Gen Ai will eat you
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, believes people need time to reckon with the idea that we may soon share Earth with a powerful new intelligence, before it remakes everything from work to human relationships. ChatGPT was a way of serving notice.
I'm unclear what we are facing, but I see two things very clearly:
1. The track record of ethical behavior in the technology sector is poor.
2. The consequence of actions in the AI business is not part of the plan.
Altman has quirky cataracts in his vision. A close reading of his mission reveals he's unclear what he is releasing to the world. But he's passionate about it, and committed to it, so I guess it'll be up to rest of us to deal with the consequences.
Our future in now in the hands of the mind-boggling new intelligence. I'm watching companies try to monetize AI as it rolls out, but honestly, it's pointless. The truth is the basic fundaments on how we live and do business will change drastically in next 60-months. It's not a matter of getting ahead of the curve. It's a matter of there is no curve. The curve is going to disappear.
I believe our best investment is developing insightful thinking and then erecting walls around it so it's not reduced to rubble by ruthless AI sampling and repurposing of our original work. I see silos of work, protected and only available by negotiated subscriptions. This siloed work will gain value in it uniqueness.
The most profound affects of AI will be destruction of the open internet itself, as the digital domain becomes a generic place that feeds on itself. It will be impossible in a matter of months to use the internet as a marketing tool, since every idea on the open internet is gist for the AI mill.
There is entrepreneurial opportunity here. There always is with major innovation. But the successful and visionary entrepreneur must now build protected lanes for their companies. Releasing ideas into the wild is now the business equivalent of waving goodbye to the ideas. They lose value quicker than a new car as soon as AI sees them drive off the lot.
As I said, I have no idea of where this is going. On the most personal note, I'm not sure I want partake in all this. It feels like a slog to satisfy machines to me. But I have started to take some steps in my business. As I develop projects, I am now aware promoting needs to be done carefully. The IP needs extra layers of protection. How we distribute the IP needs to be fully-vetted. Every part of our work will be stolen. That is no longer a question. It is a fact.
Altman describes ChatGPT-4 as alien intelligence. He doesn't understand it. He has no idea what it will do. It feels dangerous. But that's not going to stop him releasing it.
Be careful, entrepreneurs. Integrate this alien intelligence into your business and you run the risk it will eat your business alive.
Please support my work with a free subscription. In the near future I will closing this site down to subscription only to protect some of the ideas here. I very much appreciate the support. - chris