AI and the automation of work

Today’s Edition

Hey there! Welcome to today's edition, packed with all the hottest news from the world of AI.

• 📖 First off, I came across this really thought-provoking piece by this smart guy, Benedict Evans. He's a tech writer I really admire. He shared an insightful, historically-anchored perspective on how AI will drastically reshape our work landscape and employment sector

• 🖥️ Today’s product section features a couple of great AI sales tools. There's this one called Clay, it's all about making your sales prospecting a breeze. It uses data from all sorts of places to help you find your dream customers and then it'll even send personalized messages for you. Then there's this one called Namora, it's like having a personal AI assistant for sales reps. It'll turbocharge your prospecting, help you research, and fine-tune your messaging so you can seal the deal.

• 👩🏼‍💻 And hey, you know those CTA buttons? The ones that make people want to click? We've put together a prompt to help you create some real eye-catching ones that your audience won't be able to resist.

• 🎤 Most valuable media features a podcast you've gotta hear. It's called 'Why AI Matters And How To Deal With The Coming Change' with Emad Mostaque and Pete Diamandis. Plus, there are some seriously beautiful 'Golden Hour' images from Midjourney.

So grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and let's dive into the fascinating world of AI together. Enjoy!

Jenko

AI and the automation of work

Last night, I spent some time reading an intriguing article written by Benedict Evans, a renowned and brilliant tech author whom I follow. He shared an insightful, historically-anchored perspective on how AI will drastically reshape our work landscape and employment sector. I sincerely suggest you invest some time reading the complete piece here, but for now, I'll try to distill the principal points for you.

Pretty much everyone in tech agrees that generative AI, Large Language Models and ChatGPT are a generational change in what we can do with software, and in what we can automate with software. There isn’t much agreement on anything else about LLMs - indeed, we’re still working out what the arguments are - but everyone agrees there’s a lot more automation coming, and entirely new kinds of automation. Automation means jobs, and people.

Historically, work automation has been a part of our society for over 200 years. Each wave of automation eliminates certain jobs but also creates new ones. While this process can cause displacement and discomfort, the total number of jobs has not decreased over time. Instead, we've seen an increase in prosperity as we adapt to new roles and industries. Predicting these new jobs, however, can be challenging. For instance, who could have foreseen a century ago that 'software engineer' would become an employment category?

One popular misconception, known as the 'Lump of Labour' fallacy, suggests that there is a finite amount of work to be done, and machines taking over some tasks would mean less work for humans. However, when machines make processes cheaper, this often leads to more people affording these products, having extra money to spend elsewhere, and creating a demand for new jobs and services. This cycle stimulates the economy, fostering new prosperity and job opportunities.

The progression of automation over the past two centuries has been a journey up the scale of human capability. We've automated physical labour, moving from farm work to blue-collar jobs, and now we're automating cognitive tasks traditionally reserved for white-collar jobs. This has raised concerns about what jobs will be left for humans if we automate these high-level tasks.

However, it's worth noting an economic phenomenon known as the Jevons Paradox. This principle suggests that as machines become more efficient, we don't just use less of a resource; instead, we find new and different uses for it, thereby increasing its consumption. This paradox has been evident in the automation of clerical work. Despite the advent of typewriters and adding machines increasing a clerk's output tenfold, this didn't result in fewer clerks. Instead, employers hired more clerks, leading to more jobs.

The cycle of automation and job creation continues, as seen with the computer revolution. Despite initial fears, the rise of computers didn't cause a collapse in white-collar jobs. On the contrary, it transformed accounting departments and created new roles and opportunities.

New technology typically makes tasks cheaper and easier, which could mean accomplishing the same work with fewer people or doing much more with the same workforce. As we adapt, we often change our ways of working, not simply fitting new tools into old methods, but evolving our processes and roles to leverage these advancements. As we navigate this latest wave of AI-driven automation, it's critical to remember these historical lessons and remain open to the new opportunities that will undoubtedly emerge.

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A day in the life of AI

Every day, we will showcase a workflow or task designed to help you save time in your job or personal life. Becoming skilled at promoting can be a superpower, so the goal of this section is to help you improve in this area for both personal and professional growth.

Personal or Professional: Professional
Workflow/Task: Call to Action
Task time before AI: A few hours
Task Time with AI: <2 minutes

We know how frustrating it can be to spend hours optimising your landing pages only to see lackluster results. This will help you start speaking your customer's language and get you higher conversions in less time.

Call-to-action buttons are one of the most important elements for driving conversions, so we created a prompt to generate attention-grabbing CTAs tailored to your target audience:

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These images were created with Midjourney via the following prompt: Cinematic - detail - shot, decorative lines, precisionist lines, rim light, delicate lines, living room, cinematic - contour - lighting, highly detailed, winter, golden hour --ar 21:9

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