European AI Conference 2024 - My Thoughts

The European AI Conference 2024, how to sum it up? One of the talks was titled 'What is going to happen in the next 18 months?'. A talk with a question mark attached is as good a focal point as any, because it’s fair to say that there were probably more questions than answers.

The talk was opened by the panel laughing and asking who created the title for the talk. 'Why don't we try starting with what's going to happen this week? We've already had GPT 4o and Google I/O launched this week and it's only Thursday!' They want on to explain that Chat GPT4o has more information than the internet (I'm not even sure I know what that means!), Chat GPT5.0 will be 10x more powerful than 4o and will be out this year. 6.0 will be out next year and will be 10x more powerful again. That's 100x more powerful than this week's earth shattering launch, and it's going to happen next year! One thing the panel also agreed on (with an actual LOL) was that anyone that tries to predict what's going to happen will be drastically wrong!

I often find with these panel discussions that you're starting to check your watch after 45-50 mins, waiting for it to end and dreaming of your coffee. When this one ended after the hour, neither the panel nor the audience wanted to leave. We were only getting started, it was really great. Let's look at a few highlights

They talked about the transformation of the workplace: this time last year a small-medium software company would have been trying to hire a team of 15 developers to write and manage their code, now it's 4x AI literate developers.

They walked about copyright, is it a thing of the past? A relic?

They spoke about up until now that technological evolution has been all about more effective ways of distributing information, from the first written word to the printing press to Google search and smartphones etc. But now, it's about generating information. A complete change of direction for the first time ever.

There was talk of the browser being a thing of the past in the very near future. Will we go to Chat GPT or Gemini app to find information from now on? The days of search are kind of over(ish) anyway, we find most things through recommendations and networks - is AI just a hyperextension of that?

But for all the changes in technology, how long will it take for the world to catch-up? That was a really interesting focus. For example, established enterprises like banks or big business aren't going to suddenly jump in at the deep end. This isn't really a hypothetical question either - how many of us still use archaic banking apps?? They aren't even up to date with current trends. Small companies and start-ups will be nimble and incorporate it a lot quicker.

As education is my passion, I'll sign off on some thoughts/questions regarding AI in education as a kind of summary of where all this might be going. Bearing in mind that I 100% agre with the statement that 'anyone that tries to predict what's going to happen will be drastically wrong!' Schools will incorporate AI in familiar tools like Google Workspace or Canva - where it's helpful but non threatening. But realistically, how far are we from every student using Gen AI as a personal tutor to help them in class? I don't see teachers ever being replaced, personally I would hate to see it for my own children and for the world. The human connection is vital. The question left in my head at the end is this. With AI advancing exponentially quicker than anything we've ever seen before, will the value of human intelligence and human connection also increase exponentially?