The Curious Companion: Ep. 21 – Who Will Win the AI Race?
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Curious Reader! Welcome to this week’s Curious Companion newsletter. What you came for is below, and you can CLICK HERE to listen to the episode if you decide you prefer earbuds to eyeballs. Happy reading! In this episode I share my predictions on who I think will win this AI race, both as it relates to the users and the industry. I break down the three traits that I believe will set people up for success, then shift into my present-moment take on which company seems best positioned to wear the crown. Along the way I get into the environmental realities, the big emotions that keep popping up around AI, and how humans are always the biggest variable in any prediction. A Little IntroThis episode is two fold. If you know me at all you know I’m a conceptual, big picture thinker who’s not so great at memorizing minutiae. To that end, I want to use this episode to speak more about who I think among us users of AI comes out on top, and then briefly share my present-day predictions for which company, as of this moment, looks like it could take the title. Hello, CrankypantsWhile putting together the webinar I hosted earlier this week I decided to shift my Threads algorithm to be basically just AI and funny Black people. #GreatChoice Unfortunately, in welcoming in way more AI-related content, I got served a bunch of cranky pants AI complainers as well. Clearly I know they exist, but also, I don’t need to see that they exist 🤷🏽♂️. AI gets a LOT of hate online. People have BIG feels and BIG emotions around it. I kinda understand, but also, the ones who really lean on the environment as their main concern… it’s like… but you’re expressing your dismay on social media. How do you think social media works? Posting from their couches like, “No data centers were used in the sharing of this post.” Their inability to substantiate their claims doesn’t invalidate the environmental concerns, because the growing (and forecasted) energy cost is very real and I absolutely have concerns. But it tells me that these folks have done zero actual research and likely understand even less. They’re speaking purely from emotion and that’s not a place where we can have a productive conversation. Who Wins the AI Race?The big feels on Threads both inspired this episode, and solidified my predictions for who I believe will win the AI race as it relates to us AI users. The winners will be:
Mastery of Foundational SkillsTo me, mastery of foundational skill means you can fix it. What’s “it” referring to? The domain in which you have mastery. If something breaks, can you fix it? Translation: Do you understand how it works or are you repeating steps you memorized once? (This can literally be applied to anything: Writing, coaching, programming, online business, physical therapy, aviation, beekeeping) People who can say yes to the rhetorical question of “can you fix it?” will come out on top because AI will serve as a tool that supercharges their skillset. Tech TenacityThis trait is fairly self-evident, given what you and I are doing right now. We’re not coders (well maybe you are, and FWIW I’m working on it) but we can still get so much out of this tech simply by being tenacious. If you’ve actually used ChatGPT to any extent, you know that it comes with plenty of frustrating moments. If you’re not willing to push through and work at it, you miss out on all the potential benefits. The folks with tenacity are undoubtedly the ones who will come out on top AND way ahead. Good at What They DoThis one is two fold. As businesses begin to rely more on robots, those who prioritize profits will inevitably create a disconnect between themselves and their customers. This is not a new phenomenon. Folks who continue to care about their people and who have a human-first business model will ultimately win. A Note About ArtObviously, my prediction and my list of attributes is based on my personal experience. I say this because I’m not an artist in the traditional sense, and thus my work has not been impacted by AI in the same way that theirs has been. In general I don’t have big feels about AI-generated art outside of the fact that any use of generative AI that is slop, I’m against. It’s a waste. And clearly, no, people’s work shouldn’t be stolen. I feel the same way about how these LLMs were trained. I support all the lawsuits. Fuck these greedy companies. As for artists and winning the AI race, I honestly think that AI-generated art will create more demand for human-made art. Which brings me to my next point… The Human VariableWhen people talk about the impact of AI, I think many predictions fail to take into account the greatest variable of all: humans. We adapt, we overcome, we evolve, we pivot, we change, we grow, we impact the environment we’re in just as much (if not more) than the environment impacts us. Just because supply increases doesn’t mean that demand will. In fact, traditional economics would tell us it’s exactly the opposite. All that to say, I don’t think we can predict how AI will impact things and I think it’s a waste of time trying to do so. Which Company Will Win the AI Race?Speaking of the futility of making predictions, let’s round this episode out with a brief discussion about what most folks in the tech space mean when they make predictions about who will win the AI race: Who gets crowned THE AI company. If forced to make a guess at this very moment, I’d say… Google. Based on Google’s recent release of Gemini 3, and the fact that they are inherently an ad company and have beaucoup bucks, they’re positioned to win.
But also… this shit changes every 13 seconds. So who’s to say. Time will tell. Instead of betting, let’s all learn together and evolve with it, shall we? Deep SandOverall, I continue to be excited about the possibilities with AI.
But I continue to believe AI has the potential to democratize so much. An (niche) analogy I shared on Threads: “The people in charge, the people driving and promoting the circular funny money, the people who just care about financial returns…THEY are the devil. The technology itself…it’s a great equalizer. It’s like deep sand and beach volleyball. Gives us small folks a fighting chance.” How I Used ChatGPT this WeekEach week I include a section where I discuss how I used ChatGPT that week. This week I used it to create an acronym for the system I use for creating prompts for ChatGPT. I’m not a huge acronym person but I understand the value. Not to mention, my biz and life bestie, JillFit, she’s all about the acronyms and alliteration. Alliteration I can get down with, but acronyms have always been harder, so I had a chat with Chat and it came up with one that I thought was actually really good: C.L.A.R.I.T.Y. I’ll save the breakdown of that acronym for another episode, but I wanted to share this use case because I know that any of you listening who are from Jill’s audience or who are in that online business world, this could be a useful thing for you. Da Wrap-upAlrighty, that’s it for today’s episode. Hopefully it gave you a clearer sense of who’s actually positioned to thrive as AI evolves, and also served as a reminder that most predictions only go so far when one of the variables is humans. As always, endlessly grateful for you and your curiosity. Catch you next Thursday. Maestro out. AI Disclaimer: In the spirit of transparency (if only we could get that from these tech companies), this email was generated with a very solid alley-oop from ChatGPT. I write super detailed outlines for every podcast episode (proof here), and then use ChatGPT to turn those into succinct, readable recaps that I lightly edit to produce these Curious Companions. Could I “write” it all by hand? Sure. Do I want to? Absolutely not. So instead, I let the robot do the work, so I can focus on the stuff that I actually enjoy doing and you get the content delivered to your digital doorstep, no Airpods required. High fives all around. Did someone forward you this email? Stay curious. |