Dec 27 - Christmas Edition - GPT Party talk, Tripling the economy, Conflict resolution, Reflections...
Click the player above to listen to this edition of S3T! Or listen on Spotify.
In this Edition of S3T:
- 🎉 Holiday Talk: AI as a Daily Essential
At year-end, it’s clear that AI has become a daily tool - no, instrument, for people across industries, integrated into workflows like marketing, cloud engineering, and even behavioral health. - 🚀 AI Learning Opportunities
Top free courses (from Harvard, Coursera, and more) are helping people upskill in AI, including prompt engineering, ethical AI, and operationalizing large language models. - 🌱 Economic Potential: 3x Growth Opportunity
Financial hyper-concentration is limiting the US economy, which could grow from $153T to $492T. The average American's retirement savings fall far short of goals, revealing systemic inefficiencies impacting economic growth. - 🔧 Conflict Resolution Framework
The S3T Change Leadership Learning Series offers a 6-step framework to resolve 90% of conflicts, including resistance to change, empowering leaders to drive effective organizational transformation. - 🏄 The Eddie Aikau Invitational
Landon McNamara triumphed at the legendary Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational, a rare event celebrating courage and skill in surfing waves over 40 feet high—a tribute to Eddie Aikau’s inspiring legacy, summed up in the iconic phrase, "Eddie would go." - 🌟 Reflection on 2024's Impact
Celebrating collective efforts this year: driving tech innovation, improving emergency care, fostering political dialogue, supporting community well-being, and designing ethical AI—all advancing a healthier, wealthier world.
Opinions expressed are those of the individuals and do not reflect the official positions of companies or organizations those individuals may be affiliated with. Not financial, investment or legal advice, and no offers for securities or investment opportunities are intended. Mentions should not be construed as endorsements. Authors or guests may hold assets discussed or may have interests in companies mentioned.
🎉 Holiday Talk: Merry Christmas and a GPT New Year
Its been great catching up with friends and colleagues at parties and get togethers here at the end of 2024. One of the big aha moments - while having way too much fun - was just how completely people across different industries have absorbed AI into their daily life and work patterns.
What I picked up spans behavioral health, marketing, cloud engineering, even religious discussions (no kidding!). Phrases I hear:
- "I'm going to ask (insert favorite LLM)"
- "Its part of our framework for marketing messages"
- "Its baked into our SDLC now"
Feels like we've crossed a threshold - like when humans learned about taking vitamins, or using calculators or spreadsheets for the first time. Generative AI has something in common with these earlier breakthroughs: they spawned new human skillsets and behaviors.
New human skillsets emerging
Most of us see generative AI as simply humans requesting and getting specific strings of text that - in the known history of human communication - seemed most frequently relevant to a given question or topic.
It's seen as a way to get unstuck - a way to get working faster: to find the turns of phrase, the fresh angles that our foggy worried brains haven't thought of, or would take while to come up with. Accelerated brainstorming to find wording that resonates, or better articulates and explains.
We then have to check to make sure it's appropriate, make corrections and then iterate and assemble the final product.
But there's more. This is an interaction skill...learning how to leverage and interact with a capability. Learning how to have more productive dialogue with that capability - credit to Conor Grennan for the phrase "productive dialogue."
What is really interesting to me is how the people using it the most don't view it as a crutch, or something they delegate work to.
To their thinking, the risk is not in using it too much, but in not using it enough (ie not investing sufficient time to fully develop the skills). In other words - I wonder if there is a subtle but significant shift in how humans view and interact with AI: Not so much a tool, but an instrument.
AI is not a tool, its an instrument...
A tool involves direct manipulation or force. An instrument is more complex, has the potential to perform differently based on changes in technique, tuning or configuration, and requires more specialized knowledge to operate for optimal results.
As humanity progressed from paper notation to calculators, then spreadsheets, and more recently Python powered analytic notebooks, we didn't stop using math, we used it even more. In the case of Generative AI tools what is the underlying skillset that we'll use even more? Probably it's this interactive collaboration - learning how to use AI as an instrument. This is a subtle but crucial shift. This is not about clicking or tapping or pushing buttons. This is about interacting.
Consider the differences:
AI as a Tool:
- Traditional view: AI is seen as a means to an end, automating tasks, providing information, or generating content based on specific inputs.
- Limited interaction: The user primarily directs the AI with clear commands or prompts, receiving a relatively straightforward output.
- Focus on efficiency: The emphasis is on getting the job done quickly and effectively, with less emphasis on the process or interaction itself.
