This Is A Powerful Revolution Reshaping The World

"Artificial intelligence is our last invention, the last invention we'll ever need to make." Hawking AI, "Transcendence" (2014) 

There is a powerful revolution happening on many fronts everyday. The challenge is to understand which of these helps us move forward. Protecting the status quo is an old political trick that brings failure. Playing wait and see has risks. But to embrace the future and its opportunities means we have to embrance change and be prepared for it. AI and Politics are on the same highway only one has a vision and the other doesn't.

The Market and Economy

 The US stock market continues to hold. The key for many investors is to look for growth, and artificial intelligence is on the march. Unlike the metaverse that Facebook (Meta) tried very hard to make out, they were leading the vision of the future. It all came back down to one thing, as did the internet and e-commerce, creating convenience and efficiency for consumers and corporations. The Canadian stock market has also been gradually growing, albeit not like the US.

On the other hand, the US and the Canadian economies are on two different paths. According to RBC, Canadian consumers are cutting back on everything, including dining out to travel. In other words, the post-pandemic euphoria is in decline. Where are interest rates heading? In Canada, it is downward, perhaps not too quickly, but declining consumer spending can damage the economy. In the US, some people like Claudia Sahm (CNBC) believe that the US unemployment rate indicates that the US is in or will be in a recession.

Personal Log:  Mastering the Future

I attended the Collision Conference this week. It was jam-packed with information, innovations, and ideations, and it's all about the future. To be very transparent, I was looking for an investment opportunity, and for three days, I went from booth to booth, talking to a lot of hopefuls. Three business opportunities stood out for me, more on that subject another day. Needless to say, it was all about AI, and everything was about AI, AI, AI...AI. Is there a lot of hype about AI? For sure, a number of these businesses will not succeed. But AI is here, and it is not going away.

In my deliberations over three days.  I came to three particularly important conclusions. One was that we and many executives are not asking the right questions about AI. And they all begin with the word “How.” How will we compete in this new paradigm? How will we transform the organization to compete in this provocatively fast-paced environment brewing? How fast can we have data sets in place? How will we deploy talent? And the list goes on. You see, we are past "What is this about?" And why should we do it or pursue it? Those questions are not redundant, but they should have been asked and answered in the first quarter of 2023.

 My second conclusion was that AI is the internet, e-commerce, smartphones, Google, Amazon, Walmart, and Apple all wrapped up into one, creating an extraordinarily complex and troubling business climate where few can compete effectively. That means we are facing a lot of change all at once, with each major corporation that leads with technology first already ahead of everyone else.

 And in sum of all, this was the third to master the future. We must lean in on adapting and adopting far better than we have if we want to remain relevant as workers and for brands as competitors; society needs us to respond effectively. I’ve heard many complaints about all these changes. But to all of them, I say forget about what and why and focus on how you can make this work for yourself. Then, you are truly on a path toward mastering the future.

Work: Create Your New Career

I have met several people who have lost their jobs to what they believe has been caused by AI. It is quite possible. However, I have some important advice for them and anyone else concerned. ADAPT! Here are some suggestions to turn the risk of career failure around. It starts with embracing AI and change. 

Develop yourself to teach others how to use generative AI as a personal assistant or to create and analyze. You would be surprised how many people struggle with this.

You may even surprise yourself with the ability to create new uses for GenAI. There will be countless applications for AI that have not yet been considered.

 Constantly look for ways to innovate and improve processes within your job using AI. By becoming the go-to person for AI-driven innovation, you position yourself as indispensable in your organization.

 Merge your current skill sets with AI and create yourself into a unique professional. Perhaps it's teaching smaller organizations how AI and machine learning can help them compete or have the contacts of service providers who can help your clients adjust to the changing environment. I can see marketers and human resources experts succeeding in this.

Leverage AI for Entrepreneurship: Use AI tools to identify new business opportunities, streamline operations, or develop new products and services.

Champion AI Ethics and Policy: Position yourself as an expert in AI's ethical and policy implications. By becoming a thought leader in how AI should be used responsibly, you can play a crucial role in shaping the future of technology within your industry, with your clients ranging from government, boards and organizations.

This is a very small list, but human ingenuity can identify more needs in the marketplace, just as we did with e-commerce and developing Omni channels. Many will see this as a risk, but those who embrace it and see it as an opportunity will flourish.

