Quick, you have to AI before it’s too late
I am 100% convinced that you have to get involved with AI. I have been convinced of this since about 2018. That’s why, in part, I enrolled for a masters course in AI in 2020. I couldn’t really fully dedicate myself to AI as I am a family man and have another job. My first daughter was born in 2020 and we welcomed my second, last year, in 2024. Despite all of these life changes and new challenges, I knew that I had to start getting involved somehow. The masters course was my first foray into AI.
Whilst I was unshakably confident that I should get involved in AI, I wasn’t sure exactly what I should get involved in. The ‘easiest’ thing would have been to transition myself into a data analyst or what is sometimes called a business intelligence analyst. I currently work as a business analyst. The transition would have required some additional skills but I’m fairly confident that it’s something I could have done. But for similar reasons as to why I am not a software developer currently, I wasn’t entirely happy to go in that direction. The reasons for rejecting software development centre around the constant need to keep up with software development trends and also my experience with doing some computer programming when I did my bachelor’s degree in computer science modules many moons ago.
What to do within AI is what you need to figure out for yourself. I am still figuring out where I can fit in and what I need to do. But the first step is knowing that you need to do something, and quickly. The advancement of AI has been rapid and there has been renewed optimism since an AI called Alpha Go beat a world champion in the notoriously difficult game of Go and the advent of generative AI popularised by Open AI’s ChatGPT chatbot. You need to try things. For example, there are many AI tools available and being proficient in the use of these tools is likely to be a big advantage.
My advice to everyone, and the younger you are, the more pertinent, is they have to get involved in AI in some way, shape or form. Back in the late 90s and early 2000s, IT (Information Technology) was the buzz word. There was a dot com bubble, that eventually burst, there were a lot of companies created, which provided a lot of value. There were a lot of changes, which ultimately led to the extensive digitisation that we have today. Those that were involved with IT back then found the new world, dominated by IT, much easier to navigate. Those that shunned it and uttered phrases like “I’m not good with computers”, “The internet is not real life”, “I prefer things as they are now” and similar, were confronted with an ever changing world, harder to make sense of, with each passing year. Some things are now impossible to do without using the internet. For example, internet banking, internet dating and online shopping.
In my view, this is where we are with AI today. Predictions are a fool’s errand so there is little point in speculating on exactly what comes next with AI and how exactly it will permeate the world and at what rate. Whilst an AI winter, where progress slows down, can never be ruled out, I think recognising and understanding the opportunities that AI is already providing us and making sure you are part of it going forward, is paramount.
