How I quit chasing every AI trend (and finally got my sh** together)
Marco van Hurne
AI & ML advisory | Author of The Machine Learning Book of Knowledge | Building AI skills & organizations | Data Science | Data Governance | AI Compliance Officer | AI Governance
I remember the exact moment when I felt that I was drowning in everything AI. It was about a year ago, when I started writing for TechTonic Shifts. Because I thought I needed to be on-top of all the buzz, I read everything that was seemingly worthwhile. My inbox was a nightmare of newsletters. One after the other were screaming about “revolutionary breakthroughs”, and my feed was clogged up with buzzwords that I could barely decipher.
It seemed that every conversation included someone using new acronyms I had not heard of before, like LoRA-this, RLHF-that, MoE-whatnow? And don’t forget the occasional Elon soundbite. I kinda felt like being a sailor in an information storm. All this information came crashing over me, and it came in faster than I could process. But at one point in time, I realized, that maybe I didn’t have to ride every wave.
That maybe there was a smarter way to tackle all of this chaos without losing my mind, and maybe save a little time in the process.
So, I decided to dedicate this post to the people like me, who want to be on top of things, because they either choose to be, or need to be. And I’m here to tell you that there’s a way out of this madness. It makes you scroll less, think more, and gives you a good dose of “not-giving-a-damn-about-every-new-toy-that-Big-Tech-drops-in-the-ocean”.
So here’s my2c (OMG - that is so ooooold!)
Stop chasing every trend like a headless chicken
Revelation number one. Not every AI breakthrough is the second coming of JC.
Most of it is just noise. The tech world is all gung ho, and loves a good hype cycle, and you and I are the hamster that is spinning their wheel. So, step off. Take a breath. Start focusing on trends that actually matter.
Think of it like this: you are digging for AI trends in Klondike (hi Elizabeth Freeman ) Most of the gold has already been mined, but for the rest, treat it as a massive junkyard. Sure, you’ve got some gold in there, like the stuff you could actually use in your day-to-day work, such as federated learning, Graph Neural Networks, Self-Supervised Learning or evolving Dynamic AI Systems. Most likely, the rest is just fools’ gold or rusty garbage they are trying to sell you which you don’t need.
The thing that helped me the most was to define what kind of information aligned with my interests (and along those lines, the goal of TTS). I love tech, and hate Big-Tech. So, I found that writing about the hypocrisy of Big-Tech was fulfilling. But I can only write about what I’ve actually tried and tested myself. So nowadays, I am focusing on the ones that move the needle in areas that I care about, like Ethics, privacy, worker abuse, lay-offs, etc., because of the insatiable appetite and greed of the tech bros.
So get your hands on a few reputable newsletters or podcasts. You know, the kind that cuts through the bullshit, and add one or two that provide a critical perspective (TTS?). Trust them spoon-feed you the essentials. And you sip your coffee (not hazelnut latte, please not that), and pretend to care.
When I read everything, every article, every blog, and a lot of tweets, my brain felt like it was a defragmented hard disk. And now, I stick to curated sources. And my life’s better, and I don’t wake up screaming “AGI!!” in my sleep anymore.
More life-hacks after the brake:
Learn by doing, not by hoarding info like a squirrel
Here’s the secret that everyone forgets to tell you: you don’t need to know everything about AI. You just need to know enough to do something useful with it.
Stop treating AI like an academic Mount Everest that you need to summit, without oxygen. It’s a ladder. Pick one tread and start climbing.
I taught myself to set a learning goal that didn’t make me feel like I was trying to decode the Matrix.
I wanted TTS to become a knowledge ladder for readers. So I developed a structured learning path for beginners and intermediates. The site (https://techtonicshifts.blog) reflects that a bit, but I’m not there yet. And for this year “AI myths debunked” is on the goals poster. AIMD is a series of articles that takes a sledgehammer and it cracks down on overhyped buzzwords and trendy nonsense. You know, stuff like: “Why AI won’t steal your job”, and “AI has reached a dead end”.
