Grantham Business Club committee member writes about AI

AI is here and it’s not going away, writes Grantham Business Club committee member David O'Brien.

Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google says “I’ve always thought of AI as the most profound technology. More profound than fire or electricity.” In other words, Artificial Intelligence will change our human world in the same way as the discovery of fire or the harnessing of electricity.

It is important to note that AI is not a good thing. It’s not a bad thing. It’s just a thing. Like electricity or fire. Electricity can kill you if used wrongly, but it enables our global communications network which previous generations could not have imagined.

Your phone has 100,000 times the processing power and one million times the memory compared to the NASA computer which put man on the moon in 1969. Did you know that 21% of three year olds have a phone?

AI is here and it’s not going away. For businesses, AI presents a risk and an opportunity. This can be summed up in the saying “AI is not going to take your job. But someone using AI is.” In the same way that computers and mobile technology changed the world of business over the past 30 years, AI will transform the world of work. But at a pace we have never seen before.

There are three key factors in the growth of AI. Firstly, the amount of money being invested. Nvidia, who make computer chips used in AI, overtook Microsoft this month as the world’s second most valuable company just behind Apple. Secondly, AI is available to anyone with an internet connection (that’s 5.4 billion people), so the scale of development is something we have never known. Lastly, quantum computing will accelerate the rate of change.

So, what can businesses do to prepare? Above all, be AI curious. Spend time discovering what AI is, how it can help your business and share your knowledge with your colleagues and your network. Experiment with the technology, rather than being sceptical. And those three year olds with phones – they are part of Generation Alpha (born after 2010). Along with Gen Z (born 1997-2010) these are the first generations to grow up with the internet and AI. It’s not “technology” to them. It’s just normal. Tap into their knowledge and creativity.

Grantham Business Club members, John Youens and David O’Brien, run The AI Business Hub on the first Tuesday of each month at Inara Systems on Alma Park as a forum for business owners to learn about AI and share their discoveries.