'Stop doom scrolling on Instagram, learn gen AI tools or else risk getting left behind': Perplexity AI CEO to youngsters

Since the launch of OpenAI ChatGPT in November 2022, we have seen massive advancements in generative Artificial Intelligence (gen AI). What began as a super smart digital assistant, gen AI is now so advanced that they are now used for automation of work such as software coding, leading to massive layoffs in Microsoft, Google and other top corporate companies worldwide.

As per the latest report, more than 50 per cent of coding in Google's search engine algorithms is now done by gen AI tools.

Now, CEO of budding startup Perplexity AI, which is giving a stiff challenge to Google, Microsoft and OpenAI, has a message to youngsters about future job prospects.

In a podcast interview with Matthew Berman, Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas said that advancement in gen AI is progressing faster than any technology to date. It is evolving into bigger and useful tech every three or six months, and humans, historically, are slow to adapt to changing times, and AI tech advancement is testing this very limitation.

"AI will create a sort of impact on society, where people who are upskilled with AI will be useful and employable than other people who are not. That is guaranteed to happen. The thing everybody is missing out on is that anytime there is a new piece of technology, it never progresses this fast (as gen AI)," said Srinivas.

"Even if you go and tell people, hey, you gotta learn and start using gen AI tools, and you gotta be more useful to the team, be faster and efficient doing their job... The human race has never been extremely fast in adapting. We are good at adaptation, but this (gen AI) is testing the limits of how fast we can adapt, especially with a piece of technology as gen AI, which is evolving every three to six months. So, it is taking a toll on the people, and some give up. Whatever the educational tools we build of current models of gen AI for people will become irrelevant in just six months from now," Srinivas noted.

There is an adage going on social media platforms, which kind of allays the fear of gen AI taking away all the jobs. It reads like this-- 'AI won't replace you, but people with AI knowledge will'. Youngsters studying computer engineering or any stream of technology have their tasks cut out to get a job.

It will take a lot of effort for people to stay up to date on gen AI, and there is an inevitable scenario where people with no AI skills will lose jobs. The only way to create more jobs in this sector is to see more entrepreneurs emerge to solve real-world problems with AI tools.

"Every new company is gonna need fewer people. Either the other people who lose jobs start their own companies and make good use of AI (to solve real-world problems). Or end up learning AI and contributing to new companies that want to hire new people. During this phase of temporary displacement and shift, we will see people struggle. There is no other way to sugar-coat this statement. I am not going to say the extreme scenario that this society is all screwed up, and I will not say an extreme utopian scenario, like Sundar Pichai (CEO of Google), who says AI will create new jobs like YouTube creators. It's not the same thing. It's not like a new platform shift. It is fundamentally a task of putting cognitive thinking into an API (Application Programming Interface)," said Perplexity AI CEO.

In a concluding message, Srinivas said, "There is obviously some form of labour that will be replaced by gen AI. I hope people try their best. That's all I can say. Don't take this lightly. Spend less time doom-scrolling on Instagram. Spend more time with AI tools, not because we want you to use our (Perplexity) tools, but add value to the new society."

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