0N_TECHSTORM AI Edition - December 2023
0N_TECHSTORM AI Edition - December 2023
- Hype Included -
Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. This forecast is solely dedicated to all things AI. Read this with a grain of salt, and see you early next year for a more substantial update with the first Techstorm Forecast for 2024!
It’s been a crazy couple of weeks in AI, to say the least. I’m not here to speculate on who’s actually in charge where, and who made the best moves in the industry, who’s wearing the Emperor’s New Clothes, or who’s up for a bumpy ride ahead. People are spending too much time on this as it is.
The Daily Show got this whole OpenAI thing right btw
What I can say is that generative AI is two things at the same time. On the one hand, it’s, at best, a decent intern or junior associate. It’s hallucinating, bad at math, biased, energy-consuming, and definitely not scaleable to become sentient. On the other hand, it increases productivity when used correctly, is a great way to jumpstart your creativity, and will be especially useful when trained on proprietary, specific data sets.
So, how do you make sense of this AI craze? Well, don’t panic, be curious! Find embryos of relevant use cases within your organization and allow people to experiment. Generative AI is a natural continuation of digitization but only one building block in our AI-powered future. It’s a great way to get started and stay ahead. You must understand what’s happening on this technological frontier, assess the implications, see the opportunities for your industry and clients, and adapt to this new reality.
The risk of waiting is often understated. Don’t fear the new; fear stagnation. Reach into the unknown and embrace what’s new. Now is the time to plan for the long term...
Analyze - Assess - Adapt to stay ahead of the competition!
One thing strikes me when talking to most business leaders this year, and that is that very few have an actual understanding of what (generative) AI really is and the effects it’s going to have on everything from operations, strategy, productivity, culture, leadership, and customer offering. In essence, all the underlying parameters that are necessary for business success.
It’s clear that any company or individual who, at this stage, decides to go down the AI rabbit hole will be able to build significant leverage, no matter your title, organization, or industry.
After this rant, I give you the Techstorm AI Forecast, December 2023 edition, where almost all entrants on the list are new (for obvious reasons):
No bots were harmed when creating this list! 🤖
Prompts were used as stunt doubles…
If you want to explore the AI rabbit hole yourself, check out these people and companies who are very active in the discussion:
Yann LeCun - Meta AI czar
Gary Marcus - A very sound voice on the frontlines of AI
Fei Fei Li - Stanford University AI professor with a human perspective. Book link here, and interview with Andrew Ng here
Marc Andreessen, A16Z - The Techno-Optimist Manifesto
Coatue AI report - an extensive publication from the hedge fund tech bubble wizards
Mustafa Suleyman - Co-Founder of Deep Mind, just published a new book on the future of AI, biotech, and more
Why are there so few women on the list? Well, there’s actually a sad reason for that.
Stay curious and a bit skeptical!
... Nicklas
PS. Let me know what you think; just hit “Reply”. Appreciate your comments, shares, re-tweets, and forwards.
PPS. Follow me on LinkedIn for more frequent updates on everything tech, venture, uncertainty, and the like.
One More Thing…
If you want to get away from all AI-generated content for a while, watch the excellent documentary Turn Every Page. In it, you’ll meet the author Robert Caro and his editor Robert Gottlieb, discussing their 50 (!) year collaboration. Gives you a great counter perspective on the insane speed of click-baits today.