Want to know how to spot a terrible writer?

(Ducking for cover)

Want to know how to spot a terrible writer?

👉They’re really, really impressed with ChatGPT. 😂

(I was going to transition to today’s piece with “on a serious note” but I’m actually serious about that. And don’t tell me some prompt will make it better. It will only make it more specific but equally boring.)

I don’t hate AI. I hate the AI hype. The reality is: none of this is new.

Google’s been using AI in their search algos for decades. Social media companies too. I even spoke with a couple data firms who already created their own LLM’s before ChatGPT even came out.

The difference now: it’s widely available to use on a consumer level. And for companies to save a few steps and license on their own.

Technology has always improved and changed now we live and work. But it hasn’t eliminated very many jobs. It simply made people more efficient.

Old stuff: 

• Zoom 👉 Cram in more ‘face to face’ meetings.
• Google 👉 Research in minutes.
• Eventbrite 👉 Event planning made easy.
• Mail merge 👉 Spam the hell out of each other.

The difference with readily available AI: these sorts of changes will happen a hell of a lot faster. 

Some of what you’re doing today will be done for you in the near future. But don’t get too excited about how easy life will be. The Work Gods will throw more on your plate.

Despite all those changes above, we have more salespeople than ever. (Gross.) And I’ve had quite a few software engineers tell me how much time they save with ChatGPT…which allows them to write more and more code.

👉The takeaway: AI will allow generalists to become specialists. And specialists to become generalists.

If there’s any “concern” I have, it’s for those people looking to join the workforce. Without already knowing the basics of a core role, it’s quite possible they’d focus on the very same tasks that will be AI’d out of existence. (You know, because we ask the noobs to do the boring stuff.)

In closing: Skynet vs HAL 9000. Who you got?

James Hornick

Partner at Hirewell. #3 Ranked Sarcastic Commenter on LinkedIn.