Five years ago, I gave a keynote speech titled "Is AI After Your Job?" The point was made, citing the pundits then, that 2023 was the Age of Singularity, in which computers will begin to make other computers without human input. The audience may not have bought into the prediction, and the resulting harrumphs about Terminator movie dystopia murmured around the room. Now we find ourselves nose-to-screen with ChatGPT and the AI.pro organization behind the technology.
My professional inbox is flooded with fear and mistrust as people grapple with the reality that this next generation of computer-generated will replace them. Their jobs, not them as people, that's an important distinction. On the other hand, there is excitement as early adopters, myself included, race to discover just how powerful this amalgamation of all human knowledge can be. We try to trip it up, laugh at the idiocy of some answers, and shiver at the genius insights it delivers so effortlessly.
Ultimately, we are confronted with our humanity. How do we stack up against a machine that is faster than us for all intents and purposes? The machines are infinitely more accurate and logical and can go without coffee or lunch breaks for....well, forever? We will never win that game. Instead, this is an opportunity to return to what we value in our humanity. Our fallibility, messiness, forgiveness, and connections are as familiar as our flesh and blood. Our worth is not the measure of our economic contribution.
In an insane world where morality is consistently tested, and common sense seems to be rarer and rarer; maybe this is our chance to remember that our very human nature and propensity to surprise each other with random acts of kindness, advocate for the vulnerable, and demonstrate selflessness remains one of the greatest gifts. We learn from other humans rather than a perfect algorithm or central processing unit. I've never argued, cried with, or learned life lessons from my motherboard.
With great compassion for ourselves and complete acceptance of the human complexities and messiness that is part and parcel of this journey, we grow in wisdom and hopefully pass some of that on to future generations. Generativity is the goal of self-awareness and the agility muscles we flex when we use tools like Tilt365 to work and be better together.
If we can build that kind of compassionate humanity into ChatGPT, let's do that but never at the cost of skipping a cup of coffee with a friend.
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