Positive Futures for AI - 1. Understand it

Introduction

• Jamais Cascio BANI framework
  • Applies to AI
• AI-nxiety
  • Job
    • Career
    • Children
    • Humankind
• Series: Positive Futures
  • Why I shouldn’t be afraid of it
    • What I need to do to adapt to it

Portrayal

• AI is often portrayed on screen as scary
• James Cameron’s 1984 “The Terminator”
• Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 “Robocop”

Source: Gaudencio Garcinuño, Terminator

Source: Sam Beckwith, One ED-209 and His Dog

1. Understand it

• AI as a function
• Input parameters mapped to output
• Parameters
  • More parameters
  • Lots more parameters
• Models

100,000,000,000,000

100 trillion parameters in ChatGPT 4

Models (more next time)

• Statistical
  • Linear and logistic regression
  • Naïve Bayes classifiers
  • K-Nearest Neighbour
• Support vector machines
• Artificial neural networks
  • Supervised learning
• Decision trees
  • Aggregated into Random Forest

Steps for making AI less scary

1. Use it, understand it, integrate it
   • Embed AI in your day-to-day
     • Pop a tab right now, keep it open
   • Use it
     • Especially when you don’t know what you’re doing
   • It’s there to help you think
     • Augment human ability, not replace it
     • Mobile phones train carriage example
     • Google Calendar example

Evolution of tech jobs

• My job used to be about
  • Using technology, then
  • Leading teams that use technology, but now
  • I help companies think and organise

Who knows what business transformation will look like in the “AI positive future”, but this is how I’m going to find out.

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