Excellent introduction, Kartik. I look forward to reading the next from you.
An aside on "life before and after electricity." I was born two months before the Republic of India. Until the republic was close to 16, the only electrical gadget I used was a torchlight!
“…that rare breed of technology that changes life on earth as we know it. There was life before and after electricity; two different ways for humanity to exist. Similarly, we will one day talk about life before AI and after AI.”
"...in this new era of generative AI, you better take note of the next general purpose technology in front of us."
Agreed! I’m usually not the one to fall into the hype around new technologies, preferring a more moderate view of how things will actually progress, however couldn’t agree more with the two pretty strong statements I selected above. I believe we are at a tipping point (1), a before and after moment.
I was not familiar with the concept of “general purpose technology” before reading this post (super interesting, BTW), but I get to the same type of conclusion following a different - admittedly not scientific - logic, mostly focused on the potential applications of AI as I can visualize.
I’ve been building tech products in Silicon Valley as a PM for a while now, some of which were powered by AI/ML, and have analyzed, studied, mapped or somehow optimized what’s probably hundreds of very different workflows performed by very different personas in very different industries.
When I think back to all of that, it is hard to find many workflows that don’t fall in the range from “can be meaningfully streamlined” to “can be fully automated” via the thoughtful deployment (2) of AI technologies already available today - and with measurable economic impact to those making use of it. When there’s measurable economic impact, “The Market” will make sure to close all the gaps and capture the value generated as fast as possible, which can already be seen in the amount of money being poured by investors into AI at large. And it will be faster than the adoption of any technology before.
So yeah, I also think it’s the real deal. Ignore this moment at your own peril. That’s what I’ve been telling friends and family when the subject shows up, but I’ve been borrowing a line from The Matrix: “Buckle your seatbelt, Dorothy, 'cause Kansas is going bye-bye” :)
I’d like to believe the net result - however it is measured - of the AI revolution we’re witnessing will be massively positive for humans, but only time will tell. What I’m pretty sure about, though, is that things are about to start changing very, very quickly by any historical standard - and we need to stay quick on our feet.
—
(1) I believe the developments in generative AI in this period roughly from 2H 2022 to 1H 2023, which started what’s been dubbed “the AI arms race” is what marks the “tipping point” I’m referring to. But that’s obviously compounding on decades of work in ML, which had already greatly penetrated people’s lives without much notice from the general public, coupled with advancements in the API economy and general app interconnectivity, automation and no-code/low-code, etc. All the pieces are in place now.
(2) By thoughtful deployment, I’m referring to how all of these pieces are going to come together and how humans will interface with this new type of technology. I’m sure we’re about to see a number of new paradigms and implementations in the UI/UX side of the world, and we’ll fumble around for sure. It will take some time to fine-tune it.
Interesting read Kartik that was also easy to understand even for me - a total layperson to the complexities of technology. Gives a great sense of what the impact is going to feel like for the world. A bit unnerving that creative human efforts are likely to be impacted from here on...... ..but excited to read more
Always love your insights, Kartik! Curious to see all the various industries and themes you explore. There are going to be cross-cutting functional applications of AI and of course industry-specific applications of the technology. Would love to make a plug to take a look at heavy industries (e.g., mining, renewables, utilities) at some point.
I’m fascinated by what AI is going to do to the job market, mostly in terms of how it impacts my young children who will enter the workforce in 10-15 years. Thank you and I look forward to reading more posts!
Excellent introduction, Kartik. I look forward to reading the next from you.
An aside on "life before and after electricity." I was born two months before the Republic of India. Until the republic was close to 16, the only electrical gadget I used was a torchlight!
Great insights Karthik! Looking forward to the upcoming series.
Love this. Was looking for a better way to dive into this theme. Excited to read more.
“…that rare breed of technology that changes life on earth as we know it. There was life before and after electricity; two different ways for humanity to exist. Similarly, we will one day talk about life before AI and after AI.”
"...in this new era of generative AI, you better take note of the next general purpose technology in front of us."
Agreed! I’m usually not the one to fall into the hype around new technologies, preferring a more moderate view of how things will actually progress, however couldn’t agree more with the two pretty strong statements I selected above. I believe we are at a tipping point (1), a before and after moment.
I was not familiar with the concept of “general purpose technology” before reading this post (super interesting, BTW), but I get to the same type of conclusion following a different - admittedly not scientific - logic, mostly focused on the potential applications of AI as I can visualize.
I’ve been building tech products in Silicon Valley as a PM for a while now, some of which were powered by AI/ML, and have analyzed, studied, mapped or somehow optimized what’s probably hundreds of very different workflows performed by very different personas in very different industries.
When I think back to all of that, it is hard to find many workflows that don’t fall in the range from “can be meaningfully streamlined” to “can be fully automated” via the thoughtful deployment (2) of AI technologies already available today - and with measurable economic impact to those making use of it. When there’s measurable economic impact, “The Market” will make sure to close all the gaps and capture the value generated as fast as possible, which can already be seen in the amount of money being poured by investors into AI at large. And it will be faster than the adoption of any technology before.
So yeah, I also think it’s the real deal. Ignore this moment at your own peril. That’s what I’ve been telling friends and family when the subject shows up, but I’ve been borrowing a line from The Matrix: “Buckle your seatbelt, Dorothy, 'cause Kansas is going bye-bye” :)
I’d like to believe the net result - however it is measured - of the AI revolution we’re witnessing will be massively positive for humans, but only time will tell. What I’m pretty sure about, though, is that things are about to start changing very, very quickly by any historical standard - and we need to stay quick on our feet.
—
(1) I believe the developments in generative AI in this period roughly from 2H 2022 to 1H 2023, which started what’s been dubbed “the AI arms race” is what marks the “tipping point” I’m referring to. But that’s obviously compounding on decades of work in ML, which had already greatly penetrated people’s lives without much notice from the general public, coupled with advancements in the API economy and general app interconnectivity, automation and no-code/low-code, etc. All the pieces are in place now.
(2) By thoughtful deployment, I’m referring to how all of these pieces are going to come together and how humans will interface with this new type of technology. I’m sure we’re about to see a number of new paradigms and implementations in the UI/UX side of the world, and we’ll fumble around for sure. It will take some time to fine-tune it.
Interesting read Kartik that was also easy to understand even for me - a total layperson to the complexities of technology. Gives a great sense of what the impact is going to feel like for the world. A bit unnerving that creative human efforts are likely to be impacted from here on...... ..but excited to read more
Always love your insights, Kartik! Curious to see all the various industries and themes you explore. There are going to be cross-cutting functional applications of AI and of course industry-specific applications of the technology. Would love to make a plug to take a look at heavy industries (e.g., mining, renewables, utilities) at some point.
I’m fascinated by what AI is going to do to the job market, mostly in terms of how it impacts my young children who will enter the workforce in 10-15 years. Thank you and I look forward to reading more posts!
Appreciate your thoughts on the AI space. Have been doing a deep dive on the topic and find your insights very helpful. Would be great to re-connect.