Generative AI and Productivity

🗞️ The Tech Issue | August 21, 2023

Author

Qamar Zia
August 21, 2023

☕️ Greetings. It's Monday, August 21st. I'm excited to share some amazing AI news and updates with you today. Let’s dive in.

🗞️ Today’s Highlights:

  • LATEST NEWS & TRENDS — Generative AI boom "could come to a fairly swift end"

  • INDUSTRY | FUNCTION — 74 Artificial Intelligence Statistics to Guide Your Marketing Plan

  • RESOURCES — Building an AI chatbot with Next.js, Langchain, and OpenAI

  • WORK — LinkedIn Future of Work Report: AI at Work

  • AI TOOLS — Visual QR: Generate beautiful QR codes using AI

  • JUST FOR FUN — AI Tom Cruise's Conversation with AI Kant, Does artificial intelligence have "free will"?

🤖 According to this Google article, Generative AI offers significant productivity boosts, with potential increases of up to 114% in efficiency in some domains. Recent studies highlight how AI can enhance worker productivity by 66% on average, with larger gains in complex tasks. A primary advantage of AI is its ability to amplify output without increasing burnout, ensuring both business and end-user value. However, harnessing AI's full potential requires a framework focusing on human-centered design, diverse metric evaluation, understanding of raw data, recognition of dataset/model limitations, continuous testing, and consistent system monitoring. When integrated thoughtfully, generative AI can revolutionize businesses, yielding a more efficient and competitive workforce.

🗞️ LATEST NEWS & TRENDS

1️⃣ Gary Marcus, a leading AI expert, has expressed doubts about the expected transformative impact of generative AI like ChatGPT. Despite growing interest and predictions of an "AI revolution", Marcus points to unresolved technological issues such as generating false information and interface challenges. He warns that current global enthusiasm might be overly optimistic, risking policy and economic decisions. Marcus also criticizes the US for potentially prioritizing rapid AI development over necessary regulations.

2️⃣ The generative AI industry is set to expand by USD 34,695.37 million between 2022 and 2027, boasting a CAGR of 32.65%. A heightened interest in AI-fueled content across sectors propels this surge. An uptick in the use of extensive language models marks a significant trend. Yet, the scarcity of high-quality data poses potential hindrances. Noteworthy entities in the arena include Accenture, Adobe, Alphabet, and Amazon.

3️⃣ Contextual AI has partnered with Google Cloud to advance its AI solutions for businesses. Emerging in June 2023, the company prioritizes customizable and privacy-focused AI tools. Utilizing Google's robust AI infrastructure, including GPU VMs and TPUs, they aim to refine enterprise data-driven responses. These models enhance accuracy and traceability in sectors like customer service. Douwe Kiela, Contextual AI's CEO, emphasizes Google's AI prowess as pivotal. Google Cloud echoes a shared vision for innovative AI development.

4️⃣ Autonomous accounting, powered by AI and hyper-automation, revolutionizes enterprise accounting by automating processes, enhancing efficiency, and cutting costs. Generative AI, a form of AI that creates content autonomously, is applied in accounting for tasks like document analysis, conversational finance, financial question answering, report generation, analysis and forecasting, fraud detection, and sentiment analysis. It streamlines tasks, improves accuracy, and offers various benefits in finance. A growth and profitability guide for finance leaders is also recommended for staying competitive through innovation and efficiency.

5️⃣ Generative AI and its Impact

  • Generative AI promises vast economic growth, with Large Language Models (LLMs) potentially adding trillions to the global economy.

  • The Jugalbandi Chatbot in India exemplifies AI's potential by translating English information into native languages.

Concerns Surrounding AI

  • AI advancements pose risks: synthetic entities that mimic humans can lead to misinformation, fraud, and other harm.

  • Notable misuses include market disruptions from AI images, political manipulation through fake accounts, and election interferences with AI deep fakes.

Proposed Regulations

  • While safety measures, like requiring AI tools to self-identify, are proposed, they may not fully address the threat.

Identity Assurance Framework

  • An identity assurance framework is recommended, focusing on trust through authenticity verification.

  • Over 50 countries are developing digital identity credentials; India's Aadhaar leads the way, and the EU follows.

Information Integrity

  • Ensuring genuine and authentic content access is critical, built on:

    1. Verifying information sources.

    2. Confirming untampered content.

    3. Automated fact-checking and crowd reviews.

Challenges and Global Responsibility

  • Balancing privacy, security, and truth in the digital age poses challenges.

  • Global leaders must champion safe AI deployment, emphasizing both regulation and engineered online safety.

🗞️ INDUSTRY | FUNCTION

The rise of AI tools in marketing is evident since ChatGPT's emergence in late 2022, accelerating AI adoption rates. This article presents 74 AI stats encompassing perspectives of organizations and consumers. From top use cases to concerns, it offers insights into how these tools are perceived, aiding their implementation. Notably, ChatGPT achieved 100 million users rapidly and AI growth is projected to reach $407 billion by 2027. While many see AI's potential for positive impact, concerns about rapid development persist. Consumer trust varies across contexts, and AI is shaping marketing strategies, customer service, and social media algorithms, driving engagement and satisfaction.

