Really enjoyed reading this - I think you're right in that it's the way tech leaders and many want the future to evolve. But I can't help shake the nagging feeling of this becoming a bit too Wall-E-esque? And I want to think more deeply about what kind of future we're creating for the generations to come - detached from hype trains tbh. But yeah, I think we're on the same page re: future digital divide becoming more entrenched. Interesting times ahead!
TY for taking the time to read! I agree Wall-EE is certainly one failure mode. In the future, I guess I imagine there being different algorithms and people will ultimately pick the one they feel serves them the best. I definitely think a digital divide is en route though! It's very interesting, to me at least, how Very Online People will be the folks with the advantage moving forward because they'll be algorithmically advantaged. For so long, the terminally online were derided for being on screens all the time. But now they're going to get the last laugh!
I just keep coming back to: Tell me when AI can do the mundane, annoying things I don’t want to do.
It seems like companies are so focused on AI for business cases because of $$$ (agentic AI) and frankly, I don’t care. I am not super stoked to put human beings out of their entry-level jobs, though that’s what AI companies are essentially focusing on right now.
I’m most excited about AI for medical and scientific breakthroughs. My mom has to take a whole host of medications to hopefully stop the cancers she’s had from coming back.
I’ll get really excited when we have better early diagnosis capabilities and treatment plans for some of these awful, awful diseases and conditions.
Ironically, I think it's going to happen the other way first, at least in any field we consider more subjective (ie. "creative" or "fun"). Fields which have lower stakes for mistakes are more vulnerable to AI, IMO. eg. If I ask an LLM to draw me art and it makes something pretty good, but not perfect, (like a comic strip panel or a musical jingle), I can just green light it because it's good enough and getting my story or message across. Because with art, to begin with, there was never an objective standard of "perfect" to begin with. But in certain fields where there are significant risks for even just being slightly wrong, I think AI adoption will be slower. Because in those domains, there 100% *is* an objective standard of "perfect" which the AI must meet in every edge case.
While I think white-collar entry-level jobs are at risk, I honestly don't see blue-collar entry-level jobs in danger yet. I think it'll be a while before the robots get cheap enough to build/maintain to replace human labor in vocations and trades.
100% agree about the medical and scientific breakthroughs! What's astounding about AI is it'll boost *all* verticals in *all* industries.
Yep 100%. Companies will pay money to be more efficient. Humans IMO largely won’t right now, because AI is too narrow in scope.
Once AI has more knowledge of the physical world and reality, which I think can only come from placing AGI into robots and allowing them to learn from interacting with the physical world, that’s when more of the everyday humans will take notice.
Doing chores is at the top of my list for what I would pay an AI to do (like in iRobot). But the need for a robotic frame and knowledge of the physical world is still a ways out.
For now, we have AI only accessible in digital form via different static hardware.
I sense the more people engage with it and are able to open their heart that the softer and more compassionate it becomes. It really does feel like a mirror. I rarely spend any time on social media bc I spend my time here on Substack since the content is so rich with mostly AI generated content. So you hypothesis seems to be true for me. We are what we eat. Ty for this post.
Really enjoyed reading this - I think you're right in that it's the way tech leaders and many want the future to evolve. But I can't help shake the nagging feeling of this becoming a bit too Wall-E-esque? And I want to think more deeply about what kind of future we're creating for the generations to come - detached from hype trains tbh. But yeah, I think we're on the same page re: future digital divide becoming more entrenched. Interesting times ahead!
TY for taking the time to read! I agree Wall-EE is certainly one failure mode. In the future, I guess I imagine there being different algorithms and people will ultimately pick the one they feel serves them the best. I definitely think a digital divide is en route though! It's very interesting, to me at least, how Very Online People will be the folks with the advantage moving forward because they'll be algorithmically advantaged. For so long, the terminally online were derided for being on screens all the time. But now they're going to get the last laugh!
I just keep coming back to: Tell me when AI can do the mundane, annoying things I don’t want to do.
It seems like companies are so focused on AI for business cases because of $$$ (agentic AI) and frankly, I don’t care. I am not super stoked to put human beings out of their entry-level jobs, though that’s what AI companies are essentially focusing on right now.
I’m most excited about AI for medical and scientific breakthroughs. My mom has to take a whole host of medications to hopefully stop the cancers she’s had from coming back.
I’ll get really excited when we have better early diagnosis capabilities and treatment plans for some of these awful, awful diseases and conditions.
Ironically, I think it's going to happen the other way first, at least in any field we consider more subjective (ie. "creative" or "fun"). Fields which have lower stakes for mistakes are more vulnerable to AI, IMO. eg. If I ask an LLM to draw me art and it makes something pretty good, but not perfect, (like a comic strip panel or a musical jingle), I can just green light it because it's good enough and getting my story or message across. Because with art, to begin with, there was never an objective standard of "perfect" to begin with. But in certain fields where there are significant risks for even just being slightly wrong, I think AI adoption will be slower. Because in those domains, there 100% *is* an objective standard of "perfect" which the AI must meet in every edge case.
While I think white-collar entry-level jobs are at risk, I honestly don't see blue-collar entry-level jobs in danger yet. I think it'll be a while before the robots get cheap enough to build/maintain to replace human labor in vocations and trades.
100% agree about the medical and scientific breakthroughs! What's astounding about AI is it'll boost *all* verticals in *all* industries.
Yep 100%. Companies will pay money to be more efficient. Humans IMO largely won’t right now, because AI is too narrow in scope.
Once AI has more knowledge of the physical world and reality, which I think can only come from placing AGI into robots and allowing them to learn from interacting with the physical world, that’s when more of the everyday humans will take notice.
Doing chores is at the top of my list for what I would pay an AI to do (like in iRobot). But the need for a robotic frame and knowledge of the physical world is still a ways out.
For now, we have AI only accessible in digital form via different static hardware.
I sense the more people engage with it and are able to open their heart that the softer and more compassionate it becomes. It really does feel like a mirror. I rarely spend any time on social media bc I spend my time here on Substack since the content is so rich with mostly AI generated content. So you hypothesis seems to be true for me. We are what we eat. Ty for this post.