2024 AI Predictions (Pt 1)
Our 2024 New Year AI Predictions
This past year has been incredibly game changing for AI…we’ve seen advancements and activity that makes me feel like we are definitely living in a sci-fi movie a lot earlier than we expected. As surprising as a lot of the 2023 changes have been I believe that in 2024 and the next coming years we are going to see shifts in this world that drastically change fundamental ways in which we relate, core themes in our culture, safety and most critically in our work force.
So I wanted to share some of my personal musings about this space that are a combination of predictions on what is going to happen to our culture through AI and then specifically what industries/jobs I think will be the ones we should be paying attention to moving forward.
Prediction #1: Trust will become a commodity
With voice spoofing, full on video deepfakes and near endless ways to replicate the knowledge, voice and context of individuals, it will become increasingly hard to tell the difference between our son who’s in trouble calling us needing money, or an AI that looks, acts and sounds just like our son asking for the same. Authenticity will become harder to come by, which will make originality that much more valuable.
Prediction #2: Accessibility will go WAYYY up
The ability to access information, training, knowledge and create services will increase at a near inhuman pace. The cheaper it is to distribute information faster, to create systems, train people, replicate people etc will make for a lot…
Precition #3: More Noise
If it’s easier for people to produce content, create experiences and appear like experts, then there’s bound to be a lot more noise. Which means a harder time figuring out what to pay attention to and what to tune out. The landscape will become more competitive and novices or poor service providers will begin masquerading as experts with the aid of AI.
Prediction #4: Things Will Get Cheaper
AI will make stuff cheaper to make and do. The same thing that used to cost someone $500 and a month to do will cost them $50 and take them one day. This means that the market is going to be flooded with some strange price variances, particularly with service providers. Providers of equal quality will now show up with sometimes huge gaps in pricing…and the market will eventually correct itself to drive lower prices. BEE is already jumping ahead of this curve in offering agency level quality at freelancer prices.
Prediction #5: People Will Have More Disposable Income
If the same activities we all do become cheaper…well we’ll have more disposable income. Some people will choose to buy more of the same crap…some might use the extra income to improve their quality of life.
Prediction #6: Human vs AI vs Superhuman
The job market will now be segmented between three levels. Human-only jobs unless they are in the arts or something heavily creative will have a hard time remaining relevant or even existing in the face of AI’s speed and efficiency. But the real kicker is when those human’s that were already masters at their jobs, ALSO master AI, forming what we at BEE call the Cyborg effect that will be near Superhuman. If the best of the best are already way ahead of the normal human curve, the gap between those businesses and individuals that don’t use AI, and the experts that do will become breathtakingly noticeable.
Prediction #7: AI Will Raise the Bar
AI an do things so fast and so efficient that we will almost certainly begin to expect that most businesses can accomplish the job at hand. Aside from worrying more about scams, if we know a company or provider is legit we won’t likely be as concerned about whether or not the job will be done. This new bar will means…
Prediciton #8: AI’s Effectiveness will make Human “Affective”-ness more valuable
We’ll care less about what’s being done and more about how the thing that is being done makes us feel. The human experience will become even more valuable. Customer service, overall design and most importantly…
Prediction #8: Experience Design will become King
How something is designed to make you feel will become an art that AI can’t easily replicate or detect…which means YAYY for Humans. Another area where we can shine.
Prediction #9: AI Speedsters in the Market
Where AI will most certainly dominate is in things where speed matters. Humans will almost certainly be near absent from any jobs that rely on speed and efficiency. This is going to be a game-changer for a bunch of jobs!
Prediction #10: Human Judgment in High Demand
Since AI will handle the DOING part for a lot of things, people will need to be great at deciding “what to do”. Being smart about choices and tweaking AI's work will be a big deal.
Prediction #11: AI Mistakes Can Be Huge
Everything has a yin and yang. And just like AI can make something 100x better, it can also easily make things 100x worse. Think of the self-driving car taking a wrong turn off a cliff…or the super biased AI system that is trained to replicate a racial stereotype with deafeningly bigoted accuracy – yikes! We’ll need to watch AI closely to make sure it doesn’t amplify the worst of us…or make mistakes that are irreversible. Which means…
Prediction #12: Tough Job for AI Regulators
Keeping AI in check will be a tough job. Trying to determine ethical usage, moral boundaries and in what ways AI should be limited is going to be a harder job than figuring out what AI is capable of. Asking the question where should AI NOT be allowed will be more important than a quest for innovation.
Prediction #13: AI Quality Checkers Will Be Important
Restricted or not, even the spaces where AI is allowed will require human supervision. The AI is really good at accomplishing what you tell it to, but not so good at detecting biases or risks that a human might notice that are a little more subtle in nature. People that make sure the AI is doing more good than harm will become invaluable. Which means…
Prediction #14: AI Whisperers Will Be a Thing
People will become specialists in deconstructing what an AI is basing its decisions on and trying to decode its logic to make sure it won’t accidentally end humanity through some logical terminator error. That’s gonna be kinda important.
Prediction #15: AI Kill Switches Will Be A Must
When all else fails we need the ability to just turn off the AI and regroup. Emergency shut downs will become like our safe words to reset our world back to normal when AI goes haywire or ends up in the hands of bad actors.
Prediction #16: Old School Skills Will Be Cool Again
People who can do things without AI will be like rare gems. It'll be amazing to see someone do something awesome without any AI help. They may even become the new stars of our talent shows.
Prediction #17: AI-Free Zones Will Be Super Exclusive
Places without AI will become the new luxury. Not in the immediate future but once AI is everywhere the new luxury won’t be “high tech” getaways but low tech getaways where you can have normal human experiences without the prying eyes, ears and hands of AI.
Prediction #18: Privacy Will Take a Hit
With AI everywhere, I doubt many of will have privacy much longer. The slippery slope we are already seeing of the Meta Ray Ban glasses, the apps that record your every computer keystroke, and health based apps that will seemingly be great upgrades for our safety and well being will slip into new levels of invasiveness that will probably make really scary levels of publicity more normalized.
Prediction #19: Social Life Will have “extra” layers
Did your friend wish you a happy birthday, or their AI representative? Is the date an AI free date, or is all your pillow talk being recorded in the persons new AI contacts that record everything. These kinds of questions will become real considerations pretty soon.
Prediction #20: There Are Two Types of People
People that use AI to bypass having to do anything…call them the lazy AI user. (Think the people floating on chairs in VR in Wall-E). And the people that use AI to enhance their already awesome lives. This divide will likely create much larger gaps in the way that people use AI.
Prediction #21: Some Skills Might Seem Pointless
In a world where AI does so much, some skills we value today might not seem that important anymore. Like how calculators made the guy that can do long division in his head more of a silly party trick than a useful skill, AI will likely make several things we used to know how to do become skills that the majority of the population no longer even knows how to approach it.
Subscribe to our Insiders Club to be notified when I release Pt 2: “2024 Predictions: Careers that Will Matter” as I review which industries and jobs to pay attention to in 2024.
