Woz is Boss: On his upbringing, taking action, and what AI has in store

Friday’s General Session featured Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, as he shared a keynote discussing his tech-filled upbringing, becoming an engineer for life, and his thoughts on the ubiquitous GPFS 2023 topic – articificial intelligence (AI).

A self-proclaimed “action-oriented kind of guy,” Wozniak encouraged the audience to take action before that action happens to them. As a child, he stumbled into the electronics world via his neighborhood friends who had parents that worked in Silicon Valley. They would play and experiment with the technologies their parents worked with, and he credits transistors for where he is today.

Wozniak continually emphasized throughout the keynote that he wanted to be an engineer for life. Upon learning that the important technologies of his youth were meant to benefit the government, he decided that he wanted to improve life for the “average Joe,” and had plenty of fun along the way.

From playing high-tech pranks on his friends and dorm-mates, his role evolved as he would offer to complete projects and type his classmates’ essays – only charging 5 cents to do so. It wasn’t about doing others’ homework for them, but he was intrigued by the potential a computer held, and enjoyed discovering the technological process behind completing a task.

As his career took hold, he once again emphasized that he wanted to be an engineer for life – this time at his current workplace, HP. He did not want to climb the corporate ladder, as he wanted to benefit the lives of others with his projects. Therefore, it took a real leap of faith to leave the company for Steve Jobs’ budding enterprise, Apple.

However, tech companies weren’t taking Apple’s product seriously. Both HP and IBM turned down his mini computer, calling it a “hobby thing.” And in a way, it was true – Wozniak shared that he built the Apple II computer so he could play games. Each development provided a new opportunity, and the next one was going from a black and white game such as Pong, to the next one in color.

As technology continues to evolve, no matter the year, being innovative as a company continues to pay dividends. Wozniak credits hiring employees with personality, and a team that works well together, as being the keys to success. Additionally, he recommends investing in a Chief Disruption Officer, in order to further innovate within the industry.

What does the future of artificial intelligence (AI) hold? He harkens back to his original intentions, noting that the end user is more important than the producer. However, he notes that AI will open up an avenue of distrust, and we’ve already seen deep fakes, and questions of ethics.

Wozniak states that he’s the only one who believes AI should be regulated, and points out that regulations or adding roadblocks within the technology itself will help prevent an unfortunate set of circumstances from occurring: “AI can be a reporter, but you should have a human editor,” he concluded on the subject.

In wrapping up the Session, he imparted some words of advice to the young professionals in the audience, saying that the “truth is who you are.” Entrepreneurs need business acumen, marketing, and

engineers from Day 1 – this is not something to skimp on, or consider after funding is received. With a well-rounded team, they can set themselves up for success.