The First BN Edition!
Farewell Brilliant Reads, welcome to the new newsletter from Brilliant Noise.
Dear Reader
It is just 191 days since ChatGPT launched. The most powerful technology of our time is now instantly available to 5.04 billion people worldwide.
‘AI advice is mostly nonsense. Why? Because it is too early and too wild a frontier for anyone to be as certain as many seem to be.
There’s a spectrum of AI advice – at one end is the management consultant’s generic approach – consider the risks and opportunities etc. etc. – and at the other is the hucksters’ “500 AI tools you need to make you a billionaire tomorrow!”, showing on Insta, TikTok and YouTube right now’
—Our CEO’s Antonym newsletter
From now on, Brilliant Reads is now BN Edition. Each edition of the newsletter will offer a small selection of items with a simple briefing based on the classic reflection and learning question set:
What: What is it?
So what?: Why this is important.
What now?: What can we can do today (or tomorrow at a pus
h) to respond as leaders, businesspeople, citizens and, frankly, humans…
It won’t be breaking news. It will be things that look like clues to our now-unfolding future.
Let’s start here with our change in focus.
Item 1: The FT’s new AI policy is a wake-up call for all businesses.
What?
A few days ago, its editor Roula Khalaf published a policy on working with AI.
So what?
One sentence stood out for us, emphasising the seriousness with which every organisation needs to take this:
Generative AI is the most significant new technology since the advent of the internet. It is developing at breakneck speed and its applications, and implications, are still emerging.
The FT was an early adopter of Brilliant Noise’s digital transformation services in our early years; we know and respect its culture. Its editors are not given to hyperbole. If you thought you had time to see how this unfolds before deciding to start engaging with AI, think again. It’s time to get involved.
Now what?
Dive in. We all need to start working with generative AI to understand its potential and the implications of its development.
At Brilliant Noise, we have been experimenting with generative artificial intelligence for some time. We found it was a significant boon for research, analysis, ideation and creative work. We have included it as a trend-to-watch topic for clients in briefings since 2020. Even with that foresight, we have been shocked by how fast it has spread and evolved in the past six months.
Brilliant Noise was founded to support digital transformation efforts at ambitious companies, and we’ve developed tech, knowledge and know-how and a people-first approach to riding the waves of disruption from the start. Artificial intelligence may be the biggest wave yet, and we’re all in on learning how to work with it.
Item 2: Nvidia CEO tells graduates “run, don’t walk” toward AI revolution
What?
Nvidia's CEO Huang Renxun recently spoke at the National Taiwan University's graduation ceremony, imparting key insights into the ongoing transformation of the global industry landscape due to the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. He urged students to “run don’t walk” to seize the opportunities.
So What?
Huang acknowledged that while AI might render certain jobs obsolete, it is bound to open new avenues like data engineering, prompt engineering, and AI safety engineering. He emphasised that businesses leveraging AI will flourish, while those failing to adapt might face obsolescence. In essence, Huang's insights indicate that the swift rise of Nvidia and its near entrance to the $1tn club is hard evidence of AI's boom.
What Next?
Senior executives, especially in the fields of marketing, digital, and strategy at global firms, should take note. It's vital to embrace AI's potential and re-evaluate organisational strategies to ensure competitiveness in this rapidly evolving landscape. Consider developing an AI policy and a roadmap for AI integration in your organisation, emphasising reskilling and upskilling of your
workforce for AI-driven roles.
Sources:
FT: Nvidia races to join $1TN club
Commencement speech by Nvidia CEO (In English from about 1:30 onward)
AI generated summary of the speech (by Summarize.Tech)
Item 3: AI and legal – ignorance is no defence
What?
New York lawyer Steven A. Schwartz, representing Roberto Mata in a suit against Avianca Airlines, relied on the artificial intelligence (AI) program ChatGPT to assist with his legal research and preparing a court filing. It resulted in a brief filled with nonexistent cases and quotations, raising concerns about the reliability of AI in legal proceedings.
So what?
While not a corporate legal story, this story is a cautionary tale – one of many — about the dangers of relying on AI for complex tasks requiring in-depth understanding, such as legal research, without quality checks built into the process. The repercussions of this incident were significant, prompting a hearing to discuss potential sanctions due to the submission of a brief containing "bogus judicial decisions." Human verification and expertise remain indispensable, particularly in professional fields like law.
What next?
Given this case's potential to set a precedent, senior executives, particularly those in the legal department, should follow developments closely. They should consider reviewing internal guidelines concerning the use of AI tools in essential operations to ensure these tools are used appropriately. AI policy should include rigorous checks and balances to prevent such mishaps. It is also an opportunity for AI developers to reflect on and improve the limitations of these technologies in generating reliable and authentic content.
During the early days of social media and marketing, there was a joke that if anything went very badly wrong in public, an intern would be blamed. This, even though back then, interns frequently knew more than the rest of the marketing team combined about social media.
Source: CNN: lawyer apologises for fake court citations from ChatGPT
Item 4: Watch and learn: Education is the front line of the AI revolution
What?
AI in education is already part of everyday working life for students and educators. It brings transformative potential and significant risks.
So what?
From personalised digital tutors to adaptive lesson plans, AI has the capacity to revolutioniae learning experiences. However, it also poses risks such as an over-reliance on technology, potentially leading to a "learning loss" of core skills, and impacting teachers' roles.
The incorporation of AI into education can lead to significant changes in how students learn and how teachers instruct. These changes could result in more personalised, engaging, and adaptive student learning experiences. However, the risk of students becoming overly dependent on AI tools and the potential reduction of teaching staff highlight the importance of carefully navigating the integration of AI in education.
What next?
Like schools and universities, brands must engage with this technology deliberately and thoughtfully but without delay.
Start by considering:
Establishing guidelines for the appropriate use of AI tools and investing in professional development for executives and training programmes.
Addressing privacy and cost concerns.
Employers need to be ready for new workers arriving with perhaps surprising depth of knowledge about how to get the best from AI systems.
Take into account the "rising floor" for jobs that can be automated and the new skills required for learning and development plans.
Implement practical policies and hands-on leadership development programs.
Watch how the changes evolve and apply the lessons in your organisation.
Sources:
Our CEO’s weekly personal substack newsletter Antonym
The Financial Times in-depth analysis of AI disruption in the education sector.
Bonus item: The best AI search engine isn’t ChatGPT
Our CEO wrote up a group test of AI tools for basic research with a surprisingly clear winner: Perplexity AI. The free (for now) app answers questions quickly, has up-to-date, accurate information and linked references and helps you go deeper on a topic fast. Putting it up against Anthropic, Google, Microsoft and Open AI’s tools, it got the job done best.
Thanks for reading, and we’ll be back soon with some helpful stuff. Let us know what you think about the new format.
Yours
The Brilliant Noise Team