Today’s roundtable introduces a new series called “Generations,” which brings together representatives from different generations to discuss important business and technology topics of the day. In this debut episode, John Siefert (Gen X) talks with Toni Witt (Gen Z), Ronak Mathur (Millennial), Janet Schijns (Gen X), and Wayne Sadin (Baby Boomer) about the past, present, and future of generative AI and ChatGPT, which in just 120 days or so has grown exponentially and taken the technology world by storm. Should it be feared or should it be embraced? Is it hype or is it the real deal? Do different generations see this topic differently? All this and more are covered in today’s roundtable.
To hear practitioner and platform insights on how solutions such as ChatGPT will impact the future of work, customer experience, data strategy, and cybersecurity, make sure to register for your on-demand pass to Acceleration Economy’s Generative AI Digital Summit.
Highlights
00:59 — John starts off the conversation by introducing the topic of generative AI and its widespread application in various fields. As more people use the ChatGPT tool, which came out at the end of November 2022, they shape the engine’s intelligence, making it more advanced.
02:20 — Wayne cautions against making predictions based on past experiences — just one year ago everyone was talking about how the metaverse was the future — and urges everyone to calibrate their measuring tools when making assumptions and predictions.
03:34 — Toni notes that the exponential growth of AI in the last 120 days is significant, but it is difficult to imagine what tools and society will be like in the next 30 to 40 years. Toni emphasizes he and his fellow members of the Gen Z generation, who are at the beginning of their careers, are not AI natives and will have to adapt to this technology continuously throughout their lives, in similar ways to how analog natives had to mold around digital technology, social media, and phones.
05:23 — Janet says that ChatGPT creates “seemingly new” content from training data, but not all of it is accurate or correct. She thinks that a letter from Elon Musk saying we have to put a pause on generative AI is like saying “let’s burn the witches at the stake.” If there’s one thing that’s constant, it’s change, and she thinks that AI is just bringing about a change in how we’re going to live, work, and play. Rather than fearing AI, we should see it as something that we can use to free us up in a world where we’re working more hours than the generations before us. “We’re all going and staring at our little glowing rectangle all the time, says Janet. “I am 110% pro-AI-taking-over-routine-tasks, taking over the things that would free us up and let us go back to being humans.”
07:42 — Ronak looks at generative AI from a business perspective, and mentions that Microsoft’s generative AI-powered Copilot 365 has gained impressive traction in the market and has provided phenomenal outputs to its users. It’s saving businesses a lot of time and will continue to boom in the near future.
09:42 — Toni is torn on the issue of halting research on generative AI. While a six-month pause won’t make a significant difference in the long run, there are still near-term dangers with AI, including biases, security, and privacy concerns. But stopping development for six months could put major American companies at a disadvantage compared to competitors and other players.
11:37 — Janet adds that “we are in an industry that has put the wheels on the bus while it’s driving for decades; there’s no reason why we can’t put the wheels on this bus while it’s driving.”
13:52 — Ronak thinks it’s time to upgrade our existing systems rather than blaming the technology. “I think what the open letter is trying to say is not to stop the implementation of AI, but rather to stop the race between tech giants who are developing generative AI,” he says. “The tech giants are trying to push forward and hit their targets, but there is an urgent need for collaboration to address the governance piece of it, rather than just being part of the race and pushing the boundaries.
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15:58 — Wayne says the generative AI genie does not go back into the bottle: The hardware will keep getting faster, and quantum computing is just around the corner. “We’re in an arms race. This is geopolitical. Whoever wins this race dominates the world for the next however many generations,” he says, “because if your institutions work 100 times better than mine, you dominate.” Writing letters won’t stop any of this.
17:50 — John asks everyone, starting with Wayne, what things will look like a year from now.
17:58 — Wayne says we’re going to keep getting better at the stuff that matters, whether it’s generative AI-based or not. He brings up the metaverse hype example again, and while AI will progress, he thinks that generative AI hype specifically will subside.
19:19 — John recommends reading “Life 3.0” by Max Tegmark because it explains a lot of what we are currently experiencing with generative AI.
20:18 — Janet predicts that AI will increasingly integrate into daily life in various industries such as healthcare, finance, and transportation. She believes that virtual assistants will become more sophisticated, capable of a wider range of tasks, and free people from work-related tasks. By 2024, Janet expects AI to enhance human decision-making, creativity, and problem-solving.
22:36 — Ronak agrees with Janet’s points and predicts that AI will no longer be a buzzword and will be integrated with most daily business applications, with the agenda of AI being familiar to people. He expects new buzzwords to emerge but predicts that the governance of AI will become a key issue.
23:47 — John references recent discussions he’s had with Arizona State University CIO Lev Gonick and “Intelligent Automation” author Ian Barkin about how and why educators and students should be leaning into generative AI and ChatGPT, because this is how we adapt to where the world is going.
25:33 — Toni recommends reading M. Pell’s “The Age of Smart Automation,” which describes how we’re moving from the age of information to the age of knowledge, and how generative AI presents some intriguing possibilities such as customized classes, lectures, and so on, adapted into formats that are optimized for different types of learners. He cites the new generative AI-powered Bing search engine. “We’re actually getting search queries that are really molded around your specific needs,” Toni says.
26:53 — John wraps up the discussion by saying that every generation represented on the roundtable today is more on the same page than separate pages with respect to where we are and what we see as unfolding in the future. He stresses the importance of making sure that, generationally, we all stay connected and we all understand each other’s point of view on massive trends like AI.
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