• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, April 5, 2023

If you have children who are going to be entering the workforce in the next 10-15 years, you had better get them leaning in on AI now, or they risk being a step behind when they should be trying to get a leg up.

The advancements in AI are coming at a staggering pace. Current AI responds to questions based on aggregated machine learning and inferences acquired from training data across the web. This next generation of AI is being trained not only to learn from mistakes, but hypothesize responses based on weighting the probable outcomes of mashing together disparate sources of data to create likelihood of accuracy while looking at past performance to create a decision for moving forward.  This model comes close to AGI, or artificial general intelligence, and it is truly fascinating.  AGI has lots of people scared, but more immediately, this is an opportunity.

What does this mean for our kids?  It means they will need to be capable of harnessing the power of AI as a productivity tool. They will need to know how to partner with it and add that most human of characteristics onto a probability-driven decision-making algorithm.  In effect, the AI will be the science, while our kids will be the art.

Creativity in problem solving, or creativity applied to disrupting the status quo in solving a problem, will always be a decidedly human characteristic.  Think about marketing as a primary example. The science of building a persona, developing a plan and implementing a campaign is very scientific.  In the last few years this has become a wholly data-centric process and somewhat standardized across the industry.  The art of it all lies in doing the unexpected, whether in the creative messaging or in the placement itself.

That underlying scientific approach can be automated to about 90% if this augmented AI approach takes hold, and staffing requirements will be lowered to run an agency or a marketing department, because the foundation will be available in a fraction of the time through technology.  There will still be supervisory roles to oversee the technology, plus the art will become even more important.

The art is where your kids will flourish as they become the final decision on the standard approach vs. the radical approach that is meant to shake things up and do something different.   Your kids (and mine) need to be capable of reviewing the recommendations rendered and building upon, improving, or disrupting them with the unexpected.  No AI will ever come up with the unexpected because, by definition, it can’t be mapped out in advance.

There is a camp that is worried AI will replace our jobs, and I understand that.  If you spend the time worrying about it rather than planning for it, then you will indeed likely be replaced. 

Efficiency is an inevitability, so plan to take advantage of it.   Teach your kids to look at these tools as enhancements to their process and let them begin working it into their day. They should not be replacing their ability to learn through using AI, but they should be using to get to the end result in a more efficient, more effective manner.