Work has been done on artificial intelligence models for decades, but most did not become aware of all this until November 30, 2022 when the company OpenAI presented the now famous ChatGPT. Since then, in just fifteen months, the landscape has been filled with experts and also charlatans. It is difficult to differentiate them because they all talk about both risks and opportunities and they can announce anything from the end of the world to the complete opposite, the disappearance of our jobs or the appearance of new business models, serious ethical problems or finally beginning to remedy the problem. unbearable bias that has been implicit in many of our decisions for too long. And in the midst of all this sudden mess we are expected to make decisions both personally and professionally. Difficult.
The first thing is to understand the context. The fact that everything has been digitized means that everything can be expressed with ones and zeros, from medical information to a banking transaction, from a photograph to a song, from a geolocation to an internet search, from a database to a doctoral thesis. . That everything is expressed with ones and zeros means that everything can be stored, operated with mathematical models and transmitted instantly to any point on the planet. Managing this constant flow of data required a new type of software capable of processing so much information and acting, also in real time.
Now there are two types of software, the old one, which is limited to doing what you have told it to do, and the new one, which is alert to see what to do. It is one thing to give instructions and parameters to a computer program, and another for the program itself to discover which are the most appropriate parameters. The name artificial intelligence is confusing and is perhaps better understood if we call it intelligent software.
We need clever software above all for the management of real-time processes, which are very dynamic and affected by large volumes of information. There is still another use of artificial intelligence, that aimed at the generation of content (images, texts, audios...), which in a display of creativity has been baptized as generative artificial intelligence. It is curious that this variant that affects the most creative profiles has received such a bland and predictable name.
What to do, both on a personal and professional level, could be much simpler than it seems. Basically we are talking about a new generation of software, and the dilemma boils down to deciding whether we wait for a manufacturer to bring us the software we need, or whether, on the contrary, we take the initiative and commission someone to develop a solution for us. specific.
Almost no one is going to commission computer developments based on artificial intelligence for their personal use, what the majority of us will do is adopt the versions that the manufacturers will offer. Programs as popular as Word, Excel or PowerPoint already incorporate these new functionalities and can now finish the letter we are writing, convert a twenty-page Word into a PowerPoint with only five screens or summarize a PDF of hundreds of pages in two paragraphs.
People won't say “I use artificial intelligence,” but they will simply say “I use the latest version of Word.” It's time to wake up and learn office automation again, and many companies will have to offer courses to their employees again. The same will happen with corporate management programs, accounting, logistics or warehouse management: most will expect the manufacturers of their current programs to offer updated versions with these possibilities. It's time to call our corporate software providers to find out their plans, schedule and price, as well as legal and ethical guarantees.
Finally, we must decide in which cases we choose to make our own developments. Many companies will come to offer us new developments based on AI, with promises that may be competitive advantages, but in too many cases they will be a waste of money and energy. We are going to see a lot of pyrotechnology, which is like a firework that looks pretty but only serves to impress. The crux of the matter is to focus on solving problems and improving specific processes. Once again, the challenge will be to be willing to explore new ways to be more efficient.
