How AI Tools Will Transform My Career

In 2022, several new generative AI products were introduced to the public, most notably visual tools (Midjourney, DALL*E, Stable Diffusion), and a multi-purpose chatbot from OpenAI called ChatGPT. These models generated content that far exceeded our expectations of what AI was capable of, leading to discussions and debates about their capabilities. Some people pointed out the limitations of these tools, such as the inability to render hands correctly in visual models or chatbots providing nonsensical and incorrect answers with a confident tone. However, others found that many real-world tasks, even those considered creative, could be easily completed by these AI helpers.

I didn’t pay too much attention to these models at first. I was used to incremental improvement in software: progress slows down after every new version.

With AI, it’s very different. Every year we see a huge leap, and progress seems to be accelerating. In 2022, general-purpose generative AI models improved so much that they actually became useful in ways that their creators didn’t expect them to. People find ChatGPT to be better than Google Search for many queries, Midjourney is used to illustrate websites (have you noticed the creepy hands in this article’s cover image?). It’s amazing to see how ChatGPT writes code and creates specs, edits, translates, summarizes, expands texts to our liking, writes stories and songs…

But OpenAI is already working on the next, 10x or 100x version of this model. How will it change the workplace? How should we think about careers, education and business in 5 years? When I start thinking about it, i get excited and panic a little.

My 2023 New Year resolutions will definitely include starting to adapt to the changes that generative AI will bring to my workplace, the Internet, and my life. It’s impossible to predict the specific product that I’ll be interacting with (and most likely pay for) in 2-3 years to leverage the power of AI. One thing is 100% certain: I will be using it in my daily life to keep up with the demands of the workplace.

With many discussions about the current state of ChatGPT and its competitors, I have to constantly remind myself: I should not look at the current tool as anything close to the ‘final version’. It’s not an adult; it’s a very bright middle schooler who’s gonna grow and learn super fast. ChatGPT is behind Google in many searches, but there’s likely an update that will, in 1-2 years max, be better in most dimensions.

So how do I prepare for something that’s hard to predict? I’ll have to do what humans do best (for now…): learn and adapt by action. Here’s my plan:

1. Get familiar with state-of-the-art AI models. Try using ChatGPT as an assistant in as many ways as possible. Learn how others use it and try that too.

2. Daydream about the future where these models are 10x more capable. How will my work look like? How can I use them as a mega-tool to do what I want??

3. As soon as tools for customizing models become available, get familiar with them.

Join me! It's fun! Action relieves anxiety too. Share your findings and experience and let's prepare ourselves to the next industrial/information revolution as much as humanly possible.