My First AI Lecture at Yale University

We often say, “the children are the future." Until now, that has not often been the case. Generally, our children inherit the future that adults create, and with this future, they then go on to shape the future for the next generation of children.

I believe the children are about to build the future.

What struck me as different about this class from the classes I have taught at Syracuse and other universities was the extremely high entrepreneurial energy in the room. Significantly fewer students were thinking about jobs in large, reputable companies, and significantly more were considering entrepreneurship to take advantage of being in their early 20s while also being at the beginning of the AI boom at the same time.

I fielded over thirty minutes of questions, going over the scheduled time for the lecture shared below. The range of questions was wide, covering the pros and cons of different sources of risk capital, the learning cycles in the entrepreneurial journey, the dynamics of going to market with artificial intelligence as a product, platform, or service, and the difference between the business models of the producers of artificial intelligence versus the business models of the consumers of artificial intelligence.

I concluded three things.

The amount of disruption coming from pure-play artificial intelligence startups might be significantly larger than the disruption that came from pure-play Internet startups. The next generation of startups will be much more focused on business model disruption than product, platform, or service disruption. Established companies will struggle much more than usual over the next few years to attract the best young talent, and hence executives will have to stay young themselves to compete efficiently and effectively.

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I have shared the concepts discussed in my first AI lecture at Yale University's School of Management below, hoping that these concepts might help fellow executives in established companies stay young.

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Lecture part 01 - where are we today?

Artificial intelligence will change who we are, but that change will occur way after it changes how we do the things that we do, and in other cases, what we do.

Lecture part 02 - where are we going?

Whether to act first or not is moot; it is more important to acknowledge that the speed limit of all markets is increasing. Be the most-prepared to act when the time to act arrives.

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Lecture part 03 - what does this mean?

While it is hard to accept that just about everything is going to change, it's helpful to realize that now you can now change anything. Take advantage of the permission to rethink everything.

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Lecture part 04 - what should we be doing?

Everyone is going to invest in artificial intelligence, so realize that the winners are going to be those that invest in people as well. Winning a market disproportionately is a talent play, not a tech play.

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I look forward to continuing to evolve the dialogue with clients and partners on how we navigate the new era of human technology as cultures, communities, corporations, and countries.

Feel free to connect with me to discuss the voiceover for these sides.

Richie