Generative AI

“One of the unfortunate things that’s happened with AI is that it has become the mega buzzword, which is usually a really bad sign – I hope it doesn’t mean that the field is about to fall apart. Historically that’s a very bad sign for new startup creation if everybody is like [I’m this with AI]; that’s definitely happening now.”

Sam Altman x CEO of Open AI

The common theme coming up in conversations that tech geeks are having across all social media platforms is how AI is about to disrupt every industry, more so how an “AI revolution is about to happen”.

According to Mckinsey & Company, Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) describes algorithms that can be used to create new content. The impact that these algorithms could have in the long-term future if they actually work is unimaginable.

Platforms like Resume Worded give you tailored feedback on your resume and LinkedIn profile, Otter.ai takes notes in real-time to help you remember key insights shared in meetings; Looka helps you design a logo and build a brand you love; Murf turns text into speech and can help you create studio-quality voice overs in minutes; AiCure’s platform allows pharmaceutical and biotech companies to remotely collect and analyze objective, quantifiable physiological and behavioral data using digital biomarkers as well as predictive analytics; Luminance is the world’s most advanced AI for the processing of legal documents and uses this understanding to augment the spectrum of legal matters, from contract drafting, negotiation, and reviews – all the way to investigations and eDiscovery; the most interesting use-case right now has got to be the very popular ChatGPT launched by OpenAI, a language model chatbot that seems to be giving us an opportunity to reimagine search. As a die-hard fan of Hip Hop, I couldn’t help but put the model to a test. I asked a question that I thought would be impossible to answer, but within seconds it responded and I was dumbfounded by the result:

Given Google’s incentive to gatekeep the most accurate answer to a question (i.e. we’re forced to scroll through a range of options and click on multiple links to actually find the answer to what we’re searching for – just so we’re bombarded with multiple unnecessary ads); I believe ChatGPT has the potential to challenge Google’s monopolistic influence on search if OpenAI can significantly improve ChatGPTs ability to instantly provide the most accurate answer to a question. I actually believe they can give Google a run for its money. Also, it’s inevitable that Microsoft’s very large investment into OpenAI means Bing becomes a better search engine over time and perhaps a worthy competitor.

However, the plot twist to all of this could be DeepMind (a very similar initiative to OpenAI) which was acquired by Google in 2014 and hasn’t really gone mainstream. Given Google’s significant data lead, we don’t really know what they have in their locker, OpenAI and Microsoft could be in for a very big surprise – WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE!

Back to Generative AI… 🤣

There are so many other AI-enabled platforms trying to disrupt areas we’ve always perceived as undisruptable, but we also need to be honest in that most AI platforms don’t actually work (or at least yet).

Although most of these platforms don’t come close to their acclaim, it begs the question – is AI really about to change everything, or is it just the modern buzzword?

Only time can tell but for now let’s assume the space experiences a steady growth overtime – what exactly happens to resume reviewers, transcribers, graphic designers, voice over artists and data analysts in the medical fraternity or even legal practitioners responsible for writing or deciphering legal documents when the companies I brought up above go mainstream; I like to believe the answer to that is very simple.

AI is embedded in human intelligence and although it’s got the benefit of running through more data than a single human ever could, it can only operate and develop on existing data. This means that AI cannot really develop original ideas or make dumbfounding discoveries – contrary to popular belief, I believe that every single human has the potential to develop original ideas and make dumbfounding discoveries due to our intuitive nature.

What this means is that when these AI platforms do go mainstream, to actually make a lasting impact, they need to be working collaboratively with some of the most intuitive human beings.

In conclusion, AI wins when humans win – the frontrunners of the AI revolution are probably the humans that figure out the best way to effectively collaborate with these algorithms because AI and humans are mutually inclusive.