We are told that AI will change the way we work and it will increase productivity in all that we do. Ethan Mollick mentions the idea of ‘augmentation’ in his book Co-Intelligence. By augmentation he means that AI should be seen as a way to enhance the things that we do on a regular basis freeing up time to work on things that bring greater value to our lives. He takes an optimistic view on the future of AI suggesting that there will need to be a “human at the table” when interacting with artificial intelligence. It becomes a co-worker, a colleague and when it doubt, invite your AI tool of choice to the table. It is also a great way to get started with AI. If you have a birthday party to plan for a friend and you’re looking for some creative ideas, invite AI to the table and ask it to generate some suggestions. I have had the best results when I prompt AI to “act as” a party planner, to continue with this example.

Elaborating on the idea that AI will increase productivity, we will see AI touch on every aspect of our lives. Some of these areas will be more obvious and others less. We are already interacting with AI on a daily basis, every time you open up a social media app or you’re presented with a targeted google ad. AI is a General Purpose Technology (GPT coincidently) in that it will touch on many dissimilar areas of life. Mollick talk