Inflection points in global business, where the future is certain to be permanently different from the past, are rare. I suggest we are in the midst of one now. Making the right choices today can massively increase your likelihood of success for your company and career and allow you to profit from an almost unbelievable level of investment accelerating this wave.
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I was perfectly placed with knowledge and skills at the last global inflection point: the emergence of the World Wide Web. I didn't then appreciate how rare they are and how lucky I was to be in the midst of it. I certainly benefitted from my early immersion in the tech and culture, but I missed the heights of the wave because it all felt so obvious and easy--to me.
We're at the cusp of what I'd argue is the next fundamental dividing line: the widespread adoption of Generative AI. Just like the Internet in 1993, AI is enabling fundamental new approaches to content consumption, creation, and utilization in so many different domains at once that it's simultaneously creating super fans, critics calling fraud, and doomsayers predicting armageddon.
But step away from the massive amount of hype. Instead, if you look carefully at the real tools and initial applications that are emerging, the staggering scope of the gains in productivity and creative output starts coming into focus.
No matter what role you are in from business owner to entry level staffer, building practical AI skills today will enable you to benefit from this wave of change instead of being buffeted by it.
Not yet convinced? Here are four ways that understanding Generative AI tools will be critical to your success:
1. Stand apart from industry peers
As a new company or a candidate for a new job, one of the greatest challenges is to distinguish yourself from the other options. First, this is revealed in the hype cycle where companies that just mention "AI" seem to be boosted in value, but quickly it shifts to substance.
Understanding whether or not Gen AI can help in a given business function and how to use it cost effectively will quickly become a fundamental skill differentiator. It's easy to claim AI can be used, but separating the art of the possible from the readily practical will quickly become a critical ability.
Understanding the basic type of models, when to use which type, and what state of the art looks like basic skills available to both those with tech and non-tech backgrounds. (I'll go deeper on this next week.)
- Build a base of knowledge to separate hype from real opportunity
- Knowing where Gen AI can have an impact makes you immediately more valuable than others without that understanding
- In the early adopter phase, a little bit of understanding is especially valuable in the skills marketplace
2. Expand your creative capabilities
One of Gen AI's immediate benefits is the ability to expand your own creative output. Whether you are writing, designing a product, creating visual or audio works, there's a model that can help with that.
One of my favorite uses of Gen AI is to prompt a model with something I've written and request a re-write for a different kind of audience or with examples set in a different environment. It serves as a kind of thesaurus, but for entire essays and expanded ideas instead of just for single words.
Gen AI is also a great tool for creators who are struggling getting started. Nothing is worse then getting stuck looking at a blank page and not knowing where to start. Instead, prompt a model with your ideas and get suggestions on topics, visual or written themes, and more.
- Instead of viewing AI as potential replacement for your invention, use it as an extension of your creativity
- Generate more ideas and options faster
- Explore what you work would sound like in different voices or if created from different perspectives
3. Add key portable skills
Gen AI's broad applicability also makes it a logical addition to your skills toolbox. Whether it becomes a core feature of your everyday working life or a resource you use from time to time for special projects, you can apply what you've learned.
Much like the early days of the Internet, all of the long-term use cases aren't yet well established, but the ability both to consume and create content at a large scale means new ways of using Gen AI will continue to emerge.
For example, being to able to prompt a model with hundreds or even thousands of pages of content and then receive a focused summary in response can be a massive time saver. Then being able to ask that same model questions about the content to dive deep into your particular area of interest is like having a fully-informed researcher always available.
- Embrace skill stacking and leverage AI understanding as a logical extension to any other domain knowledge
- Enhance your current skills by cutting down the necessary time for basic content tasks
- Expand your ability to help your team with broad understanding of available tools that apply no matter your line of work
4. Close (or even reverse) a gap in experience
One of the hardest challenges for younger leaders or those just starting a shift into a new industry is that there's an experience gap that's hard to close with those colleagues and peers who entered the industry sooner.
Often, there's specific industry knowledge, contacts, practices that are hard to learn without putting in the years. But AI skills will allow you to uniquely contribute by developing alternative strategies, workflows, and productive pathways that are more likely to effectively change "the way we've always done it."
As Clayton Christensen famously wrote about in the Innovator's Dilemma, truly disruptive technologies often require companies to cannibalize their existing business in order to keep it relevant. That requires new approaches that rarely come from long-established teams.
- Obtain skills that set you apart from your more resistant industry peers
- Tap into existing knowledge faster and more easily
- Demonstrate your ability through greater productivity
Action Summary
Do you think AI is driving some kind market bubble? Maybe. But that doesn't change the fact that for individuals, embracing learning how to harness the underlying technology won't completely revolutionize you or your company's earning power over the long term.
Recall:
- Distinguish yourself from your peers
- Expand your creativity
- Add key portable skills
- Gain or keep a lead in experience
If I've convinced you that AI is more than its hype might suggest, check back again next week when I'll dive into how to get started and learn easy ways to engage with these new technologies.
What do you think? Reply to this email and let me know.
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To your success,
Christopher
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