🗞️ RESOURCES

The guide introduces LangChain and Next.js as a powerful combination to integrate AI experiences into web applications. It covers building an AI chatbot using LangChain, OpenAI LLMs, and the Vercel AI SDK. The tutorial includes:

  • Cloning the LangChain + Next.js starter template

  • Setting up environment variables

  • Installing required packages and running the development server

  • Building an AI chatbot with various functionalities

  • Implementing structured outputs with OpenAI Functions

  • Creating autonomous AI agents

  • Using Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) for contextually accurate answers

  • Utilizing LangChain and Next.js to enhance web application user experiences.

🗞️ WORK

The LinkedIn report "Future of Work Report: AI at Work" helps us understand the ongoing changes in the world of work due to the rise of AI. According to the report, LinkedIn gathered data from over 950 million LinkedIn profiles. Following are the key takeaways:

  • AI's Growth in Job Market:

    • There's a significant increase in job postings mentioning AI technologies.

    • Since November 2022, there's been a 21x rise in job postings mentioning AI technologies like GPT or ChatGPT.

    • By June 2023, there's a 9x increase in LinkedIn members globally who possess AI skills compared to January 2016.

  • Generative AI (GAI) in Workforce:

    • GAI technologies, such as ChatGPT, are on the verge of reshaping our work environment.

    • 47% of US executives believe GAI will boost productivity.

    • 92% of executives think soft skills (people skills) are becoming increasingly vital.

    • While AI will transform jobs and the required skills, it won't necessarily eliminate them.

  • LinkedIn's Role in an AI Era:

    • LinkedIn aims to support professionals in upskilling and adapting to AI advancements.

    • AI-assisted products on LinkedIn cater to a variety of professionals, including jobseekers, hirers, marketers, and thought leaders.

    • LinkedIn offers platforms for professionals to engage with AI experts, find AI-centric jobs, learn from leaders in the field, and upskill through LinkedIn Learning.

  • Future Endeavors: LinkedIn will continue to update and expand on these insights in upcoming reports. Given its vast network of professionals, LinkedIn is uniquely positioned to assist the global workforce in navigating and benefiting from the AI revolution.

🗞️ AI TOOLS

Zeda.io: AI-powered product discovery for customer-focused teams. Discover problems to solve for customers, decide what to build next based on actionable product intelligence, and create product strategies to drive business outcomes.

Memorable: High-accuracy AI to improve branding and the performance of every ad

Wope: New Era of Rank Tracking. Find out what's working and what's not to get more search traffic. Like an SEO consultant who can analyze millions of data.

Broadcast: Stop wasting time manually writing weekly updates. Quickly draft updates in Broadcast with AI and share on Slack and Email. Broadcast makes sending weekly updates fast, and simple.

Visual QR: Generate beautiful QR codes using AI.

Kickresume: Create a beautiful resume quickly with the help of artificial intelligence and our customizable templates. Impress your future employer with a perfect resume created in minutes.

Disclaimer: 1) The tool descriptions may include messaging from each tool site. 2) Please thoroughly read the site details before using and/or acquiring any of the tools listed above.

🗞️ AI TOOLS

Zeda.io: AI-powered product discovery for customer-focused teams. Discover problems to solve for customers, decide what to build next based on actionable product intelligence, and create product strategies to drive business outcomes.

Memorable: High-accuracy AI to improve branding and the performance of every ad

Wope: New Era of Rank Tracking. Find out what's working and what's not to get more search traffic. Like an SEO consultant who can analyze millions of data.

Broadcast: Stop wasting time manually writing weekly updates. Quickly draft updates in Broadcast with AI and share on Slack and Email. Broadcast makes sending weekly updates fast, and simple.

Visual QR: Generate beautiful QR codes using AI.

Kickresume: Create a beautiful resume quickly with the help of artificial intelligence and our customizable templates. Impress your future employer with a perfect resume created in minutes.

Disclaimer: 1) The tool descriptions may include messaging from each tool site. 2) Please thoroughly read the site details before using and/or acquiring any of the tools listed above.

🗞️ JUST FOR FUN

 👀 AI Talk is a YouTube channel that produces these interesting AI-generated videos. 

Disclaimer: The audio-visual content is courtesy of the source provided above.

Join my community by subscribing to my newsletter below:

🔴 Please reply to the confirmation email sent to you, after submitting your email address to start receiving the newsletter.

My Community

Join my professional communities on LinkedIn

How was today's newsletter?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

I'm not a newsletter expert so you might find my approach a tad different. In my daily dives into the world of AI, I handpick the latest gems, initially to support the AI projects that I’m working on. Realizing that these snippets might resonate with others, I thought, "Why not share this with my community and fellow AI enthusiasts?" I truly want this newsletter to be valuable to you so if there's anything on your mind—praises, critiques, or just a hello—please drop me a note. You can hit reply or shoot me a message directly at my email address: [email protected].

Reply

or to participate.