AI is not here to destroy our lives

AI is not here to destroy our lives; nor is it here to solve all of our problems, not yet anyway.
The novelty will wear off, the initial hype will fade, and then the real job will start. The job of putting a major technological breakthrough into practice, embedding it into our day-to-day processes and figuring out exactly how not to f*** things up for the worse.
Don’t get me wrong, it is fantastic to witness such a major shift in technological capability, but we’ve got a steep hill ahead of us of making it work and we have one hell of a transformational ride in the the years to come.

How well we do will depend on the choices we make and the efforts we will put into it right now. And no, a “how to” policy guide is not going to cut it.
And no, a “how to” policy guide is not going to cut it. The reality is we need to:

Recognise what the breakthrough really is and the job to be done

It’s not as racist, sexist, radical and hate infused as it was 5 years ago. Hurray! But society still is. And so is our data. We’ve got some major spring cleaning to do (if we’re lucky to have data in the first place). And whilst we’re at it, let’s call this AI what it is: “applied statistics”.

Recognise the threat to out culture and work on it

Language is one of the most powerful tools in humanity’s toolbox. It is a direct reflection of who we are as a society and how we function together.
The nuanced differences in how we choose to express ourselves is what makes up the cultural fabric across the globe and drives innovation. And yet, as we generate and expose ourselves to probability driven texts, as we accept generic answers as normalcy or “the way to describe things”, we are shifting our perception of the world. Slowly, but surely, commonality, boredom, evenness will spread, fracturing what we once held so dearly.
It matters when and how you choose to use generic texts, as much as it matters what language differences we’re able to recognise and protect. Make the choices wisely.

Embrace new ways of working and employ AI

Dear HR gurus,
Remember the 4-day work week and Basic Income Guarantee?
Might be just the right time to accelerate these experiments. Why fear being
replaced? Why not see this as an opportunity and employ Generative AI sooner alongside different ways of working?
Empower your employees to experiment whilst giving them extra time to spend with their families, explore the world and doing the things that “the doctor prescribed”.