If You Think Artificial Intelligence is Moving Fast Now, Wait For The Next Six Months!
A Don’t Count Us Out Yet opinion piece on steps our readers can take to understand how AI is changing the world.
Photo Credit: Getty Images via Fierce Healthcare
A lot has changed in the past 12 months regarding developments in artificial intelligence and how it is being used in the world today.
Before the 2022 holiday season, it would have been hard to find people in the non-tech professional world who knew what a chatbot was. In fact, when ChatGPT was announced, we surveyed a CPA continuing education course we created and not one person was aware of what it was. Now you would be hard pressed to find professionals in the world who haven’t heard something about it.
At this point, more than 100 million people have signed up to use ChatGPT from Microsoft with the Bing search engine. However, this has created enough of a controversy that some are wondering,"is this Google’s replacement?"
What is obvious is that one can hardly look at the media without hearing something about AI, and in most cases, it’s no more than noise. Examples range from “AI wants to kill my wife” to “AI spots malignant tumors better than top notch radiologist” to “AI can pass graduate exams in the 90 plus percentile.” These are just a few of the headlines we have scanned in the last month, and only one in our mind is a signal, not noise.
So, how does one try to learn about this subject and get involved, especially if you are not in a tech profession? Is this even important to do?
Well, we at Don’t Count Us Out Yet believe you might want to answer one quick question before you start to worry or make an effort to understand artificial intelligence beyond just reading what is in the general news. First, we ask you to pick one of the following sentences about where you believe AI is going.
Artificial intelligence processes are a new vastly superior way to do computer programming to help humans.
Artificial intelligence might be larger than a computer program since it can now learn things by itself. Because of this, AI might be a primitive new species that can evolve electronically without humans.
If you picked the first choice, chances are you can leave the development of AI to the computer experts, academics and institutional departments. They will help AI move along with new computer processes, algorithms, ways to analyze data and breakthrough faster approaches.
If you picked the second choice, or even think it’s possible, then the future is now. As a non-tech professional who wants to help make sure we don’t just sit by while AI is left to the tech experts, it is time to start understanding what AI is and how you might get involved.
A good place to start understanding AI, not just the hysteria around it, might be an easy-to-understand book, podcast or blog. Or perhaps you would be interested in taking an introductory course that is taught from a non-technical standpoint. If so, TD Publishing, the company I am invested in, has an “Introduction to Artificial Intelligence” course for CPAs, and we soon hope to create a version for lawyers.
To get started on reading, here are some suggestions from writers we follow.
Once you have started gathering research on the topic, start looking for experts that understand AI - not just from a computer programming perspective, but also humanistic. One question we always ask experts, as well as companies pitching products and services to us, is what their general definition of intelligence is.
Understanding general intelligence is one of the first parts of our “Understanding Artificial Intelligence” seminar. If your respondent is unable to answer this question in a satisfactory way, we would suggest to politely look elsewhere.
If AI truly is more than just a computer program, experts are going to have to grasp problems way outside computer science thinking. This includes understanding how one creates curiosity in AI that could lead to original thoughts or how to create processes in AI where answers come from emotions rather than just rational thinking. Don’t forget what the great philosopher David Hume said about reasoning, "reason is, and ought only to be, the slave of your passions." Does your expert have an adequate answer to whether that is right or wrong? At the very least, they better be aware of it.
We also hope that this newsletter can keep you updated on what is going on while providing you with great links to learn more about it. Hopefully, not just from a computer science perspective, but also one that entertains the idea, AI can evolve by itself with humanlike learning approaches.
Here are seven ways we think you should really start to examine on how AI is going to change the world.
AI processes are much more than an advanced computer program. Rather, AI is an electronic learning process that can solve problems with text, images, soon videos, as well as numbers by examining data and answering questions in ways humans might not have by themselves.
Major breakthroughs in all kinds of academic, business and professional areas will come from using mathematical principles such as algebra, geometry and calculus applied to text and images as well as numbers (and soon video). As an example, imagine how an AI process could have helped Walmart with allocation of baby formula last year just by pictures of supply chain from its supply chain, trucks and stores looking for optimal allocation. Hint, we think they are already on this!
Allow your work with AI processes to be more open ended and not just try to answer your closed ended query. New thoughts developed by an AI laterally thinking approach can see patterns outside the area you are asking about. For those of you who have read “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” by Thomas Kuhn, AI processes can now help you think outside the box in any profession.
What computer science professionals are now calling prompt engineering, which journalists call how to ask the right question, is probably as or more important than having the right data to answer questions.
At the very least, you better pay a fair share of time figuring out the right questions. As Albert Einstein is claimed to have said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.”
The understanding and development of AI processes should not be left with computer tech experts or computer divisions of companies. They are ill equipped to answer the non-tech humanistic issues starting to occur with a process that can learn by itself. Some noted writers on the subject have encouraged executives to hire assistants right under them at high salaries because of their AI expertise.
The best use of AI in the near future will need human collaboration, especially with experts in many non-tech fields. As some noted institutions such as MIT have stated, we are leaving the era of enlightenment and entering the era of entanglement.
Regulations, guardrails and rules must come from the government, religions and all cultures. But don’t believe the doomsayers on this… There are already drafts by the Biden administration in the United States, articles by the European Union and rules in China for AI development. Hopefully some approaches will be used by all in the not too distant future.
It looks like we are just at the beginning of some of the most rapid changes in technology we’ve ever seen. And guess what? It’s only going to progress faster… Have we talked to you about what GPT-5 might do? Stay tuned!
Best,
Craig for the Don’t Count Us Out Yet team