AI can kill. We must decide what dies.

Who else is fed up hearing about AI? All technology suddenly has AI. All bootstrapping agencies suddenly use AI (we do too). All the latest get-rich-quick TikTok / YouTube'rs have adopted AI.

AI is everywhere, and we're already interacting with AI chat bots, emails, phone calls and entertainment, sometimes without realising it.

Supporters touted AI as the utopian future where we all get to eat Cheeto's at the beach, while AI does our work. We can revert to our animalistic tendencies for fun and ... you know.

Detractors say AI might cause World War 3, enslave humanity in a Skynet uprising, and/or accelerate the wealth gap to a Blade Runner dystopian hellscape where humanity is largely controlled and enslaved by an elite ruling class...

Either way you argue the idea, AI is going to break some eggs.

AI kills indiscriminately

AI can kill medical mistakes, or staffing gaps. Look at what China is investing, and AI has already come up with new possible Antibiotic treatments.

AI can kill stagnation in chemical and engineering advancements, as well as mathematical theories and computer technologies.

AI could increase access to robust research, analytics and understanding data, killing gaps in knowledge and access to useful insights.

However everyone is (rightly) worried about how it is (already) killing jobs. White and blue collar (I always hated those names) jobs are all at risk - Doctors, lawyers, customer service agents, data scientists, coders, analysts, personal assistants, copy writers, digital designers, marketers, social media managers, data entry... the list goes on, and we are barely out of the prologue of the AI story.

The global economy was already getting too efficient for the growing work force before AI. I have a 21 year old daughter, who can't get a job because she is up against hundreds of applicants - some with incredible educational credentials or job experiences.

AI has made some new jobs, and will give rise to new industries, but AI is too fast and efficient in some sectors - it is killing more jobs than it makes, and this will accelerate.

Will AI kill the economy? More on that later.

Currently - AI the gimmick

Many present uses of AI are gimmicky. Fun tools that allow you to make songs in seconds, or write essays, or make funny videos and images. However many of those tools are evolving fast and becoming far more useful for reliable business situations.

All this might be a gimmick in a gimmick - AI will revolutionise the infrastructure completely.

Let me give an example. Right now, Amazon, Google, Bing, eBay and many others make money from PPC.

Per-Per-Click (PPC) is about boosting your product listing based on a search return. Someone searches for a 'mens shoes' and you pay these sites a bid for the search 'mens shoes' to be featured at the top of the page.

This begins with someone, on some device, searching for a product. The value of PPC stems from a reality online - a human will not go through 500 pages of results. They will search the first 2-3 pages typically, and pick something along the way.

If your 'mens shoe' isn't ranked high, you will never be found. PPC is a necessity to be found. You pay to be in those first few pages, because otherwise a human being may never find you.

Companies like Google and Amazon make serious money because a human enters a search, and a human will only examine the first few pages of results, and companies will pay to be in those results.

In Future - AI the infrastructure

In an AI future, there is no PPC, because there is no search pages to be 'top', because there is no human in front of a screen!

I can already download an app and ask an AI to search for me. Imagine how this will develop.

Imagine this fictional exchange for example between you and a future AI personal assistant app in the future.

"Hello AI bot, I want men's shoes in black, size 12, laces, good for GYM, between ￡35-55, which can be delivered before Saturday, with at least 3 star reviews". 
- You        

"Sure thing Mr. Human, 5 seconds..."
- AI Bot        

There is no search entry or results page. There is no search ran on a single website or platform. There is no platform algorithm favouring it's own margins or check lists. There is however a multi-site search...

... searching ALL 500 pages, and not just on Google. It searches Bing, eBay, Amazon and a hundred other direct websites. It could search the entire internet.

In that one moment, everything changes for PPC. The need to be in the top page result is suddenly negated. The AI just entirely bypassed the whole human-reality of page results.

There is suddenly no need for PPC. If my product is on page 2 or page 499, the AI will still find it. While SEO is still important (the AI needs to 'know' your products by the content you write for them), it's not ranking SEO but rather AI readability SEO.

"Here you go Mr. Human, I have compiled a short list of suggestions with these top 5 picks. If you want to see the full list please just say, which I ranked based on a score to your requirements." 
- AI Bot        

"Thanks AI bot, I like option 3, please order it and let me know if delivery is going to be late by daily reviewing the tracking."
- You        

"No worries boss, will do."
- AI Bot        

In this imagined moment, AI didn't just enhance PPC, or enhance how to analyse PPC, or give tips to increase profit on PPC... it completely changed the infrastructure. Its a whole new internet landscape suddenly.

PPC revenue just died. All the smaller sellers suddenly were relevant without that huge marketing budget.

That's just PPC. There are dozens of other examples where AI won't simply enhance the existing state of an industry, but completely revolutionize it. Consider the well know trope that 50 years ago, it was crazy to believe everyone would have a home PC, let alone access to the internet.

The death of 20th century Global economics?

AI will face a major fork in the road which might have ramifications for generations to come. It will be up to us.

Will we serve AI, or will AI serve us?

If we serve AI, we serve the owners of AI. Dystopian future ensues, where a very small elite circle has more control on human activity, knowledge, tracking and manipulation than ever thought possible. George Orwell's '1984' will look like child's play.

Most would not even know they are trapped. The jail cell would be masked in false news, the illusion of choice and endless entertainment. Sound familiar?

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If AI serves us, it means we control its use. It replaces the work we want it to, and how it works and operates is open source, and based on democratically derives rules and boundaries.

AI becomes a glue to our everyday fabric of living - it helps, it supports, it gives. Our lives are enriched by it, not the other way around.

Without wishing to sound fantastical, it can deliver the Utopian dream where work and play marry, and the basic needs of everyone are met. Where a good idea and product thrive on merit, not marketing.

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Both lead to a massive economic change, which we need to start doing for ecological realities. A world of limited resources, jobs and wealth cannot sustain an economic system of mass consumption and unlimited debt-saddled growth needs.

So...

We should all want 20th century economics to evolve, and in some capacity, fade away. Reward hard work and good ideas by all means, just not on a multiplier insanely high compared to someone keen to work their day job.

We should all want a voice in how AI evolves, changes our lives and supports a transition in to a new age. AI is too damn important and impactful to be left to a small wealthy circle of powerful people.

AI will kill what we let it kill. It is up to us to safeguard what is precious.