AI as an Instrument:
- Emerging perspective: AI is viewed as a partner in a dynamic process, where dialogue and iterative refinement are key to achieving desired results.
- Interactive and collaborative: The user engages in a back-and-forth with the AI, providing feedback, adjusting parameters, and exploring different possibilities.
- Focus on exploration and discovery: The emphasis is on leveraging AI's capabilities to enhance human creativity, problem-solving, and understanding through a collaborative process.
Why the "Instrument" mindset is increasingly relevant:
- Complex tasks: Many of today's AI applications involve complex tasks that require specialized or nuanced understanding and iterative refinement. Refinement in turn may require additional research, creative writing, or other activities like strategic planning. Think iterative collaboration.
- Personalized experiences: AI is increasingly used to create personalized experiences, requiring ongoing dialogue and feedback to tailor outputs to individual needs and preferences. Fine tuning is key to ensuring those experiences are authentic and on target.
- Enhanced human capabilities: By engaging in a productive dialogue with AI, users can augment their own cognitive abilities, gaining new insights and perspectives - or at least a wider range of options to consider.
In essence, when we use AI as an instrument, we're not just using it to get a specific answer or output. We're using it to engage in a collaborative process of exploration, discovery, and creation. This shift towards an "instrumental" approach to AI usage is transforming how we learn, work, and interact with technology.
Apply this shift in your own work - top free online courses on AI
If you’re trying to get up to speed here are 7 top online courses to boost your AI skills and earnings potential:
- Harvard: Intro to AI with Python
- Harvard: AI applications and prompt engineering
- Microsoft: AI for Beginners
- Coursera: Prompt Engineering
- DeepLearning.AI: Prompt Engineering for Developers
- DeepLearning.AI: LLM Operations
- UC Davis: Big Data and AI Ethics
🌱 S3T Executive Briefing: Why our economy could be 3x bigger
The average American believes they will need 1.46M to retire comfortably, up from 951K in 2020, but the actual 2024 average amount is $88,400. Few will hit their goal. Only 3.2% of retirees have over $1M in their retirement accounts per the Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF).
Where does all that lost future financial security end up? And how that impacting the size of our economy? Nutshell: Financial hyper-concentration is costing the US economy more than we realize: Our economy could be 3x bigger.
Click here to read the S3T Briefing on US Economic Growth Potential and learn why our $153T economy could be $492T.
S3T Change Leadership Learning Series: Resolving Conflict
Continuing our Change Leadership Learning Series, we're learning about Activating and Leading Change at the team or organizational level.
Leading change at an organizational or macro level will require you to learn how to resolve conflicts. You will probably find that you can resolve probably 90% of conflicts - including conflicts involving resistance to change - by using this set of options.
Click here to access Resolving conflict - a framework of 6 proven ways to resolve most conflicts including conflicts involving resistance to change.
🏄 Nature Notes: The Bay Decides the Day
Congratulations to Landon McNamara for winning the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational at this past Sunday Dec 22 at Waimea Bay on Oahu's North Shore this past week! This marks the 11th Eddie in the last 40yrs because it only happens when the faces of the waves are consistently 40 feet or higher. Highlights in the Rip Curl recap above.
Named for the Eddie Aikau, the 1st lifeguard of Waimea Bay who saved over 500 people in his career - going out into huge waves when known one else dared. His legacy gave rise to the now popular inspirational phrase "Eddie would go."
🙏What you did: Reflecting on 2024
Thinking back on the year, it has been inspiring to see your initiatives and work this year across so many different fronts. Just a few examples that I know of:
- Influenced employers to change their Return to Work policies
- Investing and supporting startups building the next generation of finance
- Driving more human centered design for emerging tech
- Optimizing the process of care in emergency departments
- Advancing mobility rights for people who depend on wheelchairs
- Volunteering and supporting community mental health organizations
- Helping young adults advance their careers
- Providing food and resources for homeless
- Designing more intelligent safeguards for ethical and effective AI
- Boosting dialogue across political divides
- Modernizing data enterprises
There are more, but the common thread through all of these is that pattern of seeing something that needs to be changed and improved, and taking a thoughtful approach to driving intentional beneficial innovation. Collectively this work helps contribute to a healthier wealthier world - benefits for all, not just a privileged few. You are making a difference.
Thank you for what you worked toward and accomplished this year, and may you have continued and expanded success in 2025! This is so motivating to me, to provide even more value and resources to equip and enable your efforts in the coming year thru the S3T platform. Please don't hesitate to connect and let me know if I can help support your success.
Thank you again, and best wishes for an impactful 2025,
Ralph
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