What will be the impact of Generative AI on the economy?

That is the big question for our generation

Although it is still too early to chance an answer, some prominent figures in the world of tech and investment are already signaling a huge change underway.

In a recent blog post (link in comments) Marc Andreessen, general partner at the VC company @Andreessen Horowitz/a16z and one of the most famous tech investors in the world, talks about generative AI as a“major architectural shift in computing”, solving problems and performing tasks that he did not expect to see in his lifetime. This comes from one of the top AIi nvestors of the last decade.

After testing GPT4 for advanced analytics, I fully agree with his view.

One year ago, before the launch of #GPT4, mea nd my team at @Moby Analytics discovered its precursor, #ChatGPT, thanks to the @MicrosoftForStartup Founders Hub of which Moby Analytics is a member. Already there we saw revolutionary potential in what was, still, a novelty for most in the tech industry, and only a faint technological buzzword for the public at large.

It is funny to go back to my post from almost a year ago and see how much, and with which intensity, our predictions back then are already being fulfilled. As we noted in our comment:

"At Moby, we believe AI models like GPT-3 will completely change the way we access information. From how we search for information on the internet to how we access expert knowledge on specific topics."

The expansion of generative AI

Back then, we were already quite amazed by the technology at that stage. What we did not expect was that it would develop so much, and in such a short period of time. With the launching of GPT4, the applications for the use of generative AI both in our everyday lives and for technical, complex, niche problems have expanded infinitely.

Even more important is a second point made by Andreessen in his blog post, where he says that “taking full advantage ofthe unique nature of generative AI models will require a fundamental rethinking of how products, and computing, should work”. In his view, this technology will create a big rupture in all sectors of our economy: due to the possibilities in the use of this technology, advantages built by businesses over decades might disappear overnight. Even large businesses that before would be considered “too big to fail” are soon to be under siege.

We already see that happening, for instance, with Stack Overflow. Once the go-to source for developers seeking answers to coding challenges, the website, according to many sources, including their official blog, has been witnessing a steady decline in traffic since the beginning of last year, while traffic to OpenAI’s ChatGPT has been growing exponentially.

Other companies, markets, sectors of the economy will certainly feel the same impact in the coming months and years.

Adapt or perish

The only solution will be to adapt as fast as humanly possible.

At Moby, we welcome these changes as positive, rather than dread them. If it is true that the business world will have to adapt, and adapt fast, to the new generation of generative AI, there is nothing stopping businesses from using this new technology in their favor.

Moby’s mission is to contribute to this massive technological shift in a positive way, by making this technology approachable, relatable, and, especially, useful to business experts.

If you would like to know more about how Moby Analytics is doing this, follow us at @MobyAnalytics, and check out ourlatest blog posts.