Reflecting on Generative AI

Just so you know, I identify as both a nerd AND a dork and it's from that perspective that I'd like to share my thoughts about where I believe (and strongly hope) Generative AI will have its greatest impact on humanity... at least up until the moment where all the telephones ring at the same time and we find ourselves in the presence of a truly self-aware and self-modifying machine sentience.

Aside from its impact on the world of entertainment content, art and design, the Big Fear I'm hearing at the moment is that Generative AI is going to take all the rest of our jobs, too. So let's look at that first.

Your Next Ex-Job

I recently heard someone say "If your job involves someone else telling you what to do and how to do it, you're probably a candidate for replacement." I would add "If your role involves collecting, organizing or disseminating information or interacting with the general public in a front-line role, you're also probably going to be replaced."

While most of us have been hoping for robots and AI to take over all the dull, repetitive tasks... to have the AI doing for boring brain work what the robots have already been doing for higher-value yet boring hand work... so that we can all become AI programmers and robot support technicians. The reality, I'm afraid, is that this effect will probably extend way beyond putting the caps on the toothpaste tubes and quickly impact a lot of roles that we currently consider to be pretty good gigs.

I imagine nobody really wants to be taking orders at a fast food restaurant, answering questions at a tier 1 help desk or struggling to hit impossible numbers as a tele-marketer, but did you aspire to be a systems architect or a UI/UX designer for websites? I think I may have bad news for you. Are you training to be a data analyst or a social media coordinator for a major consumer products company? Ditto for you as well. Are you earning a living doing real-time translation, user acceptance testing or internal corporate communications? Your role too may soon be taken over by Generative AI, if it hasn't been already.

Future Imperfect

The really bad news is that this probably means a lot of us who didn't want to be working at jobs we felt were mind-numbing and soul-crushing won't have to... because we won't be able to. The even worse news is that it's highly unlikely we're all going to become artisanal rooftop whiskey distillers or environmentally sustainable decorative craft basket weavers. Many of us will find that the water level for what constitutes a liveable income-generating skill will rise higher than we can manage on our tip-toes... and that it will do so well before the Hard AI invents the Star Trek matter replicators we'll need to not starve to death.

So that is the black-pilled version of AI as we know it. Yay, fun. Now let's take a turn for the better and talk about the white-pilled version. I'll use an example from that "early adopter" conversation I mentioned last week.

An Entire Better Set of Outcomes

Imagine you are about to make a significant financial decision involving the sale of a real estate property while simultaneously starting a business. You'd like to get some advice from your CPA before embarking on these moves in order to maximize your liquidity while minimizing your tax liability. You call your accountant, give them the basic outline of your options and desired outcomes and then spend 30 to 45 minutes on the clock, hashing out the most realistic path forward.

At the end of that conversation you may feel you have a workable plan... but did you really explore all the options? Did you have a chance consider how all the choices would impact your lifestyle and wellbeing? Did you role-play two, five and 10-year downstream scenarios to consider how unforseen changes might impact your current next-step decisions? I'm going to guess if you're like most people, doing that with professional consultant while the meter is running might not exactly be feasible.

Now imagine that instead of immediately calling your CPA with a rough sketch of a plan and a few basic concerns, you first spent an hour or two researching, conversing and gaming out your future with a competent Generative AI. You take the time to talk through all the possibilities, examine multiple possible future branches, ask it for analysis from different perspectives, have it push back on your presumptions and really hammer out the reality of your ideas and expectations.

Armed with this enhanced self-awareness, you then call your CPA, provide them with that analysis and have them reality-check it. In my imagination, your CPA wasn't looking forward to having that "tier 1" support call with you about the top five pitfalls of selling a home or how to create the proper business entity for your legal needs. Knowing you've already done that work, they are freed to introduce you to some deeper concepts that might color your decision-making and then to send you back to the GenAI to integrate this new element into your thinking.

Let's imagine this requires 10 to 15 minutes of your CPA's billable time and, having spent another half-hour re-working your plan to your satisfaction in conversation with the Generative AI, you return to your accountant with confidence that you've really done your homework. Now you've got another 20 to 35 minutes of that "tier 1" billable time you would have spent with the CPA to explore some much more interesting opportunities. This process and the "self-reflection" you did off the clock elevates your engagement with them from a "what should I do next" call to a "where are we going together as a team" engagement.

Your feel better about your planning, your partnership with your accountant is more effective and you are in the right frame of mind to foresee more future options and respond to them meaningfully if things change or don't quite go as you might have expected. You're grounded, smarter and more resilient and you're confident in your team and in yourself. Your CPA is happier giving out deeper and more meaningful advice and helping you build wealth rather than just avoid taxes... and best of all, there's no fear that the AI will be silently judging you while you go through that process of learning and self discovery.

Solving a Problem We Don't Even Know We Have Yet

I believe we have come to a real sticking point as a civilization around interpersonal communication of every variety, business, social, educational, familial, romantic. In the current year, the amount of time we spend (and risk we take) just trying to figure out where WE are in any given context is staggering.. and we're muddling through it in dialogue with other people in real-time... with all the expense of emotional energy and potential pitfalls that this entails.

Instead of hashing out your thoughts, feelings or plans with your partner and maybe having that conversation take an unfortunate turn from which you can't come back, it seems you could use Generative AI to simulate just such a conversation and explore all the possible outcomes in a safe environment so that you can be more self-aware and prepared when you approach your partner.

Imagine instead of spending hours scrolling social media or vegetating in front of the TV each day, you spent that time instead in dialogue with an engaging partner who challenged you to elevate your self-awareness, develop your empathy and express yourself in a more authentic and positive way. How much more effective then could your interactions with other people be?

Imagine that through the process of constructive dialogue with a supportive AI, you explored your expectations, faced your fears and embraced your uncertainties before ever sitting down with the people who's connection matters most to you. How much more open, expressive and understanding would you be? How much more effective could your connections with them be, not just toward achieving the outcomes that you already desire, but in unlocking deeper engagements with them that you otherwise would have never considered or had access to?

A Chance For Self Reflection

This, I believe, is the real power of Generative AI. Not to do the boring, repetitive work for us, not to analyze all the "big data" we've been collecting, not even to listen to us vent and try to make us feel we're not so alone... but to enable us to reflect on ourselves, to know ourselves better, and to more firmly establish our principles, values and objectives in our own minds so that we can elevate our interactions with each other.

It's been said that the invention of the mirror which enabled mankind to see its own face while standing erect was the worst thing that ever happened to us. What if creating Generative AI and using it to reflect upon our inner selves is how we let go of our egos, expectations and attachments and finally begin to see who we truly are?

It's just a thought.