johnmaconline

We all have an internal timer connected to expected delay. 

That timer expiry depends on context.

Waiting for the specialist appointment? Less than 6 weeks.
Waiting for the interview callback? Less than a week.
Waiting for approval on a mortgage? Less than a couple days.
Waiting to get called back for the appointment? Less than 20 minutes.
Waiting for the server to show up at your table? Less than 10 minutes.
Waiting at the Starbucks drive-through? Less than 5 minutes.
Waiting for approval on a credit card? Less than a minute.
Waiting for an answer to a text message? Less than 15 seconds.
Waiting for your computer cursor? Less than 50 milliseconds.

When the delay timer expires, we get uncomfortable. 

That uncomfortable delay indicates something is wrong. Or, at least something feels like it’s wrong.

Technology has always been an accelerator for shortening expected delay timers. AI continues that trend and specifically targets investors and startup founders. Founders and investors used to talk about getting the product out in 18 months. Now they talk about weeks. 

Expectations shift left.

Expectations aren’t just about speed. They’re also about uncertainty.

Avoiding the uncomfortable delay requires removing uncertainty.

If you can tell someone what’s happening and what to expect, you can turn an uncomfortable delay into a tolerable wait. 

Most of the time, people don’t need faster. But they just want to know. 

No one changes the world alone. AI models are rapidly learning to reason better, code faster, and take actions in the world with increasing autonomy. But for humans, progress happens when we understand one another, build trust, make connections, and work together. That is where we believe the next chapter of AI should begin.

That’s the opening paragraph from the Humans& home page.

OK, I agree, and I’m intrigued and optimistic about that statement (and the two paragraphs that follow). 

But also, who gets to make the decisions? Who decides what “we need” or what “AI should do and shouldn’t do?”

Well, they do, of course. The smart people. 

They might be making something perfect and amazing. But I’m also always a little wary when the smart people tell us “how it should be.” 

Sometimes the best approach is to just make the tool and let us, the (regular) humans, figure out how best to use it. Yeah, that’s messy. Yeah, it could be fraught. Yeah, bad stuff might happen. Yeah, it might not work. Yeah, we might have to fix some stuff later.

Oh, and they’re hiring. Their pitch for candidates starts with, “If you’ve done world-class work…”

It’s worth following this. It’s worth seeing where it goes. It’s worth discussing. 

It’s worth your voice.

The AI debate that I see all over LinkedIn (in my world) is whether AI is better at programming than human.

It comes in several forms. The first is straight up, “Is AI better at coding than humans?” But it also comes in sub-forms such as “Is AI better than senior programmers?” and “Will AI eliminate junior programmers?” It also comes in the form of warnings such as “Beware the security risks of AI coding” and “AI-coded apps will be maintenance nightmares,” and the exact opposite, “AI-coded apps eliminate the need for maintenance.”

Human programmers must design their code for functionality, performance, efficiency, testability, readability, security, and maintainability (i.e., the ability to fix and revise it in the future).

Can AI programmers do all that? 

The AI programmer debate is no different than the debate around AI and all other professions and arts. It sounds like, “Will AI eliminate jobs and make humans irrelevant?” 

That’s not the debate. That’s a distraction.

The debate isn’t “Will AI eliminate me?” 

The debate is “Will AI work for me, or will I work for AI?”

I’m now in my mid-50’s. Squarely outside the norm of pop culture.

My life inspires the Dr. Rick commercials. I’ve gotta look up words I overhear young people using. I text in full sentences and spell out words. Etc. You understand.

Basically, I’m left behind today’s pop culture. 

Who cares? What does it matter if I don’t understand the way someone is using “cinema” in a sentence? Other than being the brunt of jokes, what’s the downside?

But I (and you) can’t let that happen professionally. 

No matter your age or where you are in your career, you gotta keep up. Actually, not just keep up, but be part of the conversation to push it forward. 

That includes terminology. 

Know the words. Know the names of the tools. Know the names of the processes. Especially the new and cutting-edge stuff. This includes AI, of course. 

You have an opportunity. What will you do with it?