Daily Inspiration: Knowledge and AI – “One day soon, you’ll need an AI to know how to use Al!”

“One day soon, you’ll need an AI to know how to use Al!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

It’s been just over a year and a half since OpenAI announced ChatGPT, and since then, the AI floodgates have been opened. That company, along with Google and Microsoft, is locked in an artificial intelligence arms race, regularly offering up new features, new ways of integrating into existing product lines, and new fronts in the AI software wars. At the same time, Apple is expected next month to announce significant new AI capabilities within its line of iPhones, iPads, and computer devices, shaking up the market even more

While all of this unfolds, tens of thousands of software companies have flooded the market with all kinds of new AI tools, so much so that there are thousands of different AI applications available on the market. The phrase used to be ‘there’s an app for that.’ Now we can add to the mix that ‘there’s an AI for that!’  Meanwhile, long-established software companies are busy integrating AI into their specific product lines. Using some sort of construction project management software? You’ll find that it now likely includes some AI workflow management tools. Specific medical office software? Guess what – the developer has either introduced AI into the mix or is about to. Use a certain type of tool or equipment. Chances are some unique AI features are sneaking in.

The rush to AI is unlike anything seen in the computer industry before – and for many people, it can be all-so-overwhelming. Simply knowing what is out there, what it can do, and what it can be used for remains a massive challenge – and will become an even greater challenge in the years to come. Ask yourself this – how much of this stuff are you using on a day-to-day basis? If you are like most people not much as of yet =- you are simply learning in detail how to use it, or are just cautiously dabbling and playing around with the new tools that are emerging.

Meanwhile, the industry keeps bringing to market new features that will astonish and delight you.

Just on Monday, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT4o, the next version of its’ mainline AI query software – and it is …. something else. It can read scribbled or written text that you provide it with; do real-time language translation; describe in detail a scene in front of you; or do many other things. The ability to converse with the system though, is kind of fascinating and eery at the same time.

For example, here’s a demo of live language translation.

Watch the conversation in this one, in which they put into perspective its vision capabilities, where it’s interpreting a math function in a natural conversation setting.

AI is evolving at a furious pace.

People can’t keep up.

AI researchers are deeply involved in tracking everything that is going on; someone like me is working at a furious pace to keep up with interpreting this strange new world within my keynotes. And for the average person, it can be mind-numbing simply keeping aware of what is available!

That’s why I suggest that tongue in cheek, we might soon need an AI to learn how to use all the various AI tools – and then I realize, that’s not so farfetched.

After all, in an era of astonishing complexity, those who offer up simplicity usually find some unique and not-yet-existent business model.