In your case, it may well be uhm, uh, something uuhh…. I dunno. Just figure it out man, you’re a grup. Hell man, maybe it’s just understanding what a neural network actually does without crying. Whatever it is, make it personal.
I used to read about AI like a zombie binge-watching Netflix. I was a mindless consumer, never applying any of it myself. Then I tied my learning to a side project. And then, all that abstract mumbo-jumbo became tangible, like turning fog into bricks.
Tip for the pro that you are: building sh*t is the fastest way to learn, and it keeps you from feeling like an imposter.
Get out of your tech bubble, you hermit
You know what is worse than drowning in AI trends? Drowning alone. And this is something that I learned quite late. To engage with a community. As an introvert, and socially awkward person, I always look for two things when I am at a meeting with a large group of people: 1. The toilet and 2. The exit. And usually, I hit #2 way before #1 even becomes an issue.
And then God gave us forums, webinars, and Discord servers. For me it felt like upgrading from wandering the desert to finding an oasis.
When I started out, I was the lone wolf of AI. I was sniffing around Google searches and pretending to know what I was doing. Then I found a vibrant online community, and everything clicked. Suddenly, it was about learning from others, and sharing some stuff, and realizing everyone else is just as overwhelmed as you are.
Maybe create a TTS version?
领英推荐
Because misery loves company,
….and so does learning.
Here are a few resources that are worthwhile checking out:
Unplug before you burn out
Here’s a truth bomb for ya: you can’t drink from a firehose forever. But at some point, the constant influx of trends, breakthroughs, and sheer thoughts will fry your brain like it is an overclocked CPU.
I still remember my first burnout. Yes, I have a tendency to push things too far sometimes. It happened the first time I got my hands on a SaaS product. I was determined to prove (mainly to myself) that implementing SaaS was a breeze compared to traditional software development and deployment cycles. And it was. What would have taken an entire team five months, I completed in six weeks. The result were a working site, two collapsed lungs and a near-death experience.
Did you know that the word passion stems from the Latin word pati, which means "to suffer". In other words, a passionate person knows what pain is, because they often push themselves too far in search of what they love.
If this doesn’t justify your behavior, I don’t know what will…
Anyway, that is why my fourth tip is simple and often overlooked by all of us passionati. Let me spell it out for you:
Schedule-some-digital-detox-time.
No, I’m not your mom, nor am I demanding you to throw your gadgets into a lake (though tempting). Just set some freaking boundaries, man. For once.
For me, I pick one day a week to go “offline” (to read up, I mean - not to work). No newsletters, no Slack, no Discord debates over whether AGI is here. Instead, I spent time digesting what I had already learned or applying it to small projects. This one habit gave my brain room to breathe and helped me see patterns I’d missed in the noise.
Parting words from me to you: Calm the f*ck down
Look, the AI world isn’t slowing down. It is a runaway train, and you nor I am not gonna stop it. But you can choose to stop letting it run you over. Focus on what matters. Set some goals for a change, you know. Find your people you socially awkward person that you are. And most importantly, stop trying to keep up with everything.
AI trends are brutal waves. They will keep coming. But you can learn to surf instead of being swallowed by them.Your AI journey doesn’t have to suck.
Signing off, grabbing a board, and paddling out,
Marco
Well, that’s a wrap for today. Tomorrow, I’ll have a fresh episode of TechTonic Shifts for you. If you enjoy my writing and want to support my work, feel free to buy me a coffee ??
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3 周Very glad to have found your newsletter! Your posts are very engaging and thoughtful. Had a question about something in this post: “And now, I stick to curated sources. And my life’s better, and I don’t wake up screaming “AGI!!” in my sleep anymore.”; do you mind sharing some of your favorite curated sources?
Shall we make a difference together?????????
3 周Beautifully stated Marco! Love it! Thanks for sharing.