Co-founder and managing partner of 7Wire Ventures.
Throughout history, humanity has witnessed the rise of transformative technologies that have reshaped the way we live, work, and communicate. Time and time again, however, other people have underestimated the profound effect those inventions would have on society. From the invention of the telephone to the advent of the internet and, more recently, the rise of synthetic intelligence (AI), skepticism and underestimation are recurrent. However, as Arthur C. Clarke said, “The only way to notice the limits of the imaginable is to pass beyond them into the unimaginable. “
The Internet was born out of military programs (ARPANET) that allowed data to be shared and valuable time spent on the computer. Later came e-mail and other programs. One of the distinguishing features of the internet was that it was not yet designed for an express application as a platform. In 1995, Bill Gates was interviewed through David Letterman and mocked him for selling the power of the Internet and cajoling Letterman into buying a computer. Gates had the final say, as in the 1995 interview, that can now be had on the mass sharing of online videos. YouTube platform, got a million views.
Immediate breakthroughs in AI technologies are only the most delayed case study, as many others underestimate their potential to reshape industries and societies. Last year on CNBC, backward investor Charlie Munger said, “AI won’t cure cancer. We may not do everything we want. And there’s a lot of nonsense in that, too. He continued, “So I see this as a blessing combined. Some point out their shortcomings, such as hallucinations (making up answers), incomplete knowledge to support their analysis, and prejudices. But if history is any indication, those demanding situations will eventually come to pass, and skeptics will ignore them.
So why do other people constantly underestimate the strength of new technologies?One explanation for why it may simply be our tendency to extrapolate what is familiar while underestimating new possibilities. Let’s take the time when the telephone generation was first introduced: Western Union, one of the leading telegraph manufacturers. The companies discarded the phone as “not having the possibility of advertising. “Technology has been viewed through the lens of existing communication technologies rather than as a disruptive force that would fundamentally replace the way we communicate.
Another thing is the resistance to replace and the preoccupation with the unknown. My colleague David Schonthal describes the natural tendency to resist novelty with his friction theory framework, which outlines four key “frictions” that prevent the adoption of new concepts and innovations: inertia, effort, reactance, and emotion. Unsurprisingly, the advent of AI has raised concerns about task cuts, privacy concerns, and moral implications, leading some to revel in exaggerated concern about its potential impact and ultimately downplay the many benefits it offers. I can offer.
Despite the skepticism surrounding AI, its ubiquity as a platform is inevitable. Just as the phone and the Web have become part of our daily lives, AI is poised to bring profound changes to the way we live and work. It’s not a question of if, and yet when. To live up to its revolutionary promise, we want to be prepared.
My advice to leaders: AI is coming, and it wants to be understood and embraced. As I embark on my own AI adventure, here are three steps that have helped.
1. Assess your own knowledge of AI. Feel free to take a course or contact experts for more information. I’ve read books on the subject and introduced The Coming Wave through Microsoft’s AI CEO, Mustafa Suleyman, who shares the promises and dangers of AI. There are also online courses from Stanford and Columbia Universities, as well as AI communities on Reddit.
2. Develop an AI strategy for your organization. When considering an AI strategy with your team, I particularly like Wharton’s AI Readiness Quotient technique, which urges leaders to consider the following dimensions for AI adoption: strategy, innovation, execution, and enabling technologies. to discover where AI can have the maximum effect. Do you wonder, “If my competition lowered prices or improved their facilities with AI, we would be at a competitive disadvantage?”A word of caution: the computational load of AI can be significant, so you need to understand the financial impact of the course of action you choose.
Last year, Hollywood screenwriters went on strike for months, in part because of problems with the use of AI. This was the first of many labor disputes that would arise as a result of the use of those technologies. However, it is expected that studios and writers will continue to experiment with AI. Just last month, a survey of more than 2,000 executives found that 41% expect to employ fewer people as a result of AI.
Your team sees this news. Help them understand that their work isn’t going away: that the future belongs to those who use new technologies to improve their performance. In our organization, AI is already gaining ground for the search and synthesis of long and tedious documents. Adopt those time-saving teams to spend more time on strategy and less time on household chores. Consider AI education for your groups so they can better appreciate how you can help them in their roles.
In the face of skepticism, history has shown how new technologies can exceed expectations and reshape our world. Suleyman describes technological advances in nautical terms: “Technology increases interconnectivity, helping to stimulate one’s own and propagation, [with] each wave [thus laying] the foundation for successive waves. Get into position and ride the AI wave.
I think one of the sectors that will see the biggest impact from AI will be healthcare. More on this topic in my next article.
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