How Generative AI can Unlock the Future of Efficient Work?

The story of human evolution consists of momentous leaps. I was recently reading the best seller 'Sapiens' (by Yuval Noah Harari) with my son. Earlier in the book, it highlights one such leap: the invention of fire. By enabling cooking, fire dramatically reduced the time our ancestors spent on basic survival, freeing them for more complex endeavors. For instance, cooking saved early humans up to five hours a day that our cousins, the chimpanzees, spend chewing raw food.

This idea of time-saving through innovation recurs throughout history. Take the invention of the wheel, for instance, which revolutionized transportation, transforming time-consuming journeys into faster commutes.

Today, we've crossed another transformative threshold with Generative AI. Jaspreet Bindra, in his LiveMint article (link in comments) titled 'Generative AI will require us to recalibrate how we do our work' (my sketchnote summary included), cites a recent tweet by renowned software engineering leader Kevin Beck:

“I had been reluctant to try ChatGPT. Today, I overcame that reluctance. Now I understand why I was hesitant. The value of 90% of my skills just plummeted to $0. The leverage of the remaining 10% surged 1000x. I need to recalibrate."

This points to a profound realization: the true potential of AI is belatedly recognized by many but is nonetheless inevitable.

However, if you look at the news today, much of the conversation about AI focuses on its negative impact on jobs. This overshadows an equally important aspect: how AI is positively transforming work. I appreciate how Jaspreet makes a distinction between a job and work.

A job is an economic role we play, and work encompasses the tasks we undertake within that role.

Work essentially spans three dimensions: Act, Show, and Create.
- Act: the direct role we play in our job - a chef cooking, a coder programming.
- Show: how we present our work - reports, presentations.
- Create: crafting something new - an innovative dish, a complex algorithm.

In the early days of Generative AI, we associate its value more with the 'Create' function, but its potential to redefine 'Act' and 'Show' is enormous.

Consider a teacher leverages AI to generate personalized reports ('Show').

Envision a financial analyst, whose AI assistant processes vast amounts of market data, identifies patterns and trends, enabling the analyst to focus on strategic investment recommendations ('Act').

A graphic designer, who leverages AI to generate initial design templates based on specified themes or concepts, freeing the designer to concentrate on the creative refinement and originality of the final output ('Show').

It's time for us to recalibrate how we approach work with Generative AI, just as our ancestors did when the discovery of fire reshaped their existence.

Are you ready to embrace the shift? What challenges do you anticipate?

LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/anujmagazine_how-generative-ai-can-unlock-the-future-of-activity-7070049419210985472-Ewr9/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop