Technology and the new economy… artificial intelligence (AI,) is our opportunity to flip the script! 

What we are seeing now with Open AI/Chat GPT and the race between the tech giants Google, Microsoft and others is no different from what we’ve seen throughout history. It’s called capitalism! 

The race to conquer others, to control resources (data is the ‘new oil’) and the systems of production; is nothing new in human history. 

Those who control the data and intelligent technologies will control the world! And a concentration of power only exacerbates further inequality and cultural and racial discrimination in the world. 

The game is not going to change, because human nature doesn’t change, only technology does. So recognize and figure out your playbook.

Race and inequality are the most vulnerable to AI. And if white guys are dominating the sector, developing all the IP, building all the tech and fintech companies, and writing all the algorithms, their human biases become embedded in the programming—in the wealth ecosystem. 

It’s simple, the machines take on the biases of the young white males who are training them, exacerbating the existing problems and inequalities in society. AI résumé screening technology, for example, exposes how the Large Language Models (LLM) the machine language that runs AI is biased. In one example, the system placed the greatest weight on two candidate characteristics: “the name Jared, and whether they played high school lacrosse.” This essentially pulls to valuing a certain demographic — young white males—placing them at the top. 

Scientists at Amazon spent years trying to develop a custom AI résumé screener but abandoned it when they couldn’t engineer out the system’s inherent bias toward white male applicants. 

When a user asks a generative AI system (e.g., ChatGPT, Midjourney,) for an image of an architect, for example, you’ll almost certainly get a white man. If you ask for an image of a “social worker,” the systems are likely to produce a woman of colour.

The irrelevancy of entire groups of people, Black and Brown primarily being the most vulnerable to not being valued in the new economy, is why diversity in tech is so critical! We have to be part of designing the future, not merely existing in it. 

Here are five things you can do right now to ensure you thrive in the new economy.

The first is to avoid predictability. It is important to understand that AI is not generating any new insights; it’s simply aggregating and predicting language based on prompts. It merely predicts and proliferates. Humans who are applying their intelligence can create significant value for themselves by learning how to work with and extract value from AI. This is because human value comes through very human experiences — relationships, successes, and setbacks — your humanity is your competitive advantage, in the digital era. If you can harness, package, and deliver to the universe, your value in the universe will go up, and so will your earning power.

Second, hone in on the skills that AI tries to imitate. While AI can imitate it can’t ever be human, it doesn’t have general intelligence, it’s just a series of predicting algorithms. It can’t display empathy, self-awareness, and creativity. However, in reality, it’s just a constructive illusion. So don’t become delusional about AI, know exactly what it is. And if you can see AI for what it is, an augmenting tool, then you can release your fear and anxiety about it. You can focus instead on leveraging your unique value-creating proposition towards your employer, or as an entrepreneur.

The third point is to double down on the real world. AI can’t disrupt our metaphysical existence, our authentic human communication, and our connections with each other and nature because business is still very much dependent on human interactions and socialization.

This leads us to the fourth insight, which is about investing in your brand. Again, AI is only a tool, a powerful one nonetheless, but still a tool that can present generic work that can help accentuate and confirm your creative value. The ones who should be concerned, however, about AI replacing them are the more technical and advisory-type people among us. The task-driven jobs - AI will do them better, extraordinarily faster, and at a fraction of the cost. And it will only continue to get better…so align with it intelligently and strategically — this is where the authentic content creators, innovators and critical thinkers, risk-takers…the entrepreneurs have the opportunity to outperform.  

The 5th and final way to future-proof yourself is to develop recognized expertise in your industry. So even if AI can perform cursory first draft functions, its output still has to be double-checked by a trusted, reliable source. We are that source. Human executive decision-making will remain highly necessary and central to everything for the considerable future, after all, humanity doesn’t have a history of erasing itself, its history is about thriving through the Sophistication of Self-Preservation (SSP.)

Your ability to reinvent and reinvest in yourself, enhance, and refine your outputs and your unique value proposition in the universe is your competitive advantage, your superpower. Execute it and it will lead to the creation of extraordinary opportunities and value for yourself, your family, and your community. 

Go get it!