Author
Chris Moore
Date
27 March 2024
AI: The Great Tech Inflection
Inflection time, again
AI represents an inflection point larger than the revolutions sparked by the PC, Internet, mobile, and cloud computing. Where the internet transformed content ownership, distribution networks, communications, payments, how we work and accelerated the giants of the magnificent seven it also rapidly shifted the balance from older established businesses to these newer upstarts. Mobile and cloud computing inflections further strengthened their hold and these companies combined market cap is now over $13T USD.
Looking ahead, there is a case to be made that AI will boost these existing players even further, but it will also create new opportunities and no-one is immune to change. Ask Nokia, ask Kodak or Blockbuster. Every leading company is a tech company now. Much like every company will need to be an AI enabled company in the coming decade.
Break the law
Typically once an inflection point is hit, there are obstacles in the way to faster adoption. Key handbrakes restraining AI's full potential include energy consumption, computing power, bandwidth limitations, storage constraints, model scalability issues, and training data deficiencies. While once computing was constrained by Moore’s law (2x every 2 years), this is now being replaced by Nvidia’s Huang’s law of 1000x over 8 years. Say hello to the Blackwell GPU. Literally, just say hello. In any language.
But we are not yet at the point of AGI, but given the exponential application of AI and the ability to use AI itself to help design the next generation of AI processors and systems, ad infinitum, it could be here sooner than we realise. According to Nvidia’s Jensen Huang he believes it’s five years or less.
Despite the hard constraints, we also have soft constraints such as the recent EU regulation on AI and the societal changes that will take place. However, take a peek back over the last few decades and we can see similar inflection points + blockers. They have all been overcome. Or overwhelmed is perhaps more accurate.
Blockers equals problems to solve. Builders love solving these problems as todays impossible is yesterdays “job done”. Solving means wealth creation, status and moving humanity forward.
Bots meet Robots
While AI has largely focused on virtual tasks so far, its next frontier will be the physical world. Innovations in robotics, sensors, battery technology, edge computing, and AI models will empower machines to tackle dangerous and mundane jobs alike. This will alleviate labor shortages across industries. Companies like www.figure.ai highlight where we are today. They aren’t the only one as you can’t forget the OG of Boston Dynamics either.
You get an expert, and you get an expert
In the virtual realm, AI can accelerate and democratize access to expertise by upscaling humans. 1 becomes 100. No longer will top talent be confined to major organizations. Examples can include AI-powered personalized education with unlimited tutoring, on-demand world-class HR & legal counsel for small businesses and on call financial advisory.
Converse in any language with anyone with realtime translation, automatic video lip syncing and now do business everywhere with ease. You want to negotiate your supplier contracts like a pro, then utilise companies like www.pactum.com, just like Walmart does. With access to such powerful tools for SMBs, the small become little giants.
Everyones Creative
AI is sparking novel creative outlets across advertising, art, gaming, and design. Tools like www.leonardo.ai enable instant 3D character/world generation, while OpenAI's Sora creates studio quality bespoke videos. ElevenLabs provides dynamic voiceovers indistinguishable from humans. AI can even script and narrate never-ending game experiences with dynamic storylines and immersive NPC interactions. You’ll never finish another game again, try it now with www.aidungeon.com
Enter the matrix
Ultra-realistic AI simulations can revolutionise training for pilots, law enforcement, and emergency workers by replicating limitless real-world scenarios on-the-fly. Advanced processors like Nvidia's Blackwell drive these hyper-variable worlds, allowing seamless integration with emerging immersive technologies like Apple's Vision Pro. AI will be everywhere and always invisible.
The use of digital twins means full factories, environments and processes can be evaluated virtually before a single brick is laid. This allows to optimize the building layout, access needs and how to co-ordinate both robots and humans as they work together in the factories of the future. Just take a spin through the omniverse to see how virtual environments can be used to train robots. Hey, I know kung-fu!
NoFilter
AI can be a potent tool in combating societal issues like unhealthy beauty standards by "de-filtering" edited images and approximating their original state. It could also monitor AI models responses to detect if training data has misinformation or is leaking private information about your business. Smarter content filtering, bias detection and real time fact checking can help to counter the mis representation bombarding us all today.
Inflection²
AI will be melded with other technologies, for example spatial computing, to bring advanced diagnostics, expert advice and overlays to dentists and surgeons. How about measuring massive data sets from IOT sensors to perform more accurate weather forecasting and analysis for agriculture optimisation, extreme weather events or carbon emission monitoring. AI and biological sequencing to advance medicine and customised drug development. The limits and boundaries are being pushed again. Pushed hard.
The coming Ryft
The possibilities unleashed by AI may seem surreal today, but like past technological revolutions, it will soon become ubiquitous and invisible. We see a huge rift developing between those companies that adopt AI and those that lag behind. We aim to solve the adoption issues for businesses by tackling core problems that were unsolvable pre-AI, building new companies to provide these solutions and focusing on the complete experience to make AI simple, invisible and critical.
Learn more about our areas of focus here as we build the next generation of AI enabled companies.
