Week #1 – MBA 6101 – Surfing the Tsunami: Introduction, Chapter 1: Why AI is On My Radar, Why it Should Be On Yours

 

In his introduction to Surfing the Tsunami: An Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Options for Responding, Kelsey suggests three mindsets for acclimating to the impact of artificial intelligence on the job market:  adapt, adopt, or adept. 

Kelsey’s adapt, adopt, or adept approach can be used by pessimists and optimists of AI, ML, and automation alike.  At the most basic level, adapting to a new digital landscape provides an individual with, at the least, an awareness of the influence of the integration of new technological advancements.  An “adopt” perspective is assumed by a user that has developed a proficiency of “AI-related tools and platforms” sufficient to manage AI systems.  An “adept” user is the most “tech positive” of the mindsets suggested by Kelsey, getting “directly involved with developing AI,” including learning how to code and take advantage of data.           

While it's difficult to accurately predict the impact of AI, or whether the implications will be positive or negative, Kelsey argues from a neutral perspective, that its potential as a disruptor should be given weight.  Arguably in the early stages of adoption, development of artificial intelligence and its use in secondary applications (such as machine learning, data processing and automation) has made significant progress in its sophistication, seeing use in everything from “self-driving cars,” to mining the depths of data lakes, to the ongoing automation of manufacturing.  Suffice it to say, given its current trajectory, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation will continue to find applications.