Bless me father for I have sinned. It is 6 months since my last blog post… but since I am a ‘deinfluencer’ not an influencer does it really matter? Deinfluencer you ask. Well yes. Once again I thought I’d come up something new (remember DeMarketing – of course you don’t, see point above) but it turns out deinfluencer is quite the new thing. They are people who try to persuade us all that materialism is bad – rather than promote brands they try to persuade people not to buy things. Building on my Demarketing thing I guess by that definition I am an aspiring deinfluencer but that is not what I had in mind. I meant to convey I am the opposite of an influencer – no-one reads my blogs and I do nothing to promote them so my blogs influence no-one, about anything, ever. Maybe non-influencer would be better?
So, who cares that I have not blogged for a while? Only me and only because writing helps me get things clear in my mind. I don’t write blog posts to be read, I write them for posterity and I write them to help me think. And had anyone been reading my blogs they’d know I think a lot about AI.
Any new technology has the potential to do good or cause harm, just like we humans I suppose. And just like us, new technology normally does both. Trains, Cars, Nuclear Fusion, the Internet, Social Media and now AI. Trains laid the tracks for the industrial revolution and the creation of the holiday industry, the resulting urbanization fractured communities and resulted in slums full of displaced people. Cars liberated us and, it turns out, destroy the planet. Nuclear laid waste to whole cities and has the potential to destroy the world but can also power the world albeit with toxic waste. The internet democratized knowledge and connected the world whilst enabling widespread access to pornography, gambling and drugs. Social media keeps us close to our family and friends, creates a free platform for people to share ideas and support each other. It also creates division by feeding us content that reinforces extreme views and helps our children lose their self-esteem and harm themselves.
It would be reasonable to expect AI to have a similar yin and yang of good and bad, and everyone does but will it do more harm than good or more good than harm?. In the red corner are the people who fear that AI will take over from humans in a world where, if we are not destroyed as a species – Terminator, perhaps our only role will be as batteries – The Matrix. In the blue corner are those of us that hope AI can take away the things that we don’t enjoy, and are not best suited to, doing thus liberating us to do more of things that only humans can do or do best. AI might be able to solve the existential challenges in health, the climate, poverty, crime . It might and enable us to redefine physics and explore the universe – Star Trek, Interstellar, Lucy. The future has always been presaged in Sci-fi movies but the movies paint very different pictures of the future.
You hope for the best but there are a lot of experts who fear the worst . 35,000 of them wrote a 22 word warning about AI in March 2023, a list including names like Musk and Sam Altman who are hard to ignore. There is a ray of hope and optimism if you believe the old adage that the bookies normally get it right – the bookies in question being tech investors (and let’s face it, investing is sophisticated betting where inside knowledge, due diligence and expert advice tilt the odds in your favour). The smart money is going into Human Augmentation AI, start-ups that are using AI to help humans be better humans. There will be misuse of AI, even reckless use unless the politicians get their act together (the ray of hope just faded a lot). Unquestionably the ‘sin’ industries led by Porn will greedily exploit the potential of AI but maybe just maybe Human Augmentation will create a better world, one in which we are able to be better citizens – or one where we will be forced to be as is already the case in China depending on your definition of ‘better’.
Yep, AI is perplexing and scary – most people’s reaction is to cross their fingers and stick their head in the sand. My reaction, most often, to anything perplexing is to want to know more by getting involved. I didn’t want to invest in any more marketing tech start-ups, my record of doing so is very mixed, just about more wins than losses but nothing spectacular. But I told myself that if I could be persuaded to take an active interest in a new marketing tech start-up it would have to involve AI.
I have long believed that if you focus on an outcome it is more likely to happen. 40 years ago, prompted by a session given by a Harvard Professor on a business course, I wrote down my life goals. I thought at the time they were ambitious. Within 15 years I had achieved them all – should have dreamed bigger. I don’t believe in fate, but I do have faith in Neuro-linguistic programming. If the thought is clear in your mind you are attracted to opportunities that draw you to your goal and more immune to distractions. NLP is a way of changing thought patterns to achieve desired outcomes and a good way to change your thought patterns is to commit something to paper.
Guess what? My interest in AI, expressed in my blogs, has resulted in me becoming involved in a new business that is deploying AI to help tech businesses win clients. The formidable founder found me on Linked-in and would not take no for an answer. We are about to unveil a very exciting (we think) new approach to business development aka Sales using Human Augmentation AI. After less than a year the business is already generating profit even without next level AI and so far we have not had to raise any capital.
Marketing tech using Human Augmentation AI – or as I prefer to say, human enhancement –is hardly tackling the big societal challenges, but by making it much easier, faster and cheaper to win clients we might help the tech businesses that can. The faster they build their client pipeline the easier it is for them to raise the money to build the tech to grow their business.
Otherwise, take my advice, look for an opportunity to invest in AI Porn.
You heard it here first – of course you didn’t, see point above, I’m a non-influencer.
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