Published: 05-Oct-2024 |
| AI has become unspecial. Before you think that I’ve got tired or bored with AI, let me assure you this is not the case. AI is unspecial, because it is becoming main stream. More and more people are using it for day to day tasks, even mundane tasks. Let me explain about the unspecialness of AI with an analogy. Back in the mid 1980s I saw an advert for a laptop – it was more of a dragtop and had a portable telephone connected to it. I was blown away and thought it would be amazing to buy such a laptop. Some investigations showed me that these things were called “cell” phones and the local Post Office (that used to run the telephone system, ie the forerunner of Telkom) did not know what a cell phone was. Eventually Vodacom and its competitors arrived and the cell phone started working in South Africa. It was a very special innovation. Nowadays everyone has a cell phone and it is one of the most useful technical tools to have. It’s become unspecial, but essential. Similarly with AI, but it has gained recognition faster. Everyone I talk to knows of or has used ChatGPT or Bard. Recently I went to a birthday party and the person making the speech started by saying “ChatGPT says this about ChatGPT launched to the public less than 1 year ago. In its first month it gained 100 million users. Its growth rate, combined with Bard, Bing and all the other AI apps have made it into many peoples’ day to day lexicon. That’s why it is unspecial, but essential. It hasn’t taken off quite as fast in business. Too many people think it’s an IT task. It’s not. It’s as much an IT task as Whatsapp. Some people may ask the IT expert to set up Whatsapp, but they would never ask an IT expert to read a Whatsapp they received or to send a Whatsapp. Similarly with Bard/ChatGPT etc. In business you use it just like your cell phone or Excel. It’s just another very useful unspecial tool. |