How Writers and Content Creators Can Survive in a World of Advanced AI

My conversation with ChatGPT

Question: How are you able to write articles?

ChatGPT: I am able to write articles by using a technique called language generation, which is based on machine learning. I have been trained on a dataset of text from the internet, which allows me to understand and generate human language. When given a prompt or topic, I can generate text that is relevant and coherent.

Question: Is there anything new in what you write?

ChatGPT: I generate text based on patterns and information that I have learned from my training data, which is sourced from the internet, so the information I provide may be similar to what is already available online. However, my responses are generated in real-time, so the phrasing and wording may be different from existing sources. Additionally, as my knowledge cut-off is from 2021, any new information that has emerged after that date is not included in my knowledge.

Question: If AI can write blogs and papers, what will people do instead in the future?

ChatGPT: As AI technology continues to advance, it may be able to perform a wide range of tasks that were previously done by humans. In the case of writing, AI-generated content may be used to supplement or even replace human-written articles, blogs, and papers in certain circumstances. However, it’s important to note that while AI can generate text that is coherent and relevant to a given topic, it’s not always able to fully understand the nuances and subtlety that a human writer might bring.

It’s also likely that many new opportunities will arise as a result of AI, and that people will find new ways to add value in areas where AI is less effective. For example, fact-checking, editing, and curating AI-generated content will be important roles in the future. Additionally, jobs that require creativity, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence may be less susceptible to automation.

Moreover, People will also be able to focus on other areas such as content creation, strategy and management, research, and other areas that require human skills like creativity, problem-solving, and critical thinking. The ability to work alongside AI will be a highly valuable skill in the future.

Question: What is the potential impact of AI’s ability to write on the job market?

ChatGPT: The potential impact of AI’s ability to write on the job market is not entirely clear, as it will likely depend on how the technology is used and how quickly it develops. However, it is likely that the use of AI-generated content will result in some job losses in industries that rely heavily on writing, such as journalism and content creation. However, other jobs may be created as a result of the increased use of AI-generated content, such as fact-checking, editing, and curating AI-generated content.

Overall, the impact of AI’s ability to write on the job market is likely to be complex, with both positive and negative effects. While it may automate some jobs, it will also create new opportunities and change the nature of work in ways that we can’t yet predict.

Continue reading “How Writers and Content Creators Can Survive in a World of Advanced AI” →

All generalizations are false, including this one.

-Mark Twain

Why is it called Park’s, not Blondel’s, Transformation?

The History of the DQ Transformation

Park’s transformation can be considered to be the single theoretical contribution that triggered the development of advanced design, control, and analysis of electrical machines (motors and generators). To most practicing engineers and researchers in this field, the story goes like this:

Robert H. Park (1902–1994)
André-Eugène Blondel (1863–1938)

After Nikola Tesla invented the AC machine in the 1880s, it took the electrical engineers over 3 decades of struggling with AC circuits analysis before Robert H. Park (1902–1994) published his seminal paper, in 1929, “Two Reaction Theory of Synchronous Machines”. In that paper, the brilliant young engineer solved the problem mathemagically by introducing the dq0-transformation that has been called after him, the Park’s transformation, which transforms the natural 3-phase AC reference frame into a fictitious 2-circuit rotating reference frame.

The Park’s transformation is a brilliant idea indeed, except that it was not invented by Park… Have you ever heard of André-Eugène Blondel (1863–1938)? Here is the complete story.

Continue reading “Why is it called Park’s, not Blondel’s, Transformation?” →

Electric Motors Should be More Fun

We encounter mechanical phenomena all the time. We see things move, fall, spin, oscillate, break, etc. Electrical phenomena, on the other hand, are not always visible. Therefore, it has become a common practice to use mechanical analogies to explain and teach less visible concepts.

Classical analogy. Source

We compare electrons to water when explaining voltage, current, and Ohm’s law. The inductor is often compared to a spring, and the capacitor to a mass/inertia. The electrical resonance can then be compared to the mechanical resonance.

