Wheel!
I assume you don’t live under a rock, so you know about the innovations in AI technology over the last 6 months. In a short time, the entire world has jumped on the AI-bandwagon and the debate is raging on as to whether this is good or bad for society. Have you ever sat down and considered the paradox that human beings advance technology to the point where it could make us obsolete? What about the fact that we consistently create and then worry about what we created? Most of this topic has been explored in movies ranging from 2001: A Space Odyssey to Terminator. In reality, it’s an amazing concept to ponder that we love to build and build and build to the point where we worry about whether we built too well or too much.
As a species we are wired to worry about things that will eat us, like sabretooth tigers, wooly mammoths, and the like. We find ways to evolve and avoid those threats. Over the course of time, we’ve become the dominant species on the planet, and we noodle with technology to make our lives even easier and safer. Then we worry about whether we may have created technology that is too good. Too sentient. So much so that it could eventually replace us on the planet as the dominant “life form”, so to speak. We are wired for paranoia and anxiety, but I get it.
AI Coming For Your Job
At the core of the argument are two sides. One side is worried that AI will negate the need for humans to do any number of jobs. The press has latched onto the story stemming from multiple organizations, including a report from Goldman Sachs last month, which states AI will affect around 300 million jobs over the next few years. On the other side of the argument, people are excited because AI makes things faster and easier for humans who are still employed in their jobs. The AI we have created are still limited in the extent of their capabilities, and I would argue they don’t replace as many jobs, as they do replace functions. The differentiation between a job and a function is important because people in many jobs can use the tools to automate some of their functions, allowing them to refocus time on other functions that still, and arguably always will, require human input. In some cases where the AI may actually replace a job, there is an argument to be said that many of those jobs are ones that people don’t typically want. For example, the role of a copywriter is not going to be replaced by AI, but the way that copywriter spends their time will change. They can use the tools as a co-writing partner or an editor, and add their characteristic flavor to the copy. In a more extreme example, AI can be used to operate automated lawn mowers to mow the grass on a golf course, which is a role that is very often unfilled in today’s economy.
The truth, as always, lies somewhere in the middle. The fact is that AI will indeed eliminate some jobs, but it will also create new ones. There are already postings for “query engineers” and “AI-copilots” working their way around the web. AI is certainly a threat to some roles in the work force, but it also creates opportunities for people who are skilled in the utilization of those tools. I’ve seen a few pieces as of late that speak to “how to use AI” and the queries that you can use to get it to do what you want. This is a skill that most people have not yet learned, but I know a lot of people who are spending the time and learning it now. It’s worth the investment of time because it helps lay the groundwork for the future of jobs over the next 10-15 years.
AI Eating SaaS
As I roamed around the inter-webs these last two weeks, I saw some very interesting points of view worth aggregating and sharing to give you an idea of where things are headed. First of all, there was a truly fascinating article in Business Insider about how SaaS businesses should be looking at the AI wave to disrupt their business. The take, which I had not considered, is that anyone can now create or customize a SaaS platform, and this represents the end game of the SaaS business model altogether. First we had open source, then we had no code / lo code. Now we have AI that can become a coding partner, taking basic language prompts and creating software that can satisfy basic functionality. AI can be used to take off-the-shelf software and customize it for any specific use case, or leverage open source code to create something entirely new and personalized for the “developer”. I put developer in quotes because with these generative AI tools, developer takes on a new meaning as the ability to create code is simplified to basic language translated into code by the AI. This is indeed the democratization of development, and enables anyone to create anything rather quickly and easily. Early stages of this would be features, but you can see how the industry quickly shifts to more complex use cases. As a result, SaaS license revenue decreases in favor of one-time build and refine purchases, with ongoing maintenance managed with AI.
AI In Hollywood
Speaking of disruption, this is not a good time to be a Hollywood writer. In case you don’t know, the Hollywood writers are on strike. This happened a number of years back, resulting in the explosion of reality tv that took over the major networks. This time around, I fear the writer’s have little leverage because of generative AI. AI is already being used to write shows, and even shoot video. Check out Critterz to see a five-minute short that was created only using Dall.E. This was created about a month ago, and I will freely admit it is beautiful. The quality is high, and you know AI-generated voices can be used to supplement a script written by ChatGPT or Jasper or any of the other tools that are available. Writers should be looking at these applications of software and thinking to themselves, “whoops - bad time to go on strike”! They don’t have much leverage! Let’s be honest - there is a lot of movie script writing that doesn’t stand up to the AI test. There are some productions that are great, don’t get me wrong, but between an AI tool and someone who simply likes to write and is not part of the union, the negotiations for these folks are doomed.
AI is probably, even likely, going to be the single greatest technological advancement since the Industrial Revolution and we should be both cautious and excited about it, all the same time.
SOME LINKS…
A great resource/directory that compiles a ton of solutions, news and links to AI tools.
A couple of highlights:
Topazlabs.com - Image editing software powered by AI
Bluescape.com - Collaboration software powered by AI
Storyboard with https://krock.io/storyboard-ai/ - a tool for AI-generated storyboarding
photo accompanying this post is courtesy of UnSplash