Game On!

Nowadays it's almost impossible to read a newspaper, listen to a business podcast or watch a current affairs program without hearing about Artificial Intelligence (AI).

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It’s the end of days. It’s the end of work. It’s taking over the world. It will exterminate mankind. So say the fearmongers.

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On the other hand, the advocates will chirp: the greatest technological advance in a generation. The future of work changed for the better. Democratising knowledge like never before. Saving the planet.

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Ask AI itself what it thinks its advantages and benefits are and you get a confident response:

Efficiency and Automation

Medical Advances

Disaster Response

Climate Change Solutions

Enhanced Decision-Making

Assisting People with Disabilities

Fighting Human Trafficking

Job Creation

?Concluding: ‘In summary AI’s transformative capabilities benefit society by solving critical challenges, improving lives and advancing various fields.’ Almost sounds like AI’s worked out its own sales pitch to us poor humans – basically it’s saving mankind.

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All good then. Indeed, there are some fascinating side-hustles for those keen to invest in AI now.

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In his new book AI: Game On, Tim Trumper gives us an insight to long term value anyone could derive as a result of an Australian Federal Court decision back in 2021.“…if you create some AI that you own, and if AI then invents a better way in five years’ time, you own that as well.”

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Seventies prog rock band Genesis in the 1974 album “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway”, referenced Marshall McLuhan, the Canadian Philosopher, famous for stating ‘the medium is the message’.?Peter Gabriel sang:

“Marshall McLuhan, casual viewing, head buried in the sand.

Sirens on the rooftops wailing, but there’s no ship sailing.”

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These line capture a sense of chaos and uncertainty, with the world seemingly on the edge of something significant, yet no one either sees or considers the impact. AI’s in that state where its potential sits in the hand of the few – big tech companies and a few institutions, but are we fully engaged in understanding their strategy, or are they indeed listening to us?

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A headline in the AFR recently echoed earlier technology advances in the call centre industry: ‘AI could kill call centres.’ Head of Indian IT consultancy, TCS said in the article artificial intelligence would result in minimal need for call centres staffed with customer service people. His logic being that there won’t be any inbound calls to answer because AI will be predicting customer problems before they happen and pushing our remedies. Sounds familiar to the predictions made when voice automation response appeared in call centres in the 90’s, leading to more frustrated and dissatisfied customers.

Anyone who’s had the misfortunate to use their bank or telco’s chatbot would be forgiven for being sceptical about this claim, but TCS’s CEO K Krithivasan could well be right.

Whether it removes the need for people altogether is unlikely given there are still a couple of generations of people on the planet who actually still use their phones for making calls.

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Krithivasan goes on to say AI’s capability now is overblown, but the inexorable rise of generative AI will mean more and more automation and process simplification will deliver significant benefits for customers and service providers.

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Tim Trumper reminds us we live in a volatile, uncertain complex and ambiguous world – charmingly summarised with the acronym VUCA. And that we need to pay attention now to ensure we don’t end up in the moral maze exhibited by social media. He concludes: “ It is also clear that if the use case is not aligned with society’s best interests AI can do real harm, potentially on a large scale.”

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Perhaps all of us need to invest time and effort to educate ourselves and those around us to make sure we’re one step ahead of the AI juggernaut. And as warned by Marshall McLuhan that we don’t allow the medium to influence our lives without open debate and consideration if its impact on us and the world we live in.