The AI Talent Landscape — Trends

AI is integrating into every part of business, but the users who are leveraging this technology are not spread evenly — just like Geoff Moore’s “Crossing the Chasm,” there are early adopters to laggards, and it seems as if many in the world are trying to adopt AI because of the immediate existential threat it provides to companies if they do not adopt.

Responsibility is the new prerequisite with innovation — there is no more “break things and learn” mentality — it is “break things responsibly.”

I find that in my experience, learning AI is just about being in and around the right places, the right information, and the right literature. Often when I’m trying to do something with AI, I find 10 other things that are way more important than the thing I’m trying to do.

Another interesting paradigm of AI innovation is that there are no AI mentors; it is truly a self-driven exploration, and we can in fact use AI to drive this exploration.

The truth is it’s not going to change — there will never be a set learning. My dad once told me that in his law practice, when you read all the literature of the specific law he did, what ended up happening was that the ongoing work was to deepen and refine that knowledge. With AI, everything is getting outdated faster and faster, so the new learning is not about depth, it’s about staying in flow, keep adding new information to see the forest (and the vastly expanding forest) from the trees.

From a McKinsey study — Gen AI happens to be doing well in marketing and sales, and also product and service development. These are the communications aspects, the customer-facing areas. Gen AI knows people well, it knows language, and it can speak in a tone that you want, and take massive amounts of inputs that far surpass a human brain, and put it together to enhance marketing and services.

Some of the major problems arising are IP infringement and inaccurate results.

Learning to cope with these risks and prevent downfalls creates the need for consistent practice, reading and talking to people — it’s a holistic experience.

So find a way to keep getting reps, learn to be uncomfortable without straining, and stay in the sweet spot of effort.