Work Different

CHAPTER 7Intelligence Is Getting Amplified

Everybody, Meet ChatGPT; ChatGPT, Meet Everybody

First, there were sharp sticks and rock walls.

Then there were feather quills dipped into jars of ink.

Then there were pencils, crayons, markers, and ballpoints.

Then there were mainframe computers, PCs, the internet, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

Then there was an app that could generate a competent white paper, or a readable blog post, or an essay about sharp sticks and rock walls. (It can't write an entertaining and informative book about the future of work though. At least not yet.)

The app in question—as you might have gleaned from the section header—is ChatGPT. Now let's ask a couple of questions about said app:

1. Are we psyched about this super‐easy‐to‐use piece of tech, or do we wish it remained in the lab?
2. In 2034, will Gen AI be a beloved tool for work and fun, or will we rue the day it hit the market, triggering mass layoffs and…the Robot Uprising?

Damn good questions.

For now, Gen AI brings up mixed emotions. Some feel a breathless excitement about its potential, while others can't shake the fear that AI might impact their employability. Some will celebrate this tech as the first step on the journey to life‐altering superintelligence, while others feel it's the first step on the journey to Armageddon. What we can all agree on is that the humanizing of responses from big data, and its sheer accessibility to the masses, is a watershed moment that will be marked indelibly ...