Tuesday 30th May 2023: So here’s what just happened… A couple of months ago, Octopus Energy started using an Artificial Intelligence large language model in their UK call centre.
Now, 8 weeks later, it’s handling 40% of their customer enquiries and increasing. 40% in 8 weeks.
Earlier this year, a company called OpenAI released their text AI, ChatGPT4 for the general public to try. In three months it reached ONE HUNDRED MILLION users. 3 months, 100 million users.
But this is nothing on the next upgrade coming at the end of this year. GPT5 looks to build on the multi modal aspects of its predecessor and accelerate it’s ability to self learn to a whole new level.
(Multi-modal means that it takes information and learns from not just text but video, pictures and sound as well. Basically able to teach itself from any input it can find. Absorbing the entire internet to increase it’s knowledge base exponentially fast).
Rather than a Sci-Fi concept, years in the future, Artificial General Intelligence is changing our world right now…
Anyone in business now needs to be aware of how AGI is going to shake up industry over the next few years. It has the potential to release people from many mundane tasks if used in a positive way. However, human jobs that were once thought secure against the advance of technology are now starting to feel vulnerable to workers being replaced.
One example is graphic design. This time last year, the AI art programs were able to generate pictures from a few prompt words. They looked ok but a bit vague. This year they can turn out almost photorealistic art that would challenge a professional designer. If the trend continues then by this time next year they will be able to produce artwork better than most experienced photographers. Advanced so far in 1 year.
Even videos as well can be generated from text prompts and, although they look strange now, as this evolves they will eventually rival an entire production company. So why would anyone want to hire a film crew, a studio and all the equipment, pay actors to pose over several hours to produce something that they can make almost instantaneously and for free from a few prompt words?
So we come to the central question…
Can aspects of the AI revolution be used to help reduce the impacts of the climate crisis we face?
Yes, it can… One area is with the use of predictive AI. This is where data analysis and machine learning can be used to make much more accurate forecasts compared to our current models.
This will also be self correcting so will improve over time to be good enough to predict future carbon emissions, allowing us to more confidently understand how things will be in the future based on our current activities.
Another interesting potential use would be credibly pointing out where the large polluters are trying to get away with their damage. Knowing who is harming our planet will enable corrective actions to be more effectively targeted.
Although we already have human experts that can help fight climate change, the sheer amount of data that AI systems can process to highlight the patterns and even suggest potential remedies means they will be a powerful weapon in our evolution to be kinder on our planet.
How is AI going to change Humanity? It might not be long before, when you are talking to a potential client on the phone , they will ask if you could put them through to a real person as they can tell that you are an AI voice. You may insist that you are actually a human, but they will scoff that is exactly what an AI would say in that situation. It’s seriously going to become that hard to know.
Whatever changes are coming, one way or another, we will not be waiting long to find out.
NB: The links in this article are for information only.
