AI in NYC

BrXnd NYC 2024

Harsh is not the same as true; however, truth can feel harsh when ill-prepared. 

AI isn't going to replace your job if you are creating ways to improve your work through our new technological allies. However, if your job primarily involves repetitive processes and you are not open to up-skilling, AI is a force to reckon with. This was the key message from Mark D'Arcy, summarizing the 2024 BrXnd NYC conference. Explore, create your own path, and report back; iterate.

AI is akin to riding a bike. This analogy opened the day in Noah Brier's welcome talk. Using physics as a reference point, Noah draws the parallel that to understand the bike-riding process; one must observe the rider and the direction in which the rider is steering the bike. What appears as direct motion by a forward-moving bicycle occurs as the rider constantly adjusts the bike, moving the wheels left and right, micro-adjustments that are imperceptible to the naked eye. Below is the actual video used in Noah’s talk if you are interested in the physics (give Veritasium a subscribe while you are there).

AI is like the bicycle in the many iterations of models and apps built on top of it, the adjustments we must make as consumers of AI to leverage its power, and the low level of early adoption among the general public. Interestingly and relevant to this analogy, the bicycle only became popular 70 years after its invention. 

Tim Hwang (pictured above) was a returning speaker with more creative tech exploration, diving into the ether behind the chat GUI to explore the question of whether or not AI is a benevolent assistant that is encouraged by positive psychology and words of appreciation or an abysmal machine akin to an anime nightmare, hellbent on consuming the valuable data we input only to use it against us at a later, more opportune time (perhaps once we have grown both complacent and dependent upon AI). 

Either way you see it, I agree with Tim's assessment that "the hottest new programming language is psychology." You see, the way we think determines the questions we ask, how we ask them, what we envision for our futures, and our intellectual and creative aptitude and all of this impacts the prompts we create. AI becomes the mirror of our aptitude as communicators and thinkers, but ultimately, self-work makes life easier — a win-win (am I right?).😉

Education & Riding Bikes (not just for kids)

The NYC government agencies are immersing themselves in the guidance of thought leaders empowered to research best-in-class solutions. These experiments have not always gone perfectly—as is the nature of experiments. But the truth is children only learn chemistry today in the schools of the United States because Sputnik freaked out our grandparents' generation enough to teach us higher forms of science in hopes we would not fall behind intellectually. I have nothing else to add (to quote Charlie Munger).

Thank you to Julie Samuels and Mark Levine for your insights and motivation to inspire other cities to learn about AI and how to leverage it constructively.

Creative Parts (favorite of everyone)

A myth is circling that creatives universally fear or shun technology. Not so, and not so in the row of ladies where I sat. 

Jenny Nicholson had already caught my attention earlier in the day with her style, which is everything I believe "business attire" should be. With healed and patterned combat boots and a black shift dress, Jenny claimed the stage with her example-driven demo of self-actualization through experimentation.

I felt the truth of Jenny's journey; AI has been a boon to our existence as moms and businesswomen running solo endeavors. With a spirit of play and curiosity, Jenny prompted AI to generate everything from a 20mg Adderall XR Pearler Bead pattern to a wedding planning app that is currently in partnership with a national wedding planning brand (see Jenny's link for more information and better descriptions of the incredible boundary pushing she is spearheading).

My takeaway is that we must not fear what we do not understand. We, who are natural explorers, must explore as we do and teach the best ways to leverage technology for various use cases. 

Creatively, this is an opportunist's dream come true. Never before have we had to push our thinking to be more apparent in the name of better output. How odd that our own data, mined and processed by LLMs, is the mirror holder to reveal our own shortcomings. 

Take opportunities to explore, grow, and expand as a thinker or artist leveraging AI, as well as financially— should you be entrepreneurially inclined.

This is a golden age of information and expansive awareness. Find a way to build something valuable to you using these new tools and expand your horizons of what you feel empowered to learn, do, and create. 

Thanks to Noah for an insight-filled and inspiring day that left us all in a hurry to return to our hives and start building again.

For more on Noah Brier, you can follow and subscribe to his SubStack and check out the trailblazing work he and his team do at BrXnd.ai.

Where to Start With AI?

If you have yet to learn why you might want to use AI in your business, I made a short video highlighting the benefits of exploring these new and powerful tools. Let me know what you build, and if you have questions about AI, you would like me to answer. Leave a comment or hit reply — if you are reading your email (thanks for subscribing). ❤️ Check out the video below and get the guide here.

Art and Tech In Conversation 

Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Lisa Belisle of Radio Maine to discuss, well, we covered the gamut of subjects. Reality and perception are among the myriad topics Dr. Lisa and I explored. Tech and creativity as tools to expand the work and art we make are constant pursuits of mine, and I delved deeply into these topics with Dr. Lisa. 

Below is a snippet from our conversation; the recording will be available in a few weeks. Stay tuned for more, or subscribe to Radio Maine on YouTube to get notified.

radiomaine

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