AI's Uncertain But Substantial Impact

AI and generative AI are going to significantly impact companies and industries across the world, but the exact effects are still unknown. Companies need to invest in AI to stay competitive.

Summary

• Ancestry has used AI to greatly reduce the time it takes to process genealogical records - from 9 months to 9 days or even 9 hours. This allows them to determine ancestry much faster.
• AI and generative AI in particular will change how companies across all industries operate, but the precise impacts are still unclear.
• All companies are trying to determine how AI will affect them. Many past predictions about the internet and its impacts were wrong.
• AI is allowing younger companies to now do things that previously required more resources. It is a democratizing technology.
• Tech companies seem most poised to benefit from AI given their existing technical talent.
• However, there will likely be many unknown niche AI companies that emerge and become dominant just like with the advent of internet companies.
• 50 years ago companies like Google and Microsoft did not exist and now they "run our lives." The impacts of AI will likely be very significant as well.