One of the side effects of inflation is an increase in business productivity. The reason is simple, as input prices rise, companies lose market if they translate this increase to consumers. They necessarily have to absorb part of the inflation, consequently they must contain as much as possible the salaries and raw material costs. The reflex is to seek efficiencies and increase productivity. In times of inflation, it is sought to improve all aspects of value chains, therefore there are incentives for innovation. During the period of the Industrial Revolution (1760 to 1840) inflation in developed countries was lower and total wealth increased. However, the quality of life and care for the environment —among many others— worsened. In the search for short-term productivity, the human being does not always win.
We are facing a similar phenomenon, Artificial Generative Intelligence or AGI —for its acronym in English— promises that a large part of tasks can be radically simplified. The core problem with AGI is that it is based on knowledge and content previously created by others. It is not shared knowledge. It is a book written from the books of all the authors of history. It is the largest intellectual property theft since Google allegedly copied the internet to make the search engine. How can we be sure that a company benefits from the work of millions of people, creators and authors? There’s no arguing that ChatGPT is wonderful, but the cost of its success can be the end of many people. Perhaps for that reason several countries in Europe have blocked it.
The tasks we quickly assign to AI have consequences. For example, in human resources there is an important current of automating repetitive tasks with AI. The idea is fabulous and promotes the principle of productivity; however, we run the risk of perpetuating a candidate’s bad luck. For example, what will happen when a person has a criminal record, a human can give a second chance, a robot can never. The same can happen to a single mother with a child with a chronic illness. The AI engine could review the medical records and conclude that it would be unreliable for the company. Experts in the field recognize that once the system is started, it becomes a black box that constantly learns. What limits the AGI from learning that it should review a person’s social media history to determine if they are a good candidate? The same goes for finding a partner. Maybe the Tinder engine decides in the future that a person is not subject to having a partner, what will happen then? The Elysium movie gives us a clear idea of what would happen if we had to survive a medical consultation or a police search with an autonomous system. There is simply no negotiation as there are no tolerance parameters. (See here).
I do not subscribe to a fatalistic vision of technology, I am convinced that we must integrate AGI as soon as possible into our work processes. Only then can we be competitive. Consumers are crying out for better prices and conditions. Innovation is the only solution. But, we must be careful and remember the lessons of the Industrial Revolution, the prices of goods fell since it was not necessary to produce by hand. Consequently, what was paid for labor also fell and the division between capital and labor became more acute. Today we live in a similar situation, having capital to invest is much more valuable than working to get capital.
The solution is to cut the path, today a good produced by hand has much more value than something that is produced in series. It took almost 300 years to return the value to creations with artisan labor. We must prevent 300 years and two world wars from passing to give new value to human creativity.
Let’s focus our efforts on adding value and creativity to our daily work. True innovation and productivity is creating better experiences and products for consumers.
