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The Education Futures Blog

This study from McKinsey has some interesting observations:

"Current generative AI and other technologies have the potential to automate work activities that absorb 60 to 70 percent of employees’ time today."

And,

Our updated adoption scenarios, including technology development, economic feasibility, and diffusion timelines, lead to estimates that half of today’s work activities could be automated between 2030 and 2060, with a midpoint in 2045, or roughly a decade earlier than in our previous estimates."

An inflection point in the context of technological advancement—or in this case, AI—refers to a critical moment where the pace and impact of technological change accelerates significantly and irreversibly, altering the course of human history. We are at the precipice of changes that will likely trigger a cascade of transformations that are profound, widespread, and impossible to predict accurately, marking a fundamental shift in the trajectory of human progress.

ChatGPT exploded into the marketplace It's everywhere, helping with tasks from coding to education. Its rapid growth brings up some serious issues. While ChatGPT shows how AI can change the world, it also highlights the risks and disruptions it can cause.

ChatGPT, like many AI tools, spotlights the potential of AI to transform, and conversely, to disrupt. The dominance of ChatGPT raises significant questions about its broader implications.

Innovation typically outpaces regulation, and the case of OpenAI and generative models like ChatGPT is no different. This isn't just about slow bureaucracy; it's about the need for a deep and complex discussion between innovators and those who enforce society's moral and legal standards. There's a constant tug-of-war between encouraging new tech and ensuring it doesn't cause harm.

We need to solve:

  • How to handle AI-generated misinformation, especially given 2024 will be the biggest election year in the world's history.

  • Whether it is a good idea to centralize AI development in a handful of companies and providers instead of democratizing development.

  • Ensuring fairness and avoiding bias in AI.

  • Preparing for the impact of AI on jobs—it seems to me schools, and universities are not on top of this (more on that in a future post).

We must develop a critical awareness of our interaction with technology and how these technologies transform the human experience. And this requires more proaction than ever before to reconcile exponentially accelerating technological growth with ethical, societal, and educational considerations.

We're wowed by GPT-4. What will the next model and improved logic bring? Now that the race toward artificial general intelligence is hyper-accelerating, can we comprehend the new world? Or is technology accelerating beyond the capacities of human imagination? 2024 will no doubt be an eye opener.

(Image credit: DALL-E)