207b. The Conversation Isn't Real, Part 2
The AI revolution is now, it's time to choose sides.
If you haven’t yet read the first installment of this article, read that here.
There are some really important things to know:
Conversational chatbots have been around for awhile. In general, they kinda suck.
ChatGPT launched on November 30, 2022. It doesn’t suck. It immediately made all the products referenced in #1 above seem archaic.
ChatGPT has immediately changed the way we interact with technology - and it’s only just begun.
OK, now that you’re caught up, grab my hand. It’s time to jump into the rabbit hole.
Google’s Missing Legs
In the early 2000s, Yahoo! was the main search engine on the Internet. Then a young upstart appeared named Google. This little scrappy upstart decided to handle online searching differently - catering more to the needs of the Internet user. Within a few years, Yahoo! had tumbled from its throne.
Karma is a bitch.
A conversational chatbot like ChatGPT delivers information in a way people more readily want it delivered. Just like Google did to Yahoo!, ChatGPT can potentially cut the legs out from under Google. But it’s happening at a much faster pace than the Yahoo! debacle.
It’s important to understand that the very concept of a conversational chatbot is antithetical to Google’s entire business model.
Google makes over $250 billion per year on advertising. They are minting money. It’s by far their major source of revenue. The entire model is based on getting people to click links and leave Google.
You go to Google, you do a search. They give you a list of websites and a little snippet of how the site can answer your question. You click a link to leave Google and visit a different website.
When you click on a (paid) link, Google makes money. That happens billions of times per day. That’s why they are one of the top companies in the world.
That ringing you have in your ear is not tinnitus. It’s the sound of Google making money. Cha-ching.
Enter ChatGPT, stage right.
With ChatGPT, you do a search and they give you the full answer right there and then. No sifting through websites that don’t quite answer your question. If you need more information, you just ask ChatGPT to give more detail.
There is no need to click out of ChatGPT. In fact, there are no links to click even if you wanted to.
So if people start using ChatGPT for more of their informational gathering (remember, they’ll have 1 BILLION users in their first year), then there will be less usage of Google.
Less usage of Google = less clicking on Google = less moolah for Google.
ChatGPT has only been around for 7 weeks, and it only has data up until 2021. Still, I already do less Google searching because I get more robust answers more easily with ChatGPT.
Apparently, Google has its proverbial panties in one helluva proverbial ruffle as they try to figure out their future. I don’t blame them.
The Replacements
Remember how Steve Jobs launched iTunes and destroyed the music business? And then he launched the iPhone and demolished a whole crapload of other industries, including the camera industry, mobile gaming, GPS devices, mobile phones, faxes and personal music players, to name but a few.
Well, get ready for what ChatGPT is about to do.
ChatGPT can replace some of your legal bills.
I asked ChatGPT to write a disclaimer statement for a research report.
I got a statement within 5 seconds.
Then I asked the system to fine-tune the disclaimer statement so it is for a non-profit named Charity LLC that provides child development resources to underserved families.
Within another five seconds, I got my customized legal disclaimer:
This whole process lasted less than a minute, saving me probably $500 in potential legal fees and 3 days of frustrating back and forth with my lawyer.
ChatGPT can replace copywriters
Just ask ChatGPT to write an article for you about any subject.
Boom. Done.
Check out this piece about how to improve accountability at work that was entirely written by AI.
You see what’s happening?
Kids are now writing entire papers via AI.
Developers are writing code via AI.
You can write an entire book via AI.
Create a personalized poem for your partner with AI.
ChatGPT opened the floodgates.
All of this is happening right now.
ChatGPT can replace customer support
Once ChatGPT understands your website, the key customer issues, and your most frequently asked questions, game over.
Your customer support team is dead. Long live your new customer support team.
ChatGPT will be able to provide 24/7 customer service, 365 days per year in any language, anytime, as a flowing conversation, with absolutely no wait or hold times in order to get answers. Plus it’s completely scalable without having to do any hiring or training whatsoever.
I know what you’re thinking… “But what about the humans?”
You remember how we dove into the rabbit hole? Well, we’re still falling.
Check this out…
I Am AI
Now that you see what ChatGPT can do with human-like conversation, let’s add humans to it, shall we.
Oh wait, you thought I meant real humans? Silly you. I don’t mean real humans.
I mean simulations of humans.
You may have already seen the sites that create AI-generated faces. My favorite one (and, honestly, the only one with a URL I can remember) is This Person Does Not Exist.
Go to the site and keep refreshing it. You’ll see. All the people look human, but they aren’t real people. They are generated by AI. In fact, here are 2.6m other AI-generated faces.
I know, I know… photos are all nice and fine, but photos can’t talk.
Which leads us right to the front door of Soul Machines.
[knock, knock]
Putting the Machines in Soul
Imagine having a customer support department in which every representative knows all the answers to everything and no customer ever has to wait for a 1-on-1 video session with a human customer service rep.
Or are they human? And does it matter?
Soul Machines is creating human replicas via AI. And with the technology now available via ChatGPT, we are much closer to having human conversations with non-human humans.
Want to get freaked out a little? Go have a conversation with Viola.
But wait, the rabbit hole goes deeper.
We’re still falling.
AI and Time Travel
Do you know about digital twins?
The concept was first created in 2002 as a tool for product testing. But I’m not talking about product testing here.
I’m talking about unique experiences... and time travel.
Soul Machines, that company that’s creating human simulations from AI, they’re also creating digital twins of celebrities.
That’s right, AI versions of people.
Golfing legend Jack Nicklaus, basketball star Carmelo Anthony and musician Will.I.Am are three of the first that are being made into digital twins.
Bruce Willis just sold the rights to create a digital twin of himself.
ChatGPT already shows that AI can replicate individuals’ speaking style.
Soul Machines can replicate individuals’ mannerisms.
Put the two of them together and… well… mind blown.
In the near future you will be able to:
- Have a 1-on-1 video conversation with your favorite celebrity anytime you want, on-demand, in any language you want, to talk about anything you want.
- Have a video conversation with figures in history. Talk to Muhammad Ali in his prime. Get advice from a young Jack Nicklaus on how to play golf. Chat with John Lennon about the madness of Beatlemania. Have a virtual conversation with Jesus, or ask Julius Caesar what was really up between him and Cleopatra.
I can tell you without doubt, my daughter would give her left foot to have 1-on-1 video conversations with Taylor Swift’s digital twin. And I’ve got a few questions I never was able to ask David Bowie when he was alive.
AI and Your Company
Mark my words… November 30, 2022 will emerge as an important date in history. The day ChatGPT launched the AI revolution.
We now have clear proof that Artificial Intelligence can work for the benefit of the masses.
And the destruction of others.
It’s fun. It’s cool. In many ways it’s mind-blowing. But it’s also scary. It’s another step away from reality.
You may not like what I’m saying, but remember, all I’m offering is the truth. Nothing more.
I’m not sure how Artificial Intelligence is going to impact your company, but I guarantee it will. Somehow, some way at some time, it will. Trust me on that one.
AI will never replace companies entirely. But companies that use AI will replace those that don’t.
So as for the future, perhaps we should take the advice of Agent Smith from the Matrix:
Never send a human to do a computer’s job.
Fun read, Jeff! 👏