The AI Rollercoaster: Buckle Up for the Ride of Our Lives — July 17, 2024
By Rob Tyrie
Folks, we’re living in wild times. Generative Artificial intelligence has burst out of the lab and into our pockets, our homes, and our workplaces. It’s like we’ve strapped ourselves to a brand new phenomenal rocket roller coaster, and the countdown has already started, we’re always at the crest of the first big drop. But here’s the million-dollar question: Are we ready for liftoff?
Let’s get real for a second. First of all it’s not new. Artificial intelligence had its beginnings as computer programming in the 50s and has had iterative development other different guises across the decades. Whether that cybernetics, expert systems, turing machines, machine learning, deep learning, generative adversarial neural networks, and others this is the progression of decades of layered experience and investment to make more useful software tools that are revolutionary when compared to procedural programming. Even with the AI winter where people ducked down and works harder with neuroscientists like Hinton did his labs and the Stella were coming out of Cambridge and Deep Learning, that made study forays into engineering and systems that created new constructs and applied it against gaming. So Sonic’s instantaneous and you should not be experiencing whiplash if you’ve been in the leading position delivering systems to major companies.
The leaps we’re seeing now in natural language processing and generation are mind-blowing. GPT-4 is out here passing bar exams, showing off how I can answer IQ tests as well as regular humans, and coding up a storm. It’s enough to make you wonder if we’re all about to be out of a job, or if we’re going to start the next great billion dollar startup like Fei Fei Li just did. But hold your horses – we’re not quite in Skynet territory yet, we are lusting 18 months in from the GPT4.. only a few weeks in from ChatGPT4o — aka Omni, with glimmerings of Q. It’s important that you listen to people with situational awareness. Available right now we have deep opinions that have built across the last couple of decades by stellar scientists and engineers. People like Bengio, Li, LeCunn, Sutskeyer and others. They have opinions that matter a lot more than what you’re reading on the front pages and in the blogs and they matter even more than what you’re reading from bankers and VCs to trying to manipulate the marketplace. I’m looking at you big Banks 👀. These people with situation awareness are like rock stars now being known by their first names. Sam, Mustafa, Satya, Dario, are leading the charge in this AI Magic Kingdom and Wonderland being built as we ride the rides in it. Each ride is getting better than the next.
It’s A Tool Dagnabbit 👷♂️🧰
Here's the thing: AI is a tool, not a magic wand. It's like giving a monkey a typewriter – sure, you might get Shakespeare eventually, but you're more likely to end up with a mess of random letters. The real magic happens when we figure out how to dance with these silicon-brained partners of ours.
Now, I’m not here to sugarcoat things. We’ve got some serious hurdles to clear. Bias and noise in AI? It’s as real as your morning coffee. Take a hard look at Danny Kahneman’s last book and the chapter it has on applications of artificial intelligence to reduce bias and noise.. and you’ll get an idea of where we’re at what the problem is and how it can be fixed without running around like idiots and crazy people over regulating things. Privacy concerns? You bet. The potential for AI to amplify inequality? It keeps me up at night. On the other side of that I’ve got Deep experience in the insurance industry which enables companies and enterprises to go take risk before things are complete as long as it’s calculated risk and then we really take care not to harm humans. But here’s the kicker – we’re the ones holding the reins. It’s on us to steer this beast in the right direction. It may be like a typewriter but a nuclear power plant is also a tool as is a university depending on what framework and what scope you’re looking at. Big tools are made up of little tools at work. Just like big machines that are complicated like an aircraft carrier are made of systems of subsystems of tools that work based on physics, engineering and of course software algorithms and data. It really is a science of systems of systems engineering you should know more about it if you play in this game.
Phasers on stun 🤯🔫
So, what's the game plan? First off, we need to get smart about AI – and fast. I'm talking about a massive education push, from kindergarten to the C-suite. We need to demystify this tech, strip away the sci-fi nonsense, and get down to brass tacks.
Sustainable economics
Next up, let’s talk economics. AI is going to reshape industries faster than you can say "disruptive innovation." We need policies that cushion the blow for workers while turbocharging innovation. Think retraining programs on steroids and maybe even flirting with ideas like universal basic income. Yeah, I said it UBI… make your comments in the comments and make them good because with an imbalance in wealth inequality and tilting level of pouring in so much cash into the engines of the trillion dollar companies something’s got to give. I hope that happens with new jobs or new schemes of taxation to rebalance things but if things don’t change revolutionaries and the breakers of systems will take control of things to save people for good reasons.