Politics/Social: A World Being Reshaped By Disillusion

Three full conferences in over four weeks, working with two clients, board meetings and troubling political and social news. That's business life. Everything comes at you from all angles, and they influence consumers and then, in turn, economies. Those of us in business should be concerned. Social and political disillusion is at the heart of most of our competitive challenges, which you see in Canada and the US. I vented on one of Tony Chapman posts yesterday about division. I believe democratic nations are broken, but not because of politicians alone. Democracy is broken, as I have said here many times, because we are divided by our human choices, and it tends to be our intolerance of ideologies, lifestyles, politics or religion. However, something thicker in the underlining of all this is driving it, and it is about failing economics. Failing because we humans are unprepared for change, and when impacted by it, we wish for days gone by to return. Well, we have been doing that for centuries and fighting wars even today over the past. But perhaps there is a way to save democracy and our economic models. We need a century of advanced planning that is transparent with society (a 100-year plan), being clear about where we are, what could happen, the achievements we need to strive for, how to prepare for it and a vision of what the future can look like if we start now. Idealistic, I know! Still, we humans do better with plans.

Unfortunately, politics is like hockey; we keep shooting the puck to the other endzone in hopes that we can score; of course, there is only one winner. This one winner-take-all is leaving too many behind, and they are the ones with all the anger and hate, blaming immigrants and ethnicity for their problems. And it is feeding a right-winged movement that is happening in the Western world. Soon, we will elect those political ideologies into power. But if you think they will bring back glory days, you may be disappointed because they will not transfer jobs and wealth from one group to another; that still has to be earned by each of us. Creating wealth and remaining employable is ours, not the government's; this belief feeds the disillusion. We must be careful that this 100-year plan doesn't include disillusion. We can all end up in the past.

 Retailing: The Future Is AI-Commerce

This week, we learned that Target has introduced AI to its employees; that’s all good. Engaging employees to learn to work with AI provides new skill sets and the hopes that they will be more productive and efficient, allowing them to become more service-oriented. Apple also announced a partnership with CHatGPT, and we should expect this to filter into most of their products. Well, it's about time if you asked me! However, the real changes are slowly sifting into the retail world. I say slowly for now. Although I did see it at the Collision Conference, a few already have developed Personal AI Assistants, and they told me that their platform can engage and act as a personal concierge or valet for consumers. This, my friends, will create a whole new level of convenience. One of them also has a program that enlists retailers for a fee, and they get to connect with the customer's Personal AI Assistant. This is precisely how I depicted it would happen in an article for Retail Insider.  

What does this mean for retailers as a whole? They will soon have another level to engage consumers with; only their AI service will need to do that for them. Will it mean that shoppers visit stores less or engage with employees less just by dropping by to pick up their purchases, or will they have them delivered? Certain retailers will have one more level between them, creating loyalty and risk if they do not embrace AI. Does this mean fewer stores? Not necessarily, but retailers, over time, will have to rationalize their locations to fit in the distribution network needed to reach buyers.

Nevertheless, we are heading into an AI-commerce world where AI, as an agent, represents customers to a retailer's agent. This raises many questions about how we turn this into meaningful customer experiences without human interaction. The 30-50% of introverts out there may be dealing with less social anxiety because of this, which may be an opportunity for AI marketers.

At the end of the day, Embrace your human instincts and intuitive powers.

Don’t give up on your instincts and intuitive powers in this fast-changing world being developed by AI. Harnessing your instincts and intuition can unlock and discover the future. Don’t be afraid if your thoughts come through like lightning. You will have your eureka moment. But for all of that to happen, we must immerse ourselves in the things we don’t like or worry about. Attend courses, speaking engagements, and conferences.

Dig deep into emerging trends; you can and will stay ahead of the curve. New knowledge and insights can make you indispensable. Trust your instincts, and do not doubt yourself; instead, research to validate your intuition. You only need to prove to yourself that you are right once you have valid evidence. Then, experiment, look for ideas, and never stop thinking about the future. Feed your mind, and you can repeatedly unleash those instincts and intuitive powers. Humans have one capability that no other species on this planet has. We can renew and reinvent ourselves.

As the world ramps up on Artificial Intelligence, we still have to answer the question of how we will compete and live with a technology that will continuously improve. Please feel free to contact me at gminakakis@inceptionretailgroup.com to book a speaking engagement. I am a former CEO with global experience and a current board director. I have served in the retail, healthcare, restaurant, and electric utility industries. Business and Leadership are my profession.