AI Strategy Simplified: Charting AI’s Journey from Humble Beginnings to Technological Transformation

Zack Kass, AI Futurist, keynote speaker, consultant and the former head, Go To Market, OpenAI,   condensed his vast experience and deep knowledge into a practical guide that demystified the complexities of AI, offering an insightful perspective on the evolution of this disruptive technology. Delivering pragmatic strategies, Kass demonstrated how organizations can adapt and thrive amidst the rapid advancements in AI by highlighting where we are, how we got there, where we’re going and how people can prepare. 

Focusing on the present and future of Artificial General Intelligence, or AGI, Kass argued that AI is set to simplify the lives of individuals and businesses through AI’s eventual human intellectual equivalence, leading to another industrial revolution. Due to our current mass tech capabilities, people may not understand AI’s upcoming impact, but Kass asserts that the consequences will be massive. 

“We are on the verge of the most profound industrial revolution in human history,” says Kass. “Imagine explaining the moon landing to someone in the 1900s.” 

Through utilizing research in AI technology,, Kass has concluded that AGI will be the ultimate demarcation in human history – who we were before it, and after it. We are much further along technologically than people realize, and Kass says to expect monumental change by 2030. 

Since Chat GPT 4’s launch, research has shown a 12% profit margin improvement amongst companies using AI. Additionally, the S&P market cap has grown to $6 T. Conversely, AI is getting much less expensive, leading Kass to believe a mass deflation will be incoming. Economically, he says this will result in less economic competition, lack of copyright enforcement, medical and social advancements and more. 

Wearables and implantables stemming from enhanced applications followed by AI-powered autonomous agents are “guaranteed” with this industrial revolution. Kass’s only concern is using technology to do things without recognizing the consequences. 

“The problem is we may assign AI a task that has grave, unintended consequences,” says Kass. Additional concerns include loss of critical thought, existentialism, disconnection from the physical world and body, and what he calls “identity displacement.” Rather than losing jobs, Kass says people will develop more soft skills, but in return, the things they worked on before, or parts of what they see as their identity, will be lost. Though humans may get time and fulfillment back, good policy will need to be in place to make sure AI integration goes smoothly. Compute deficits, energy deficits and more are to be expected, and this “social upheaval” will change everything from schooling to the work week. 

With this information in mind, Kass says to prepare by familiarizing yourself with the technology. Learn how to learn, design your work life around things AI cannot do by optimizing humanistic qualities such as empathy, wisdom and more. 

If humanity follows this guidebook, “The future is great,” according to Kass.