Are we prepared for disruption?

The First Industrial Revolution led us as humanity to transform the working relationship that humans maintained with animals to turn it into machinery. The Second, opened the way to technology in manufacturing and production that allowed the widespread adoption of technological systems. The Third, mutated analog technology into digital technology.

Klaus Schwab, the President of the World Economic Forum, popularized the concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution which conceptualizes the radical changes in technology, industries and social processes in the 21st century by increasing interconnectivity and intelligent automation led by artificial intelligence. .

This artificial intelligence has lived among us since the early 80s and today we recognize it in super mobile computers, intelligent robots, autonomous cars, neurotechnology or genetic editing, just to mention a few uses.

But the evidence of the benefits and challenges presented by the massification and popularization of artificial intelligence has become truly latent with ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence text generator, considered the future of work in certain industries. A free tool that requires a simple internet connection and that can be used by anyone to answer questions or write texts that hardly anyone could differentiate from those written by human experts on their subjects.

ChatGPT is the first public artificial intelligence tool that has an impact on various disciplines, economies and industries and has generated all kinds of debates about what it means to be human along with the disruptions that the unknown generates, especially in terms of education, work, ethical and legal.

The success that ChatGPT has had along with user adoption has not been seen in the history of the Internet. Experts say artificial intelligence has captured people’s imaginations like no other technology since the arrival of the iPhone in 2007.

Sam Altman is the co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, the company behind the chatbot. From San Francisco he has been involved in various technological projects until in 2015 he achieved funding from Elon Musk, from Tesla, and Reid Hoffman, co-founder of Linkedin. Just a couple of days ago, Microsoft announced a new multi-billion dollar, multi-year investment with the OpenAI artificial intelligence lab. The investment is the third phase of the partnership, following previous investments in 2019 and 2021.

But the excitement about the tool has raised concerns about the short- and medium-term impact that such a significant change can alter in the way of life. Reliable research has predicted that artificial intelligence could displace the jobs of up to 1 billion people around the world over the next decade and make 375 million jobs obsolete. Even though the changes bring opportunities and will also create millions more jobs in that transformation, the transition could be challenging, to say the least.

In days gone by, the ChatpGPT tool has already passed an exam at Wharton Business School, passed a law exam at the University of Minnesota, and a Democratic senator introduced legislation written with the help of ChatGPT. This while schools and universities prohibit and block its use due to the proliferation of work carried out on the tool.

The world is beginning to take seriously the challenge that disruptive technologies such as ChatGPT bring in 2023 and in the coming years: Europe is developing an Artificial Intelligence Law, but they are still working to identify the objectives and specific rules.

In the United States, regulators and lawmakers are considering everything from regulating the use of algorithms to a new agency to regulate artificial intelligence, to using existing discrimination laws to hold companies accountable.

While that happens, in Mexico we must prepare to benefit from artificial intelligence by promoting the use, adoption, adaptation and development of technology preparing the workforce for work in the new century: developing digital skills and building and strengthen complementary skills such as complex problem solving, critical thinking and creativity. We must take care of those who will lose out in the transition to new ways of working. All accompanied by ethical frameworks and regulations for these technologies, because this is just the beginning.