The AI Age Begins series in Substack
The arrival of Generative AI in the form of ChatGPT took most of the tech and innovation ecosystem of the San Francisco Bay Area by surprise. Even many AI experts thought they would never see this breakthrough in their lifetimes.
So Leyden created a new events series in the iconic Ferry Building of San Francisco to convene a meeting of the minds of many of the tech innovators he had come to know over 30 years as well as the new GenAI builders.
Leyden wrote essays published in Substack of what they all learned in each of these meetings that focused on a key question about AI.
The dozen world-class excerpts who gave five-minute answers to the question were videoed and those published in Substack as well as YouTube.
Here you can get an overview of six of the events and key questions that they answered throughout 2023 and 2024 — as well as links into the Substack essays.
Simply click on the images and to go to the Substack essay where you can read them for free. And in the body of text there will be a link to the essay as well as the Substack story that showcased the key videos too.
Introduction to the Event & Media Series
Initially the event and media series was called The Great Progression series before it evolved over the next two years into The AI Age Begins. But the general thrust was always the same.
This introduction captures the giddy excitement coming off the arrival of ChatGPT 4 in March of 2023 and sets up the essays to come about the individual events.
Remember all the stories referred to on this page can be seen in their entirety on Substack for free by clicking on the image in that section.
The Real Implications of Generative AI
This is the first essay that explains what we learned in the first event and set up the formula for how we got the word out via Substack.
We gathered 300 top tech innovators in a meeting of the minds to figure out how big a deal Generative AI really was. The consensus: a very very big deal.
No reason to explain more about what you can just as well read there for free.
In all those below click on the image or a text link to see the essay always written by Peter Leyden. And here is the Substack story that showcases the videos of the speakers too.
The Many Positive Possibilities of Generative AI
This next essay then explored what we learned about the positive potential of this amazing new tool.
We gathered 300 top tech innovators in a meeting of the minds to figure out what are the many good things that Generative AI could bring.
No reason to explain more about what you can just as well read there for free. Click on the image or click here. And here is the Substack story that showcases the videos of the speakers too.
The Actual Risks of Generative AI
This next essay then explored the flip side of what were the actual risks to unleashing AI on the world. the mainstream media was already mostly negative in their coverage and so we looked hard at what really was worth fearing.
We gathered 300 top tech innovators in a meeting of the minds to figure out what are the many bad things that Generative AI could bring.
No reason to explain more about what you can just as well read there for free. Click on the image or click here. And here is the Substack story that showcases the videos of the speakers too.
The AI Age Begins Introduction Again
By early 2024 we knew that Generative AI was opening up what would be seen as The AI Age and so we shifted the title for the events and media created that year.
This essay then acted as another introduction to the series for the year of 2024 to those newcomers who were increasingly following us and taking more notice.
No reason to explain more about what you can just as well read there for free. Click on the image or click here.
The Case for Techno-Optimism Around AI
As the mainstream media kept harping on the dangers of AI, and governments and new AI safety think tanks kept drumming up fear, we decided to come together to make the case for optimism when thinking about AI.
We gathered 300 top tech innovators in a meeting of the minds to figure out what are the key elements of that case.
No reason to explain more about what you can just as well read there for free. Click on the image or click here. And here is the Substack story that showcases the videos of the speakers too.
How AI Could Supercharge Progress in Solving Climate Change
We then looked at how AI might be able to help humans solve our most complex and daunting challenge in the form of climate change.
We gathered 300 top AI experts as well as climate experts in a meeting of the minds to figure out where AI could be most helpful. To be fair, many of the climate experts talked about how AI could help but may not make a big enough difference over time.
No reason to explain more about what you can just as well read there for free. Click on the image or click here. And here is the Substack story that showcases the videos of the speakers too.
AI Will Help Bring About the Bio Age Too
This next essay then explored the flip side of what were the actual risks to unleashing AI on the world. the mainstream media was already mostly negative in their coverage and so we looked hard at what really was worth fearing.
We gathered 300 top tech innovators in a meeting of the minds to figure out what are the many bad things that Generative AI could bring.
No reason to explain more about what you can just as well read there for free. Click on the image or click here. And here is the Substack story that showcases the videos of the speakers too.