Framework for AI-Enhanced thinking, Jerry Kaplan on the future of AI, should the future be human? ...and more

February 02, 2024

“This is not a race against the machines… This is a race with the machines.” - Kevin Kelly

I can’t think of anything more important to focus on in 2024 than AI-Enhanced Thinking. There is so much to dive into, so much potential to augment ourselves, and such big challenges facing us which will demand us to be the best we can be. See below for a framework of the domains of AI-Enhanced Thinking.

This week’s podcast is with Jerry Kaplan, who founded an AI firm in 1981 which later went public. He applies the depth of his understanding to sharing how generative AI will impact work and jobs, and the future of AI, among other topics.

For those who may be interested, my AI-Enhanced Thinking & Decision-Making cohort course starts one week today. This is where I apply everything I have learned in a fun, fast-pace learning experience - have a look!

Ross

📖In this issue

  • A framework for AI-Enhanced Thinking

  • Research: How to improve diversity of ideation from generative AI

  • Neuralink implants braing chip in human

  • NEW SECTION: What’s hot in AI

  • Jerry Kaplan on the new Renaissance, AI’s impact on work, prompt engineering, and the next phase of AI

  • Using concept maps to propose the World Wide Web

🤸🏽In practice

A framework for AI-Enhanced Thinking

AI-Enhanced Thinking is a massive and growing field. This framework lays out the major domains across Cognition and Action where it can be applied. Within each are shown representative techniques and structures for augmenting our capabilities with AI.

Explore it and let us know any thoughts, as always this is a Beta v1 framework which will evolve over time.

👩🤖What you need to know in Humans + AI

Elon Musk posted that the Neuralink interface has been implanted in a human. He also said the first product from the company would be called “Telepathy” and allow "control of your phone or computer, and through them almost any device, just by thinking".

How to improve diversity of ideation from generative AI

A very interesting research study shows that out of the box GPT-4 doesn’t create great diversity of ideas, but prompt engineering can improve this substantially, especially by using Chain-of-Thoughts structures.

Future of work using AI

Microsoft’s new Future of Work report is, actually, very good. It delves into a range of specific approaches, techniques, and frames for applying AI to work, well-referenced throughout. Worth reading and absorbing.

🔥Hot news in AI

  • Open source model nears GPT-4 performance - VentureBeat

  • Sam Altman says GPT-5 will be “OK” - Algorithmic Bridge

  • Google’s new text-to-video model Lumiere impresses - The Verge

  • Humanoid robotics company Figure is in talks to raise $500 million - Bloomberg

  • Midjourney released its ‘Niji 6’ update for anime (example below) - Dataconomy

🎙️Latest podcast episode

Jerry Kaplan on the new Renaissance, AI’s impact on work, prompt engineering, and the next phase of AI (AC Ep29)

Podcast main points

Jerry Kaplan is a serial innovator, Silicon Valley entrepreneur, bestselling author, and keynote speaker. He has founded four Silicon Valley companies, two of which became publicly traded, including the AI firm Teknowledge Inc, which he co-founded in 1981. In this episode he discusses:

  • Parsing the misunderstandings and realities of AI

  • Impact of AI across professions – enhancing productivity and transforming work

  • Emerging professions in AI

  • A strategic approach for managers and institutions in adopting AI

  • The irreplaceable value of personal skills and emotional intelligence in the world of A

  • The probable evolution of Prompt Engineering

  • Developing law for machine responsibility and liability

Should the future be human? Or are you happy for humans to be supplanted by AI?

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Google cofounder Larry Page disagree so severely about the dangers of AI it apparently ended their friendship.

At Musk's 44th birthday celebration in 2015, Page accused Musk of being a "specieist" who preferred humans over future digital life forms [...] Musk said to Page at the time, "Well, yes, I am pro-human, I fucking like humanity, dude."

Scott Alexander of Astral Codex Ten fame digs deep into the philosophy and ethics of what is becoming a hotly debated topic.

Thank you for reading!

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