To tap the power of AI in organizations it is critical to understand the distinction between Generative AI and more traditional AI, which is perhaps best termed ‘Analytic AI’. Recently I have frequently seen these domains confused. Generative AI is not all AI, as many imply. It is a relatively new domain with characteristics distinct […]
We seem to be in a three decade cycle of belief in open-ended potential for positive change. I was born too late to experience it properly, but when I was younger I always felt the 1960s had been the most magical time in human history. For the first time ever the established hierarchies had been […]
MIT professsor David Autor is one of the leading labor economists in the world and expert on the impact of technology on work. I have frequently referenced his work, notably on the polarization of work. An interview in Financial Times shares his perspectives on the role of AI in work. As Autor emphasizes and I […]
The last few days have marked the massive bust in virtual events: Verizon closed down BlueJeans, Run The World bought by EventMobi, and Hopin’s event management platform was acquired by RingCentral. Hopin was valued at $7.6 billion and now appears to be valued at around $400 million. Verizon paid $500 million which is now effectively […]
Powerful forces of decentralization over the last decades, underpinned by the Internet, flowing through to societal shifts, and expanded by distributed technologies such as blockchain, have reshaped business and society. However governments and regulators have largely tried to block these forces, often successfully. The global economy is still founded almost completely on joint-stock companies, with […]
For a couple of decades San Francisco has been my ‘second city’ after Sydney, where I’ve gotten to know the city, built a network of fascinating people, and run a number of conferences. After a break during Covid, I’ve been back briefly 4 times in the last 8 months, usually en-route to US speaking gigs, […]
I’m in San Francisco at the Internet Archive (one of the most wonderful artefacts in the history of the web – read about it), attending an AI Knowledge Mapping Hackathon run by Society Library Founder Jamie Joyce, The event supports the building of a knowledge graph of public debates. This event focused on Marc Andreessen’s […]
I first came across the concept of the Singularity a few decades ago. I was intrigued but sceptical on a number of fronts. There seemed to be some massive and highly questionable assumptions behind it all. Yet a belief in the concept of accelerating returns in all its guises has been central to my life, […]
I just came up with the concept “non future optimal”. I googled it and some variants with zero results so it seems like a fresh idea. Let’s dig into it what it could mean. A starting point is Bryan Johnson’s decision to live his life entirely in accord with a longevity optimizing algorithm he calls […]
After chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov was first beaten by a computer he introduced what is often called “centaur chess“, in which humans and machines collaborate, historically often beating either humans or computers on their own. A centaur is half-human, half-horse, but importantly the head and torso are human and the body is horse, giving agency […]
