There’s no need for a 20-year-old to write a book. Especially about a technically complex, experientially-mature computer science discipline. Having never worked in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry before, what kind of opinion might I have? Would people even care for it? How would someone who has worked in the field for years react to my work? All these questions constantly ran through my head.
I had only read a dozen books, listened to double the amount of podcasts, and done copious amounts of research. Surely, this did not insinuate that I write a 100+ page book about the future of AI. Still, I did.
Let’s be clear, I’m not saying my book is the best AI book available. It’s definitely not the most advanced or technical. It absolutely wasn’t the first book about AI to hit the digital shelves of Amazon’s marketplace. To me, this book was a natural progression for the story of AI.
For so long, the narrative around the technology was advancements, and the inevitable Singularity. More recently, some books have dived into the technical specifics, or the history of AI combined with the path to general intelligence. Other books focused on how AI is affecting the world right now, in terms of inequality and mass surveillance, and they have their place in the conversation. However, no book, to date, focused on how AI would affect the most digital generation ever: Generation Z.
Obviously, I have a predisposed bias. Being a member of this techno-generation, I felt almost like a pioneer. My generation grew up with technology within an arm’s reach, some within a voice’s. Our world experience is based solely around Google, Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia, and the other websites and applications we have taken for granted. So, when I looked back on our novel connections with technology, and how that same technology could rupture our future foundations and disrupt our careers, there was no hesitancy, on my part, at least, to begin this writing expedition.
I’ll be brief about the exact reasons that led to my conclusion that a book about AI was the best remedy for the disruption of Gen Z. Sure, I could have done a podcast episode about it (which I have). I could have created Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok accounts to spread the message on social media (which I do).
A book, for what it’s worth, is still a traditional and timeless informational artifact. I could craft the pages in any manner I chose, and shape the narrative away from technical jargon and advanced concepts, malleably shifting certain ideas to a more accessible and understandable route. Teaching a generation with the attention span of a tweet is no easy chore.
My passion and motivation sprouted simply to inform. Nothing more, nothing less. That’s why the book is very short, and doesn’t try to do many things. Giving data in an unbiased, unaltered fashion seemed like the best solution to notifying the public of these technological repercussions. I didn’t have to give an opinion, simply point and let the data do the talking. Most people come to the same conclusion: AI will disrupt them.
Within 18 months, I had a solid product written in my voice, with my soul—hyperbolic, but important. People can definitely notice when someone is uninterested, dishonest, or in it for themselves. I made sure to never possess those traits. My goal was, and never will be, fame or money. I just wanted to inform my generation that they must pay attention to external technological shifts, and pay close attention to the types of skills they acquire and develop over the next decades.
Frankly, my mission is not over. In fact, its just getting started. Utilizing the power of social media, I aim to teach more and more people about the power of this advancing technology. Most importantly, I want to help spread awareness of how their lives will change when Silicon Valley titans start automating away jobs like no tomorrow.
A lot of work remains to be done. I have to grow on social platforms, and really start a conversation on what future skills (precisely!) people should acquire, and delve into the details of automation, autonomous weapons, and all things AI.
Sure, call me an AI diplomat. But if no one else, established or not, is going to take charge and start leading people in the right direction, someone has to take up the responsibility of leading an entire generation out of ruin.
Let me get back to work.