Is Generative AI Simplifying Our Minds?

Building Startups by Ajay Yadav

The ‘No-BS’ BS Newsletter

Happy Friday folks🎉 

Let’s get started🚀

💻️AI

➡️ Gen AI: Are We Growing Smarter or Simplifying Our Minds?

I’m sure this one question has been on many minds:

Are we, as a species, becoming wiser or inadvertently succumbing to a new form of intellectual 'dumbing down' with the rise of generative AI?🧠 

Let’s go back.

We humans are constantly evolving and technology has always played a pivotal role in shaping our thought processes. Generative AI isn't the first technological revolution we're facing.💡 

The precursor? The internet.🌐

When people got online back in early 1990s, there was a sudden exposure to absorb any kind of knowledge instantly.

Studies have shown that this delegation of retrieving information to a search engine has had several effects on human cognition. For example, there is now more space for tasks like creative thinking and problem solving, but one can also staunchly argue that we are more easily distracted than ever.😕

With Generative AI, one has the tendency to believe the response the screen displays. Personalised AI models like ChatGPT that tailor their responses for your needs give a sense of reliability, which in some cases, can be misleading.

So how do navigate yourself in this Generative AI 🌊 ?

Well, for starters, embrace the fact that like any other tech revolution, there will be benefits AND drawbacks. So to reap the former, we need to be vigilantly aware of the latter.

There is no definitive answer to the impact generative AI will have on us. So let’s capitalise on the opportunity:

💫 Embrace AI as a tool for personal growth and skill enhancement rather than a replacement for your innate abilities.
💫 Hone your analytical and critical thinking skills to discern the quality, accuracy and relevance of AI-generated content.
💫 Allocate time for offline activities that promote creativity, empathy, and genuine social connections.
💫 Support the development of responsible, ethical AI systems that align with your values and principles.

➡️ AI News of the Week: Google’s SGE Can Now Generate Images

After Microsoft, Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) finally also allows users to create images directly from a text prompt.🌆 

You’ll also be able to create these Google AI-generated images from Google Images. Read Google’s blog here to learn more! 🖼️ 

🚀Entrepreneurship

People often romanticise entrepreneurship as chasing and working on this billion-dollar idea, this massive impactful thing that will create waves and change lives.💰️ 

In reality, entrepreneurship is really about finding a simple, better mousetrap or tweaking the way something exists to make it better, and executing.

I want my founders and teams to get really good at getting things done.📝 

You can either sit around and keep wondering what to do or you can get your head in the game, find a crevice, and start working.

In any business, whether a scrappy startup or corporate giant, execution is everything.✅ 

A startup with a simple but better idea and excellent execution will outperform a startup with a billion-dollar idea and loose execution.💡 

Check off tasks, move projects forward, work towards your goals.

In business, learn how to be the driver, not just the passenger.🚘️ 

👔 Leadership Lifestyle

I want you to meet Baiju Bhatt, a Stanford graduate who co-founded the no-fee stock trading app Robinhood along with his college mate.💸 

Robinhood has a no-commission trading model that has revolutionised the brokerage industry. Bhatt is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the US, he made it to the Goldhouse 100 Most Impactful Asians in 2021 and Forbes "30 Under 30" list in 2016. 🎖️ 

As of 2022, Robinhood has over 22.8 million funded accounts and 15.9 million monthly active users with a valuation of $8.9 billion.

Bhatt strongly believes in having the flexibility to tweak and adjust with time as businesses grow and evolve. This is what he said in an online interview in 2021:

Have a great weekend folks, see you in the next one!

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