Generative AI- Is it just a hype?

Generative AI has been around for a while, but it truly went mainstream when OpenAI released ChatGPT to the public. It became an instant sensation, and now it seems like everyone is familiar with this technology. However, there’s still a lot of confusion and skepticism surrounding it. At industry events and conferences, I often hear the same question being asked - Is this just hype?

To be fair, I understand why many people, even those at the forefront of technology, are still trying to wrap their heads around the potential impact of Generative AI on their businesses. Will it truly be a game-changer, or is it just a passing fad?

This discussion reminds me of my first experience with the Internet as a kid. My parents were considering buying a computer, and someone suggested they get one with Internet connectivity. They had no idea what that meant, but they went ahead and purchased a computer with an internal modem (which was the norm back then) and signed up with a local ISP.

I vividly remember the awe I felt when I realized that I was viewing information from a computer on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, right in my own home. I excitedly called my parents to witness this miracle, but they simply nodded and said it looked nice. They couldn’t see the difference between the Internet and any other game I had on my computer.

In 2005, Thomas Friedman’s book “The World is Flat” shed light on how the Internet was breaking down barriers caused by distance. It enabled employees in developing countries to work on a global scale. I distinctly recall him saying that while he was told as a child to finish his dinner because there were starving kids in Africa, his message to his own kids was - Finish your homework because there are people in Asia hungry for your jobs. Nearly two decades later, it’s evident that he was right. The Internet, and subsequently the Cloud, have helped remove some of the barriers and opened up opportunities in third-world countries.

But as someone who moved from Asia to the UK, I can attest that there are still challenges. Language is one of them. No matter how much I work on my English, I’ll never speak it as fluently as a native speaker. And that’s not the only obstacle. I also have ADHD, and while I manage it well most of the time, there are moments when I enter a hyperfocus state, and I have to seize those moments because I never know when they’ll come again.

I’m not alone in facing these challenges. Many people across the globe are grappling with similar issues. This is where Generative AI is making a significant difference in the world and helping to level the playing field. The barriers that once held me back now have an easy solution. I can express myself effortlessly using Generative AI, and I can use it to streamline tedious tasks, overcoming both the language barrier and the challenges posed by ADHD.

This alone has the potential to change the world we live in. And this is without even delving into the technological use cases, which I’ll dedicate a separate post to.