AI has a Kodak Moment: Will Bots Take Over Your Job?

While almost everyone knows Steve Jobs, there’s another Steve who indirectly contributed to his success—no, it’s not Steve Wozniak.

It’s Steven Sasson, an American electrical engineer. Shortly after graduating from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, he joined the Eastman Kodak Company.

From its incorporation in 1888, Eastman Kodak had grown into a household name for photographers, with even a phrase, “Kodak moment,” that signified memories captured for eternity on film.

But Kodak’s domination of the photography space was challenged in the late 20th century—by one of its own research labs. The young Steve Sasson came up with the world’s first self-contained digital camera. Meanwhile, another one of Kodak’s scientists, Bryce Bayer, had invented the filter that made digital color photography possible (and is used to this day).

As the story goes, the management’s response was: “That’s cute—but don’t tell anyone about it.”

Digital cameras promoted “filmless” photography, so perhaps the management’s reaction was understandable. By embracing digital, they would essentially shoot themselves in the film space where they were the world leaders.

However, their history—which made them leaders in the first place—was different. In fact, George Eastman had embraced disruption not once but twice: first by abandoning highly profitable camera plates to move to film, and the second time by abandoning black-and-white film, which Kodak dominated, for color film.

In 1986, their research labs came up with the world’s first megapixel camera. The company had ample time—almost a decade—to adapt to a digital future.

They didn’t.

When they finally woke up around 2007, they released a marketing video that announced: “Kodak is back” but they were clutching at straws. It was too little, too late. In the video, a senior Kodak leader mentioned “someone who put their technology in a phone and added some colors.” What was he referring to?

The Apple iPhone.

These two statistics tell the Kodak story better.

Per the Companies Market Cap data, Kodak today ranks #6726 in the world, a far cry from its glory days.

The irony never ends with Kodak—the analog CCD? sensors they used produce far sharper images than the semiconductor-based CMOS? image sensors used today (for their higher speed, more convenience, and lower cost).

To borrow a phrase from today’s slang: “face palm”!

But what does all this have to do with AI taking away peoples’ jobs?

Lessons from the Kodak Story

Embracing disruption had made Kodak a world leader. Refusing to do so made them bankrupt.

The biggest lesson from Kodak is to embrace disruption. To adapt. To ride the wave and grow.

At Zuci, we have not only embraced disruptive technologies like AI, we fine-tune AI to fix its inherent flaws. Our Activation AI is a great example of using AI to actually solve business problems. With 200+ successful AI implementations, it seems our approach works!

In a hugely popular YouTube video by Firstpost titled "Are AI Virtual Employees Coming for Your Job? Vantage with Palki Sharma,” the anchor addresses this question well.

In fact, two popular memes doing the rounds of the Internet sum it up nicely.

1. AI won’t replace people. People who use AI will.
2. I don’t want AI to do my work, so I am free to do the dishes. I want AI to do the dishes, so I am free to do my work.

AI’s eminent voices like Prof. Andrew Ng and Dr. Fei-Fei Li, both from Stanford University, agree that the level of AI capabilities today is far overrated by lay people. Perhaps Hollywood is to blame for conjuring up images of AI as a “powerful force” that becomes sentient enough to want to take over the planet. Such conceptions of AI are—for the present, at least—best confined to science fiction movies.

So, to answer the question: will AI take away your job?

The answer is an emphatic, “No!”

There’s a caveat, though.

AI is a powerful tool that you do need to adopt in your field, whatever it may be—a tool like a hammer, the steam engine, computers, the Internet, or well, digital cameras.

How can you adopt AI in your career?

Just ask ChatGPT!?

Kodak has become a synonym for how even corporate giants are vulnerable in the face of disruptive innovations. History is rife with such stories of transformation—from horse carriages to motor cars, typewriters to word processors, and today, the transition to AI. Companies and individuals need to accept that change is inevitable, and innovation is not just the best strategy—it is the only strategy. The ability to be agile, to embrace change, and to look at disruption as opportunity is the best way to position yourself for long-term success.

What are your thoughts on the impact of AI? How is your organization rising up to adapt to the challenge? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Image credits:

1.????????? Photo by Andy Kelly on Unsplash

References:

1.????????? Per a Wall Street Journal report

2.????????? According to Companies Market Cap

3.????????? Based on a Buzzfeed article

4.????????? As reported in Passbolt Community Forum

? CCD: Charge-coupled device

CMOS: Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor

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