AI is the Next Big Thing. What Are Your Doing About it?

AI is poised to upend the world in ways we can barely imagine.

Work, relationships, health care, law, government, military... Every aspect of our lives will be affected in some manner. Think about how the Internet has changed things and multiply by, I don't know (nobody knows), something, let's say 10. You can quote me: Mike Marks says that, "AI will be 10X bigger than the Internet."

The multiplier is meaningless. But the point is not.

So far we've been tickled by fun toys like Chat GPT and AI generated images. Those little trinkets have already put people out of work, have already changed the ways that we create content and process information. That's just the tip of the tip of the iceberg.

Set aside the average Joe. Inventors and entrepreneurs are barely registering the tidal waves of changes that are about to hit the planet in work, lifestyle and even fundamental human values.

So far, the people working in AI have pretty much kept to themselves. We hear their thoughts leak out every now and then. But we really don't know what they're thinking.

I now have a clue. I spent the weekend thinking about AI and applied my thoughts to a subject I've been interested in for a long time. I came up with a solid invention idea and filed a provisional patent app for it.

My thinking was inspired, even brilliant (pat self on back) and the implications are both wonderful and hideous. It would be an irresistible product. Crack cocaine for social media. I felt like Edward Teller might have felt contemplating the creation of the hydrogen bomb. Thinking through problems to make the thing work was deeply interesting and fun. There are arguments for how it could be a good thing. But it is also an awful thing - there's a lot of potential bad.

Looking closely at the implications of AI is to consider fundamental questions of what makes us human.

The question facing those of us who lead the way in creating new products and processes is how to harness AI for good and mitigate the bad. I don't have an answer. But all of us should be thinking about it.

As for my AI invention? I'm not planning to commercialize it any time soon. It's super cool but also grosses me out. We'll see how things progress. If I can figure out a way to mitigate the bad effects, then I'll do it. Until then, no.

- Mike Marks