⏩ The Future Normal: Fast Forward
⏩ The Future Normal: Fast Forward
How will we learn about AI? The end of bureaucracy? Is Apple's Vision Pro the Future Normal?
After last week’s end-of-month more wide-ranging roundup 31 signals of The Future Normal, this week we’re back to a smaller, more reflective curation of news stories that help you make sense of where things are headed.
This week, some thoughts on learning and AI, how it could transform our relationship to hard-to-understand bureaucracies, and of course, the big tech story of the week, Apple’s launch of its Vision Pro googles.
Let’s dive in…
Google’s AI education: stuck between the pre- and post-AI worlds.
This week Google released a free, 9-part Introduction to Generative AI course. On one hand, this is obviously something to celebrate, as it means anyone can learn about a technology that will undoubtedly shape their lives.
Yet this is very much a pre-AI 'solution'. Ask yourself, how many people will actually seek out, and take this course? How many will finish it? Even if it's tens of thousands, it's still essentially a rounding error when compared to ChatGPT and Midjourney’s daily users. More importantly, how much benefit will students get from this one-size-fits-all approach to learning about AI?
The truth is we will learn about AI as we use it. What if Google embedded this educational content and exercises right into the generative AI tools which are coming to Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and more. Imagine if after you hit the 'Help Me Write' button in Google Docs, you could click 'How Does This Work?' to learn more about how your output was generated.
As we learned from Salman Khan's recent TED talk – the best education is 1:1. That's what AI promises – the ability to create in-the-moment explanations that are deeply personalised to what you care about. That’s what they are building at the Khan Academy, and I couldn’t be more excited.
💡 The broader insight here?
Take a look at your innovation pipeline, and ask yourself: "How much of our output is carried over from our pre-AI world? If so, are there new approaches that will use AI to make our products and services more relevant for our audience?"
UpCodes Copilot: the beginning of the end for bureaucracy?
ChatGPT might be great at writing limericks, or even acting as your therapist. But when it comes to technical questions where the stakes are high, you would be advised to proceed with caution.
Yet its in fields where modern life has become so complex to be almost un-navigable – science, law, and healthcare – that AI can offer the most benefits.
Building regulations are one such area. UpCodes is an online platform that built (pun intended!) its business by helping architects, engineers, and contractors navigate the compliance process of their building projects. Last week it launched UpCodes Copilot, an AI chatbot interface which allows users to query the five million building code regulations it covers. Users enter their jurisdiction, the type of building and its occupants (all information which has important implications on which regulations apply) and can then ask the Copilot questions, such as “what is the maximum occupancy of a 5 storey, 30,000 sq. ft. residential building?”. The Copilot’s answers contain citations back to the underlying regulations, and users can also ask it to summarise or explain complex sections.
There’s a running joke that our AI-filled future of work will see someone using AI to expand their bullet point notes into a long document, only for the recipient to use AI to summarise it back into bullet points.
However depressing that scenario, UpCodes’ Copilot makes perfect sense. Building code regulations are complex, highly specific and frequently updated (the company processes about 7,000 updates to the regulations each month), so a specialised LLM makes perfect sense. Even then, Upcodes stresses that users should still proceed with caution with its Copilot as it can still hallucinate, like all LLMs.
💡 The broader insight here?
There’s a lot of focus on the threat to jobs from AI. But full automation is really freaking hard. Especially in high risk sectors – like real estate (but also finance, law, healthcare, to name a few tiny sectors).
In UpCodes’ own words, its Copilot “isn’t built to replace the professional, but is a tool that professionals leverage.” Now that’s a mantra that any B2B company should be placing at the heart of its AI strategy.
Apple’s Vision Pro is The Future. But will it be The Future Normal?
It’s not in my nature to be too skeptical, and I’m certainly nervous to dump on an early Apple release. Yet its new Vision Pro feels incredibly uninspiring. Not so much in terms of the tech itself – I don’t doubt that the experience will be amazing. But it terms of what it says about where tech is headed.
Apple has long been the most human-centric of all of the big tech companies. The one that just 'got it'. But this short clip from the launch promo sums up its overriding challenge. Because no matter how mind blowing the experience, putting a screen between a parent and their child like this will never feel right.
I don't buy the narrative that the natural arc of technology is to become ever more immersive, as many are claiming. In certain use cases more immersion is better. Gaming, movies, watching sports, fitness, porn (inevitably). But there are far more use cases where that is not the case.
Steve Jobs famously said that computers were like a bicycle for the mind. Bicycles take us further, faster. Technology should do the same.
Contrast this to the other big current tech story, generative AI. The reason that I’m so excited about AI is that it’s not just a bicycle for our minds, it’s a jetpack. Look past all the hype, and the breathless media reporting of all the negative use cases and outcomes, you can see a future where billions of people will do more, faster – which is the ultimate promise of technology.
💡 The broader insight here?
In our book, myself & Rohit Bhargava urge anyone thinking about 'the future' to pay more attention to what will – and what should! – become 'normal', as well as just to all the shiny tech novelties coming our way.
Apple's Vision Pro is, in many senses, 'The Future'. But I'll bet that it is not part of our Future Normal.
What Is The Future Normal For Your Business?
My new book, The Future Normal: How We Will Live, Work & Thrive In The Next Decade, explores 30 trends, from continuous glucose monitoring to job sharing.
I also give inspiring, actionable presentations that help your team spot and seize emerging opportunities.
Get in touch if you'd like to discuss an upcoming event or project.
Or, sit back and enjoy the keynote that myself & Rohit Bhargava gave at SXSW to launch the book:
Thanks for reading,