Generally Productive Talks #9 - An Ai World

Introduction

In this, my 9th and final blog in the GPT series, I examine the overall findings from this series, the investigation could go on forever as Ai will affect all aspects of life, but the point of this series was to use Chat-GPT to explore areas and show how the tool can help frame and develop discussion on ideas, a goal that to me has been achieved

Chat-GPT has already changed the world, its mere existence has started a 21st-century arms race that now rages on between companies and countries, the result of which could be truly mind-blowing in how it can improve all aspects of life, but could also result in a multitude of disasters

Design & Development

This blog series began with an exploration into how Ai is and can affect my area of Product Design and Development, while today it is still in its infancy and affecting it less than it already can in other areas it is clear many aspects of D&D will be revolutionized by this technology soon:

• Market and Trend Analysis

• Idea Conception

• Design Specification

• Concept Generation

• 3D CAD

• Design Analysis

• Design for Manufacture

• Prototyping

• Tooling Design and Optimization

• Supply Chain Management (including Costing and Optimization)

• Colour Matching

• Personalization and Customization

• IP Protection

• Production

• Packaging, Branding, Marketing

All the above and more areas will be immensely impacted and changed by technology coming out in the next few years and will continue to be so as it continually improves, the possibilities for efficiency and improvements in quality and quantity are exciting to consider

However, it will have negative sides too, it will mean that many jobs will no longer be needed, it will cause positions, companies, and entire areas that exist now to be unnecessary and the new norm will be in managing Ai and a limited and decreasing number of highly creative individuals. For the next decade, this will be a funnel effect as the number of people lowers but the cognitive analysis and creative quality required have to increase, which will mean many will no longer be able to compete

This change will reduce jobs but many new studios and specialist small companies will start up offering numerous services for personalization and customization and local manufacturing reminiscent of the cottage industries of the past. These new businesses will help localize supply chains in many cases and provide better user experiences as products are made for each user rather than a percentile

Ai will change Design and Development, it will change what it does and how it does it, in time it may even remove the need for humans to be involved at all, at which point I wonder what people will be able to do

Consumer Products

Ai will continue to be integrated into products at an ever-increasing rate, building a connected world that makes everything tailored to each person, this will be comforting for many, while some will violently rally against it, much like has happened through each stage of development thus far. The worrying aspect of the combination of Ai and IoT will be the level of privacy we lose and the amount of information available, data security will be a huge concern, and how to protect people while allowing the benefits this combination offers will be a constant battle

Ai and Life

Imagine waking up to a gentle alarm that has changed the environment in your room to make you most at ease after ensuring you slept like a baby. Entering your bathroom that lights to the level you're most comfortable with at a temperature you enjoy, playing music you love all without saying a word or doing a thing, and each aspect aiding to make mornings almost effortless. Either going to your home desk or traveling in a driverless vehicle to an office with few but exceptionally talented colleagues in person or via VR/AR to work on ideas that are constantly evolving and in ways that make what were complex issues simple to solve

Working only as much as you want to and spending most of your time with your loved ones, while not having to worry about how well your child is doing in school as you can always know their progress and see how their teaching is being adapted to best suit them while learning new things yourself in fun interactive ways through VR/AR, before falling asleep with ease, knowing that your health is secure and home is safe

Ai and the World

The above is easily possible with the level of customization and personalization that is probable, the efficacy and timeframes I have discussed in these blogs are highly debatable but Ai's potential is not. I have provided ideas in each blog for changes in 5, 10, and 20 years, creating almost a utopia of living, but to achieve that many variables can affect it, most notably how governments and society will adapt in the next few years and what growing pains occur in this immediate and unknown period;

• What do people do who don't have the skills that are needed, or have skills that aren't needed anymore

• How do people earn a living

• How do economies even function

• What drives people to want to improve when life is easy

Given how society is structured, how politics are run, and how people are manipulated in today's world, these questions will fundamentally change life and could cause many problems in many countries while a new balance is achieved. Different countries will advance at different rates, some trying to limit the technology while others embarrassing it, and many may skip entire stages of development with the adaptation of Ai, their people living without considering many of the concerns stated, perhaps never even being aware of their existence

If the above is not considered or planned for it will be messy and given the planning will be hard and require unpopular decisions and short-term suffering, it is safe to assume it will not be planned for, and then what happens... that is an open question we are all about to live through

Final thoughts:

The world we are about to enter excites me, the changes we are about to experience concern me, and the amount of change needed in a world resistant to any change scares me, but at heart, I'm a product guy and I know one thing after all these discussions which for me will make it worthwhile

Whatever the outcome, it's going to be fun...