Over the past two weeks or so, I’ve been going down the rabbit hole; exploring the capabilities of Artificial Intelligence, seeing how others are using it, and finding ways to include it in my own workflow. To say that my mind has been blown is an understatement. I’m not sure that general society is ready, or even aware of, the capabilities and implications of what is possible and how this will impact our daily lives; how we learn and work; how we create and consume content; and how it will blur the lines between fiction and reality. Pull up a chair, grab a coffee, and join me as we go down the rabbit hole of AI…

What is Artificial Intelligence?

If you’re as tech-obsessed as me, you’re already well aware of the definition. For those of you who don’t know; Artificial Intelligence is defined as “the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.” (Oxford)

The most prominent and capable Artificial Intelligence technology currently available is by a company called OpenAI. They’ve created AI systems such as GPT, DALL-E, and Whisper. Another prominent AI-tech company is Stability.ai with mind-boggling image generation projects such as Stable Diffusion and the DreamStudio product. Then there’s also Midjourney with their AI-powered image creation system.

There are many others in the works but as of the time of writing, most AI tools currently available are using the systems developed by the companies mentioned above. Microsoft, for example, is now using OpenAI technology to power Bing. If you want to experiment with Artificial Intelligence yourself, Bing Chat and Bing Create is the easiest way to get started.

The impact of AI on Productivity

A recent experiment by Ethan Mollick, a Professor from Wharton studying innovation and startups, provided insight into how AI can multiply our efforts. Read the full article to see how he used AI as a Marketing Strategist, a Site Developer, and a Social Media Manager, and how it enabled him to accomplish in 30 minutes what would generally take an entire team of professionals a couple of days or weeks, or even months to accomplish…

The capabilities of Artificial Intelligence are absolutely mind-blowing. One would assume that access to such technologies would require expensive computer systems or highly trained staff, but what’s even more mind-blowing is that anyone can use this technology, even for free. Anyone can sign up and access ChatGPT, or make use of many free ChatGPT-powered websites and apps.

Listen to this podcast from the Harvard Business School to learn why you need to experiment with ChatGPT…

The impact of AI on Information

Safe to say, when it comes to news stories, images, video, and even voice “recordings”; nothing we see online can be blindly trusted anymore. Anything and everything can be artificially generated to appear legitimate.

The information we see must be consumed with caution and properly verified before it can be trusted. AI-generated content will take misinformation to a whole new level, and if we, as consumers, don’t properly verify each story, this will have dire real-world consequences.

One area where AI-generated personas are already wreaking havoc and spreading scams and misinformation is Social Media. Watch this video detailing an experiment in creating a false identity:

Feeling overwhelmed? Me too!

A lot of what I do can now be done by AI, and in some cases, AI can do it even better. I can ask AI to write code, write articles, design graphics, etc. This is an overwhelming concept in the sense that it’s making me re-evaluate my skills and my purpose. Mere text prompts can now replace the need for my skills. It all comes down to asking the right questions and providing the most detailed instructions.

If I can effectively explain to AI what needs to be done, there’s no need for me to do it, nor for anyone to hire me to do it. Simply type some prompts into a text box and Artificial Intelligence can do most of it if not all.

This is resulting in somewhat of an existential crisis for me. Will AI replace me? Will AI make my skills obsolete? Will others simply use AI rather than hire me to design graphics, code and build websites, and write articles? Perhaps I need to shift my expertise towards becoming a great “AI-Whisperer” where the type and quality of text prompts I enter into ChatGPT will result in great AI-generated work. Or maybe it’ll just become a great tool to enhance my work and improve my productivity. Someone still needs to ask AI the right questions that will result in the desired output, and someone still needs to take that output and integrate it into the project at hand. That someone will also need the expertise on how to bring it all together in a desired end result. For this reason, I don’t believe that AI is here to replace me but rather to enhance what I do.

Whatever the case, this is all quite mind-blowing and overwhelming. We’re entering a new era where AI is going to dramatically change how we do things. Are you ready? Are we ready? The future is here, now!

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