This time it's different

I maintain a healthy dose of skepticism on the latest tech developments to see if it’s really a big thing or just a fad. We have seen trends with the promise of eating the world but failing to do so (like crypto).

Similarly when news started coming out about AI, I did not fully buy into the hype. Yes, ChatGPT was very impressive but yet the skeptic and cynic in me could not be convinced.

It is now almost a year since ChatGPT came out and the hype has not fully settled. With recent developments on ChatGPT Vision and a bunch of other open source AI models, I am now far more convinced that we are at a tipping point in technology and knowledge work in general.

For example, I came across a video editing tool that can convert text to video — full with B-rolls and voiceovers! The videos are actually of decent quality and with some editing it will seem like it’s made by humans. A normal video editor would’ve taken a few hours to edit that video but with AI it is generated in a few minutes. The productivity gains are immeasurable. With these kinds of tools, I can’t help but feel like that little kid again, who played ‘Dave’ on a Windows 97 PC. It sparks a similar kind of excitement.

To think LLMs are still in their nascent stages and would probably just become better with time is mind boggling. For now if not anything, I conclude that AI is simply too powerful (and useful) to ignore and is going to fundamentally change the way we work.