But here’s where it gets really exciting. AI isn’t just about replacing humans – it’s about augmenting us, and make it easy for us to collaborate together and unify on great big goals that are part of making the world the better place to live and part of dealing with shocks and terrible things like extreme weather or war and conflict. Imagine doctors with AI sidekicks diagnosing diseases at superhuman speed. Picture artists collaborating with AI to create mind-bending new forms of expression. Consider small teams of Engineers building new software rapidly to solve problems instantaneously to fix supply chain issues when they occur in unexpected ways. That’s the future we should be gunning for.
Now, I'm not naive. There are thorny ethical questions we need to grapple with. But that's where the real fun begins. We get to shape the rules of engagement for this brave new world. It's like we're the founding fathers of the AI age, minus the wigs and wooden teeth.
So here's my call to action: Let's dive into this AI revolution headfirst, eyes wide open. Get curious. Ask tough questions. Experiment. And most importantly, let's make sure we're steering this ship towards a future that works for all of us, not just the tech elite.
The AI rollercoaster is leaving the station, folks. Are you ready to throw your hands up and enjoy the ride? Because trust me, it's going to be one hell of a trip.
Restart issues for free courses from reputable organizations that are aimed at business people getting up the food chain and looking at more complex problems and solutions that are available in the marketplace today. And for goodness sakes if you haven’t taken a programming course in the last 10 years no matter who you are take a programming course… I don’t care if it’s for 4 hours or 4 weeks there’s a sufficient change in the marketplace about software that in order to do your job no matter where you work you should learn a bit of programming. To me it’s no different than asking to learn how to read, learn how to write or learn how to do arithmetic. It’s necessary.
Free education free AI education! 👨🎓💻
Here is a short list of five excellent free AI courses for entry-level business professionals from reputable technology companies and institutions:
1. Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI) - IBM
https://www.coursera.org/learn/introduction-to-ai
2. Introduction to Generative AI - Google
https://www.cloudskillsboost.google/course_templates/536
3. Generative AI with Large Language Models - AWS (Amazon Web Services)
https://www.coursera.org/learn/generative-ai-with-llms
4. AI For Everyone - DeepLearning.AI
https://www.coursera.org/learn/ai-for-everyone
5. Elements of AI - University of Helsinki
https://www.elementsofai.com/
These free online courses provide an excellent introduction to key AI concepts, applications, and technologies from leading companies like IBM, Google, AWS, and respected AI education providers. They are ideal for business professionals looking to gain a foundational understanding of artificial intelligence.
Citations:
[1] Rob Tyrie — https://www.ironstonadvosory.com
[2] Rob Tyrie - How I created an op-ed on Apple’s "Crush" ad - LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/posts/robtyrie_rob-tyrie-medium-activity-7197644615968038912-L4LV
[3] Rob Tyrie on LinkedIn: Rob Tyrie – Medium https://www.linkedin.com/posts/robtyrie_rob-tyrie-medium-activity-7186357722932490240--o9c
[4] Rob Tyrie (@RobTyrie) / X https://twitter.com/robtyrie
[5] Rob Tyrie - Small language model focused on Consulting - LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/posts/robtyrie_small-language-model-focused-on-consulting-activity-7190857122257985536-MT7A
[6] Rob Tyrie (@RobTyrie) / X https://x.com/robtyrie
[7] Rob Tyrie’s Post - LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/posts/robtyrie_httpslnkdingnykfpz-world-leading-ai-activity-7145394438792437760-DYIx
[8] Leap Day of the Swan Press Release - Grey Swan Guild https://www.greyswanguild.org/leapdayoftheswanrelease
[9] 1,000 Day Radar Press Release | Grey Swan Guild https://www.greyswanguild.org/copy-of-2021-04-13-press-release
[10] IA Prime - About Rob Tyrie - Ironstone Advisory https://www.ironstoneadvisory.com/about/about-rob-tyrie
[11] [PDF] The Hidden History of the Battle of Ridgeway, June 2, 1866 Peter Wro https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/35747/3/Wronski_Peter_20116_PhD_thesis.pdf
