3.1 Software eats world
Back in 2011, Marc Andreessen, one of the owners of the investment fund Andreessen Horowitz, wrote an article titled "Why Software is Eating the World". He pointed out how fast software is "eating" away real-world jobs.
With the advent of software, the internet, and mobile apps, the world may not have changed drastically, but it did change. There are those who got pushed aside by technological progress. But there are also those who rode the wave to riches. And, of course, some became billionaires.
It’s always been like this. In the 17th century, peasants in England were driven off their lands to make way for sheep farming. In the 19th century, 90% of people worked in agriculture, and today it's just 2% of the population. And yet, the percentage of people who are hungry is the lowest in history, even though the population is at its highest.
Technology boosts productivity. Machines and robots automate physical labor, reducing demand for low-skilled workers and increasing it for high-skilled ones.
In the service industry, software acts as these "machines": one accountant with 1C can replace a whole team of accountants from 20 years ago. But this will be a different accountant: they know computers, understand 1C, can order software customization for the company, and so on.
One person doesn’t just replace 10. A high-skilled employee + technology replaces 10 low-skilled ones. As a result, the service becomes cheaper for the consumer, the business owner earns more. And the employee is not complaining. Progress!
Opportunities keep popping up. The last big boom was in cryptocurrencies. But if you missed buying Bitcoin when it was $1, you just need to wait for the next Digital Revolution and jump on board with both feet.
By the way, you won't have to wait long because a revolution is happening right now.
3.2 Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence has been created. In the fall of 2022, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT 3.5. And the world will never be the same.
This AI easily passed the Turing test. It can play chess at a grandmaster level, passed exams in the most prestigious universities. And every six months, its capabilities double. Pretty exciting, right? Welcome to the future.
Major tech companies have joined the AI race. The demand for AI specialists is skyrocketing. Microsoft plans to spend $100 billion just on building data centers for AI training. Other tech giants are keeping pace. There's fierce competition among IT giants for everything AI-related: servers, data centers, experts, scientists.
Here’s an interesting tidbit. Turns out Nvidia A100 cards priced at $30k each are best for training AI. And suddenly, everyone needs them. Really needs them. Especially the big companies. So, Nvidia has received orders (and prepayments) worth hundreds of billions of dollars and is now valued at over two trillion dollars. Be like Nvidia.
3.3 How does this affect you?
The news is actually great. First, it’s already clear how the AI business will develop. It seems like AI companies will offer AI-as-a-service: they won't try to push all competitors out of the market, but rather become AI contractors.
Second, any revolution, including a technological one, is an opportunity to quickly climb the career ladder. "If you can't stop it, lead it!" So ignoring the AI revolution is unwise, joining it is wise. Even better is to be one of the first.
Human + AI will displace human without AI. Just as a person with a spear defeated a person with a stick, a person with a gun defeated a person with a spear, and so on. Artificial intelligence will significantly boost the productivity of those who know how to work with it. And such specialists will be needed everywhere.
Third, in the next decade, a bunch of products and internet services will emerge that will make the work of ordinary people better, faster, and cheaper. This will take the global economy to a new level.
Undoubtedly, these companies will need cool specialists who can use AI to create products that will provide services along with AI. You need to become that person.
3.4 "You were supposed to destroy the Sith, not join them" ©
Will AI replace programmers? Nope. Quite the opposite. Programmers will use AI to replace all other professions. The last profession to disappear will be programmers.
Join the dark side. The dark side of artificial intelligence opens up opportunities that some consider unnatural…
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