A fundamental characteristic of AI is that it unlocks the inherent power of computers for everyone. For decades, the promise of computers seemed beyond the everyday reality. Accessing and leveraging computational power to create real world outcomes was difficult. It required skills that most people simply did not have. Humans and computers spoke different languages.
I’m a native English speaker, and I speak a few words of a few other languages. The difference between what I can accomplish communicating in English and what I can accomplish communicating in Spanish, my second best language, is vast. Similarly, the difference between what a native Spanish speaker could accomplish in a Spanish-speaking country and what I could accomplish in that same country is also vast. In that situation I would have to rely upon an interpreter.
My second best “computer language” is HTML, and it’s a distant second. Until recently, that meant that my ability to create real world outcomes with computers was constrained, just as my ability to accomplish things in Mexico City would be. I could still “get by”, but certain things were not feasible. To do everything I wanted to do, I would have needed an interpreter.
I remember in the 80s and 90s, when personal computers themselves were new, people would talk about all the things you could theoretically do with a computer. You could do your taxes, keep the books for your business, or make a flyer for your kid’s school play. But in reality, to actually do even those relatively simple things was not always easy.
Even today, imagine you wanted the computer to add two numbers for you: 2+2. If there was not a “Calculator” app, what would you do? Getting a computer to do even trivial tasks has required a lot of translation.
This has all changed. We’ve taught the computers to communicate with us. All of us. In our native language.
AI gives us all direct access to the power of the computer. No interpreter needed.
That’s the equalizing part. Suddenly, billions of people have access to computational power that was previously out of reach. You are one of those people.
What will you do with that power? That’s the differentiating part.
To use another example, information has long been a commodity. Even before computers, we had libraries full of books that cataloged human knowledge. Yet people today go through their whole lives trying to “reinvent the wheel” on stuff we figured out ages ago. They don’t take advantage of what’s already in front of them.
Let’s take fitness. It’s no secret that eating well, sleeping well, and getting a lot of exercise leads to health and wellbeing. But how many people do those things regularly?
All through history, human achievement has depended upon what individuals have done with the knowledge, tools, and circumstances available to them. AI is no different.
A whole new world of opportunity and capability has just now opened to you. What will you do with it?