In the age of AI, thinking is as relevant as ever.
With the advent of this amazing new technology, the relentless pace of innovation in the field and the bemusement it causes, daunting questions emerge:
- what is AI exactly?
- how does it achieve what it does now?
- it sure does function differently from us, but if so, then why is it so similar to us in so many aspects?
- where is this similarity coming from?
- can we use our understanding of the inner-workings of AI to predict its future development?
- how can we harness the power of AI and tap into its future potential?
- is it going to surpass us? If so, when?
- will it take our jobs, will it make us useless?
… and many, many more
These questions need to be answered carefully and thoughtfully.
On the one hand AI is clearly just a technology. On the other hand it is unpredictable, ever-changing; every model update brings new skills and new limitations. We are dealing with something eerily similar to us, yet at the same time so fundamentally different. Commentators, researchers and passive observers either love or hate AI. Prophecies of AGI and the proverbial “finding the cure for cancer” are followed by cries of “AI slop” and an “existential threat to humanity”.
AI will not answer these questions for us (as I show in my posts on this blog). We need to do the mental heavy lifting ourselves, and we need to come at least to a solid hypotheses, based on experience, logic and philosophy. Only rigorous thinking will help us adapt and thrive in the age of AI.
As a fellow observer and practitioner of the AI revolution, I am equally stunned and fascinated. Drawing on my consulting experience and practical AI exposure, I invite you to think with me in the age of AI.
