Today, we are living through one of the most historic inflection points in our history. AI will thrust our civilization to new heights, with a few bumps along the road.
There have been other important stages in the past like electricity, gas, oil, radio, television, cable TV and more from yesterday, through wireless, smartphones, iPhone and Android, the Internet, broadband to name just a few today. AI, as the next, new growth sector is thought to be bigger and more important than anything before.
Artificial intelligence has been with us for decades in different stages. However, suddenly the AI growth-wave has accelerated and is now coming on strong.
Do you fully understand it? Most of us do not. In my opinion, we had better get up-to-speed quickly, because it is coming on strong and quick.
As I visit with companies giving speeches in an effort to bring their workers and executives up-to-speed with all this AI stuff, I share with them that they have a choice. Either ride the AI growth wave or it will pass them by.
Today we are in the early stages of AI. This is when we need to test the new waters and prepare. We need to understand this new technology and how it will impact our world. And as the tech continues to update and upgrade on a regular basis, this is a challenge. One important question is, will we be a leader in AI, or will we be a fast follower?
Who really understands AI today? The sad and frankly confusing part of this story is, very few. Even senior level executives do not fully understand. They know more today than they did just two short years ago, and they know more than the average person, but most really do not understand.
Remember, it was just two short years ago when CEOs of major corporations like Microsoft and Google admitted they didn’t understand this new technology, or how quickly it would grow and change and how to harness its power.
On Twitter, or X, I recently watched a university professor who teaches AI warn his new students about how this upcoming course would change their perceptions of AI.
He said today you think you understand artificial intelligence. However, he says even he does not understand it, and he is a teacher. He said the more we learn, the more confused we will be. You may get many questions answered, but that will also create many new ones as well. Questions we do not yet have answers to.
Read more: New classes explore the promises and predicaments of AI
Executives stop workers from using AI
During the past couple years, senior level executives at companies who were leading the charge with development and advancement of AI technology, also forbid their workers from using it out of fear their corporate secrets would be revealed or worse.
Can you imagine Steve Jobs forbidding Apple employees from owning and using the iPhone out of fear of what it would do to them or their company? Neither can I.
Could this be a cause for alarm? Perhaps. That’s a topic up for debate. However, AI cannot and will not stop. It is one of the most powerful tools, man has ever created. And it is still an infant. So, while we must understand AI the good and the bad, we must also know how to invest and profit from it.
The reason for their actions was simple. They didn’t know if their private and secure information would stay that way. In fact, just a few short years ago AI was feared by many executives as a back door of sorts, which would expose them and their competitive secrets.
I visit with companies who want me to see what they are doing in the AI space. They want me to tell the world about them so they can be discovered. A difficult effort in such a crowded and noisy space. They also want me to brief them on what I am seeing and hearing from others in the field.
There are more companies in this space than you can imagine. There are countless large, well known, leaders like Nvidia, OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, plus countless smaller and lesser-known competitors. They all need help spreading the word, getting the message out to become powerful brand names in AI, and to grow.
AI is just a top-level term
There are also many different sectors of AI. Think of AI as a top-level term on a chart. However, there are plenty of other technologies in the game which fall under this header.
There are companies who make their machines smarter than the human being. This let’s us scour medical databases and find cures in mere moments, where the human mind simply is incapable of doing the same thing.
There are also companies who make the type of AI which writes its own code. This is one part that could be incredible powerful, but we simply do not know what the future will look like, for better and for worse.
There are countless different versions of AI like GenAI, ChatGPT, Agentic AI, General AI, Generative AI, Narrow AI, Evolutionary AI, Super AI, Theory of mind, Self-aware AI, Limited Memory AI, Reactive machines, Artificial Superintelligence, Artificial General Intelligence, Reactive AI, Limited Memory, Machine learning, Natural language processing, Computer vision, Expert system, Reinforcement learning, Robotics, Supervised learning and more.
Plus, I expect this long list of different AI sectors to continue to expand. This vast amount of new capability will change our lives and change the world we live in.
So, now is the time to get up-to-speed on AI. Remember, AI is just a term. Under that term there are plenty of different kinds of technologies.
Born into a new world with new technology
Remember, we have already lived through several of these kinds of revolutionary times. Just think about your own lives as an example.
Depending on your age, you likely grew up in the same kind of world as your parents. However, in the past 20 to 30 years the world has changed. That means todays children are growing up with new technology and new expectations and the parents can no longer teach. They are learning as well.
Today, wireless and the internet along with streaming TV and social media, and much more have completely changed our lives. And that change will continue to grow.
Suddenly, children being born today are growing up in a completely different world that the one their parents grew up in. A world full of AI, Quantum, IoT and so much more.
AI will take that new reality to a completely new level, for better and for worse. We cannot stop it, so we had better get smart about it so we can profit from it.
Fortunes will be made and lost as AI continues its growth path. That’s why you must understand this new technology and the many different sectors of it.
Today even the experts do not fully understand what tomorrow will look like. Some stocks will be hot today, but may quickly be replaced by the next, big thing.
If you are an investor, knowing when to enter and exit is key. Any way you slice it; today it’s time to get-smart on AI.
AI will go even further and faster than any other technology we have every experienced or learned about over time. This could turn out to be both advantageous and dangerous.
So, jump in and get your feet wet. Increase your AI understanding and continue to grow with the new technology. Now is the time!
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