Even control engineers use mechanical analogies to illustrate their concepts; the proportional-derivative controller is nothing but a mass-damper system in that sense.

The theory of AC motors involves many difficult concepts, often explained with mathematical formulas and graphs. This is an obstacle to effective teaching and vulgarization. In this post, I propose 3 ideas to make the teaching of AC motors more fun. My goal is to stimulate more ideas and analogies; if you have some, please share them.

Continue reading “Electric Motors Should be More Fun” →

Between Waterfall and Agile – The Grey Area

What is the development theory that Steve Jobs used to develop the Apple II computer? Do you think that when Thomas Edison invented and mass-produced the light bulb, and many other inventions, he was thinking about what project development model to apply? What model was on the mind of Henry Ford when he revolutionized the automotive industry (besides the model T)?

If you have great visionary leaders who have a good understanding of the market, and talented people who master the state-of-the-art technology, with a bit of luck, you can develop a best-in-class product, and disrupt the market, without the need for any management/development theory. Following your success, people (not as smart as your people) will try to extract lessons from your good practices, theorize them, and sell them to other companies as remedies to their problems. Good practices will always help to improve the outcome, but will never fix the problem of narrow-minded leadership and unmotivated people.

This sets the ground for the sequel.

Image for post

Product/Software Development

The development of a product/software comprises the following key activities:

Continue reading “Between Waterfall and Agile – The Grey Area” →

Success !

The Great Influenza – John Barry

Book Cover

Title: The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Plague in History
Author: John M. Barry
Publication Date: 2004
Recommendation Score: 4.5/5

The H1N1 influenza A virus was called the Spanish flu. This is mainly because the Spanish press was reporting about it freely, in contrast to the censored press in the countries involved in world war I. This flu is arguably the deadliest pandemic in history. It happened between 1917 and 1920 with a peak in 1918. The war helped the virus spread by both displacing men between countries, and by censorship that minimized the death reports to maintain morale. The book describes this period in great detail.

When I was reading this book, I heard a president of a European country comforting his people by claiming that the COVID-19 crisis and its context (economic crisis, terrorism) is the worst in modern history. Political dogma aside, we are far better, with our modern technology, than the generation that endured the flu pandemic and WWI. We should expect the worst.

The book was written over 15 years ago. The author, John Barry, warns against the risk of flu pandemic outbreaks that may occur any time. He points out the fragility of the just-in-time supply chain, and the over-optimization of the industries, including the health industry, which makes us poorly prepared in case of a pandemic. 

Loonshots – Safi Bahcall

Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries: Amazon.co.uk: Safi Bahcall: 9781250225610: Books

Title: Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries
Author: Safi Bahcall
Publication Date: 2019
Recommendation Score: 4.5/5

Safi Bahcall is an entrepreneur with a Ph.D. in physics. In his book “Loonshots” he tries to apply the principle of physics to innovation in business ventures. The book is inspired by two success stories in recent American history 1) the turnaround of the Bell Telephone Company, led by Theodore Vail, during the first decade of the 20th century which resulted in creating the Bell Labs, 2) and by the efforts of Vannevar Bush to improve the technology of the US army during the second world war.

The author states that for an organization to nurture innovation, the following conditions should be met:

Phase Separation and Dynamic Equilibrium

Create phase separation and dynamic equilibrium: to separate the artists, who want to create crazy technology, from soldiers whose discipline ensures that the technology is being implemented efficiently (quality, cost, time). And create a continuous exchange of ideas, information, and people between the two groups (dynamic equilibrium) to allow the transfer of technology from the innovation phase to the implementation phase, and to allow the transfer of field experience to innovators.

The Leader as a Gardener

Innovation leaders should be like gardeners: their role is to balance between the two groups and to manage the transfer between them. Not to intervene as soldiers, nor to contribute as artists. And leaders should love their artists and soldiers equally.

Beware the Bandwagon Effect

In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is.

Yogi Berra