The Mantra of This AI Age: Don’t Repeat Yourself

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the current state of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and how it can be leveraged to streamline repetitive tasks, freeing up humans for more creative and strategic work.

🙋 Q&A

[01] The Current State of AI Technology

1. What are the key limitations of the current generation of AI technology?

• AI technology cannot figure out problems it has not encountered during its training, and it does not learn from experience
• It struggles with basic logical reasoning (modus ponens)
• It is not a sentient, all-knowing "god"

2. What are the key strengths of the current generation of AI technology?

• It is broadly useful for a wide variety of tasks, performing at an expert level in many of them
• It can be thought of as having access to the collective knowledge and expertise of 10,000 Ph.D.s

3. How do the views of Dr. Emily Bender and Yann LeCun on the current state of AI technology differ from the author's perspective?

• Bender and LeCun see the limitations of AI as a letdown, while the author sees them as an amazing and important innovation
• The author argues that the ability of AI to do anything it has seen done before is a powerful capability, not a weakness

[02] Leveraging AI to Streamline Repetitive Tasks

1. What are some examples of repetitive tasks that founders and other professionals often have to do?

• Pitching to investors, talking to potential customers, onboarding new hires, and communicating with the team
• Repeating the same information, stories, and perspectives over and over again

2. How can AI language models help streamline these repetitive tasks?

• AI-powered Slack bots and email assistants can automatically handle repetitive questions and provide initial feedback, freeing up the founder's time
• This allows the founder to focus on more important, strategic work

3. How does this shift in how we see the world align with the concept of the "allocation economy"?

• As AI takes over repetitive tasks, our role changes from doing the work ourselves to deciding what work needs to be done and how to best allocate our resources
• The key skill becomes knowing how to effectively leverage AI to handle the repetitive elements, freeing us up for more creative and strategic thinking