“The world is poised on the cusp of an economic and cultural shift as dramatic as that of the Industrial Revolution.” ~ Steven Levy
I’m not the first to compare the wave of artificial intelligence adoption and innovation that we’re currently riding to the seismic shift our world underwent during the Industrial Revolution. Economists, historians, technology futurists and even luddites all agree that what’s happening today is more than just new technology; it’s a transformation so profound that it’s true impact will not be measurable for decades.
For the vast majority of us who have normal jobs and the normal person’s weight of everyday cares, the hype surrounding AI today can seem like nothing more than that. And marketers, if I may… we’re particularly skeptical.
The past ten years we’ve watched new networks, even new features on existing networks, be touted as “game changers” and “revolutionary” to the point such monikers have lost their meaning. Not everything can be game changing. Not every new tech is transformative.
Bitcoin. NFTs. Metaverse. X lol. When the hype behind new technology is motivated by profit margins, it’s hard not to be cynical, isn’t it. It’s so much easier to focus on our work and our lives and the things we know we’re supposed to do each day, and worry less about what what’s purportedly coming in the coming years.