Hello!

In the Know

Let’s start by clearing the air on a few things. When I’ve told people about AI for the Rest of Us, I’ve been met with several responses. Most have been in the form of encouragement and excitement. So, here we are, a newsletter in your inbox.

But I’ve also had questions like, “Is this AI thing just a bunch of hype?” and “Do I really need to know or care about it?” and “Are the robots coming and if so who’s our Will Smith?” You can thank my dad for that one. 

The obvious answer is that I wouldn’t be crowding your inbox with a newsletter if I didn’t believe AI is incredibly important. It is, and it will be for a very long time. 

The less obvious answer to the hype question is yes, and no. 

There is definitely hype. Look, our lives might be exactly the same in ten years. And there’s probably an AI bubble in the market right now. And robots might still be stuck in the vacuum category for years to come. All of that could be true.

But it’s not all hype. This technology isn’t going anywhere. And it has the potential to be something we’ve never seen in modern society. Get this … a lot of very smart people are saying it’s bigger than the invention of the steam engine. Yeah, that thing in the late 18th century that completely transformed manufacturing, construction, transportation, etc. Others say it’ll have more impact than the printing press, electricity, computing, and the Internet. Combined.

Reid Hoffman, cofounder of LinkedIn among other things, has talked about this age of AI development as the “steam engine of the mind” and the “cognitive industrial revolution”. That might seem heady to some. And a bit overblown. It does to me. But as he explains it further, I kinda get where he’s coming from:

Many people truly believe this new technology will impact our lives in the coming years and decades. In fact, it’s already shaking things up. Just ask anyone in education or healthcare. 

And yes, it will affect you, and it will affect me. We don’t know all the ways it will, but I’m excited to share in the coming weeks and months what I’ve seen and what I expect. The short story is that I believe many good things are coming, and we need to be on the lookout for – and anticipate – things that aren’t so good.

At this point, you might be thinking I’ve drunk the Kool-aid or lost the plot. Or you might think all of this is a bit doom n’ gloom and dystopian. Those things might be true, but you should know that I haven’t converted to tech bro or become an AI fanboy. (I would hope my wife would tell me if I had.) I’m simply sharing what I hear and what I see when I (a) talk to people who know what they’re talking about, (b) work with companies as I help them understand and implement these tools, and (c) use the technology in my day-to-day. Let me put it another way … knowing what I know, I feel like I couldn’t not do this newsletter. 

There is so much more to come about the impact of AI. In fact, Weeks Four and Five are dedicated to the topic. For now, I simply wanted to clear the air and share where I stand (at least for now) on this new technology and why I started AI for the Rest of Us. AI is here – and it’s not going anywhere. So get excited and buckle up. We’re in for a wild ride.

Let’s Learn Something

AI isn’t a new thing. It’s actually been around for decades. Here’s a fun fact: the term “artificial intelligence” was coined in 1956 at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, during the Dartmouth Conference. This conference is widely considered the birthplace of AI.

AI technology has also been ingrained in our lives for many years, and you may not have known it. Those Netflix recommendations, all generated with AI technology. The fraud detection on your credit card, that’s AI. The weather forecast on your phone … powered by AI. Your social media feeds are generated using AI. Siri and Alexa – yep, they’re AI. Maps apps, autocorrect, email spam filters, photo organization, I could go on and on. You get the point. The technology is all around us, all day, every day. And it has been for a while.

So why is the world just now talking about it so much? We’ll discuss that in the coming weeks, but the TL;DR is that we’ve had several major scientific breakthroughs recently, computing power has increased, that thing called ChatGPT was launched to the world in late 2022, etc.

AI in the Wild

Hype or no hype, AI isn’t replacing your dad jokes any time soon. Twenty comedians were asked recently to try using ChatGPT to write jokes. They said the technology did great as a brainstorming companion but that the jokes they generated aren’t ready for primetime. Here’s one example: "I decided to switch careers and become a pickpocket after watching a magic show. Little did I know, the only thing disappearing would be my reputation!" Ba dum tsh. 

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If you think I’m already using too many superlatives about AI, then I’d love to know what you think about this… 

Moonwalkers: the AI-powered electric shoes, for those of us who are impatient with our walking pace. And perfect for those New Yorkers who’ve had enough. 

It’s Play Time

Newcomers [AI is new to me]

One of the most significant advancements in AI recently has been with a tool I’ve already talked about a few times, and you’ve probably heard of, ChatGPT. Awful name, awesome tool. I will explain what it is in future editions, but for now, I’d like you to sign up for an account if you don’t already have one. There’s no need to pay for an account – their best one is free right now anyway. And don’t worry, it’s safe. I’ll never ask you to sign up for something that’s going to steal your information or identity. 

Explorers [I’m comfortable with AI]

If you already have a ChatGPT account, good on you. That probably means you’ve used it once or twice (or hundreds of times). Here’s what I want you to do this week for some fun:

Copy the text from the In the Know section above. Go ahead, highlight all of it and copy it. 

Now, go to ChatGPT and create a new chat.

Type this into the text box:

I’d like you to summarize this text with a haiku: [paste the full text]

There you go, that’s your haiku summary for this week’s AI for the Rest of Us.

Until next week…