Economist and founder of The Creative Disruption Lab, the largest AI incubator in the world, Ajay Agrawal has a unique understanding of how ChatGPT will revolutionize the economy. He reveals, in tantalizing detail, where we are going and how we will get there. “Upskilling millions of people in their ability to create and manipulate images will have a profound impact on the economy,” Ajay writes in The Harvard Business Review.
The former editor-in-chief of WIRED and now the CEO of a 700 person media company, Nick Thompson knows what is at stake as he implements his own AI strategy. Theory meets practice, aided by unparalleled access to the senior players at Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Apple—he even spoke to the founder of OpenAI on the very weekend ChatGPT was launched.
Kate Crawford says that although ChatGPT’s immense capabilities may seem magical, they’re not. We can and must understand how this technology works. As a Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft and the author of the award-winning Atlas of AI, Kate is uniquely equipped to show us what goes into generative AI, so that we can move towards a more equitable future and adapt to, and with, this technology.
In the business world, generative AI like ChatGPT is bound to create massive changes within all organizations. Stephanie Mehta, former editor in chief of Fast Company, says that AI is a tool that can make business professionals more productive and innovative than ever before. Stephanie spoke to Lavin about the potential of generative AI: “When you think about the applications, we’re just beginning to scratch the surface.”
Douglas Rushkoff witnessed digital technology emerge from the most creative side of the California counterculture, only to get subsumed by Silicon Valley venture capitalists. He argues that we need to set the agenda on generative AI today, to ensure that it doesn’t run away with us but becomes a powerful tool. “Rather than repressing human agency,” he says, “AI can unleash the creative potential of our organizations, if we dare.”
“Using ChatGPT isn’t cheating,” says Nita Farahany. “It isn’t unlike the seismic shifts in thinking that we’ve had when the calculator was introduced.” As a leading expert on neurotechnology and author of the forthcoming The Battle for Your Brain, Nita says that we just need to adjust how we think about thinking, and start learning how to ask the right questions.
In his recent blockbuster article in The Atlantic, Stephen Marche says education will be completely overhauled—and that isn’t a bad thing. Generative AI will give us the opportunity to rethink the role of teachers and students, and what education is even for. “We’ve been teaching students how to write like machines for a long time,” Stephen says, “and now we’re going to have to teach them how to write like human beings.”
To Alexandra Samuel, generative AI is just one of many tools that are bringing us into a new era of work. She’s a digital workplace expert and co-author of the book Remote, Inc., on the future of work. “The rise of AI and the explosion of hybrid work aren’t unrelated,” she says. “They’re just two different frontiers in the way digital tools have transformed how work gets done.”
Generative AI may seem nebulous, but it’s just an extension of existing tech and math, says Jordan Ellenberg. When we figure out what goes into it, and understand its strengths and weaknesses, we can use it as a partner at school and in everyday life. Drawing on his instant New York Times bestseller Shape, which reveals the hidden geometry of everything around us, Jordan gives us a clear and fascinating look behind the scenes of generative AI.
