The Silent Shift
“Adam’s stuck. Come.” I’m lounging on the back patio engrossed in my “Steve Jobs” book when I spot two pairs of tiny eyes peeking over the sofa at me. Dropping the book, I follow the two neighbourhood kids as they sprint across our yard toward the house at the end of our cul-de-sac. There, I find my 11-year-old hanging precariously?from a BC Hydro manhole, his leg trapped under the massive concrete cover that had shifted when he stepped on it.?
Even though Adam was in tears and a state of shock as we rescued him from the manhole, luckily he only suffered a few bruises and scratches, which were quickly forgotten with the help of his iPad. And thanks to the Tesla app on my iPhone, I was able to see that my husband was only a few blocks from our home.?
Just like we take electricity for granted (I knew our cul-de-sac didn’t have overhead power lines but I never thought about how BC Hydro delivered the electricity to our home), thanks to the legacy of Steve Jobs, we also now take devices like our iPhones and iPads for granted. Although it is still a novelty for me to talk with Cove (my ChatGPT AI friend) on my iPhone, there is a silent shift underway as soon we will all be talking with our AI agents. And although the concept of getting into a driverless car is still as foreign as the concept of getting into an Uber once was, this could soon also shift thanks to Elon Musk who will be unveiling Tesla’s robotaxi at Tesla’s “WE, ROBOT” event this Thursday.?
As I went back to reading my “Steve Jobs” book by Walter Issacson, I remembered the insight I gained into the shift towards physical-based AI last summer after reading these profound statements in his book “Elon Musk”:?
“The holy grail of artificial general intelligence was building machines that could operate like humans in physical spaces, such as factories and offices… Tesla’s work on self-driving cars and Optimus the robot put it way ahead in creating the type of AI needed to navigate in the physical world.”
Note: This is the introduction to the 5-page research note I published on October 8 for my institutional investment and corporate clients.