A 2024 Perspective on AI

Over the last few months I have had many interesting conversations around AI with people from completely different industries. Some of them are totally into it, others are understandably worried, while a few are against the use of AI in any context.

Let me clarify that I am mostly in favor of AI, in case you were wondering. The current climate around AI is far from perfect but also far from done. It has changed a lot in the past months and if we can expect one thing is that more changes are coming.

The future is now

To be fair, I think all positions are understandable and have great points behind them. If I can talk to those that are against it, what I would say is "AI is here and it is not going away anytime soon". Whether we like it or not, there is no way to stop it. We cannot stop the internet and AI follows the same principle.

People are going to use it no matter what and we have seen that already. Countries cannot block it. Services cannot ban it. Schools cannot forbid students from using it. However, attempts to restrict AI usage have often proven ineffective. I can only think of the famous quote from Jurassic Park "Life finds a way", us humans will find a way around all restrictions to use AI.

The hero we need

So it is doom and gloom then, right? Not necessarily, we can use logic, apply morals, and just be a reasonable human being and, for the most part, things will be okay. To use another famous quote "With great power comes great responsibility" and that is what we need to teach and spread.

We can only trust each other to use this new tool in the best way possible. There will always be bad actors but that is true with all and any tools we can get our hands on.

Here is a simple example on what I believe AI interaction should be like:
When generating an email response with AI we should give it enough context, review the results, and update them as needed to make sure the response sounds like us before sending it to the customer.

Spending that extra time is a small thing but it makes a big difference. We still save a ton of time but we also ensure it sound like a human wrote. By doing that we are telling the customer that we respect their time.

Be human

We cannot (and should not) stop AI but we can (and should) respect each other. All the content we generate with AI is for another person to consume, so long as we are mindful of that, we will be fine.

Also, we have not addressed the perspectives of artists, programmers, and other professions in a similar position. It might be best to dedicate it a full article to that topic.

Thanks for reading, and see you in the next one! 🚀