These days I am buzzing with excitement, it seems to me that we are on a roller coaster ride in tech currently. [In fact I had to update this post twice in the last few days to include Google XR and then again for Veo 2] Most of us are aware of ChatGPT of course, and it is marvellous no doubt. But our brains are extrapolating that things will change drastically in 20 years or so. Even the most optimistic amoung us, think that it will be another 10 years before another big thing arrives.
But ‘Big’ things are happening right now, right here. The pace of change is both alarming and exhilarating. Take Sora or Veo 2 for example – what was once a fantasy (Text to Video) is a reality now. Notebook LM from Google – I was listening to a podcast of 2 AIs discuss in great detail a summary my notes that they had created. For the most part it was absolutely believable and oddly soothing compared to having to read the entire notes myself.
Also from Google we have the Willow, a quantum chip that is going to revolutionise computation for certain types of problems. It can do stuff in 5 mins that would take a super computer more than the time already spent in this universe. Of course it is just suited for certain tasks but it is still mind bending.
The important take away is that tech growth is not going to be linear like the recent Apple Intelligence or Google XR glasses, not even exponential, it would most likely be double-exponential. This is wonderful news if you are a tech enthusiast. But then, great changes come with great disruptions as well. If I were an artist today and not very tech-inclined I would be worried. If I were in any business involving data but don’t have an inkling of AI, I would be worried as hell.
Then we have the ‘Unknown – Unknowns’. With our limited brain power we are only thinking of stuff, well, that we can think of 🙂 Like how the great Asimov imagined that futuristic tech meant books will be opened and pages turned by machines – he never could think of semiconductors and Kindle. Similarly, we think that AI will do this, make that better, but my bet is that we are not even remotely prepared for what is in store in future – a future that is very close by
The fact is that we are generating history at a faster pace. A world without smartphones feels like a long time ago, a world without computers, unthinkable. A world without AI would feel the same, in just a few years from now.