Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth
A rational conversation on where AI is actually going | Benedict Evans
This episode appears to contain dynamically inserted ads. Transcript timestamps may be approximate.
My most controversial opinion is that I think that AI is as big a deal as the internet on mobile and only as big a deal as the internet on mobile. What you're just done, the coming job park lives. Every time we have a new technology, it automates a way a bunch of jobs and then that automation unlocks a bunch of new jobs. And you don't know the new job because it doesn't exist yet, we've had that process over and over again. You've been just looking at the most advanced AI companies throughout Big Open AI. Everyone's increasing have count. You talk to these farmers on Twitter and they would act like, "Every big company is going to buy chat TV tomorrow." And then in two weeks time, they'll fire all their stuff. These people are more handsome. You can't predict which things are going to be exposed. You can't look at a senior partner at a law firm and say, "Well, 17% of their work could be automated." This is bullshit. I'm curious if you're following the anti-AI sentiment. It's a big fuzzy mess. Yes, this will change a bunch of stuff and we'll need to worry about it. But that's kind of a constant. We've always had that. What would be a couple of things you recommend people do to be more successful in this future? Don't stick your head in the sand and say, "Hey, all of this stuff." That gives you a great feeling of quality and you can go on blue sky and chat at everybody about how evil AI is like, "Great, I'm happy for you." But that's not going to help. What helps is you diving into this and coming out, understanding what you can do with it. Today, my guest is Benedict Evans. Benedict was a long-time partner at A16Z as their in-house analyst and resident thinker before that he was a long-time equity researcher. And for the past six years, he's been an independent analyst tracking the most important tech trends and sharing what he's learning. Most recently, as you'd expect, he's spending all his time on how AI is changing our lives. And in his words, AI is eating the world. In this conversation, we go deep on what we're still not pricing in on the impact that AI is going to have on our lives and our work, the rise of anti-AI sentiment, the impact on jobs, where in the value chain most of the value will accrue and tons more. If you're worried about AI or just confused about where things are heading, this conversation will teach you a lot and also make you feel better. Before we get into it, don't forget to check out lenniesproductpass.com for a year free of some of the most amazing, hottest, most well-crafted AI products in the world, available exclusively to Lenny's newsletter subscribers. With that, I bring you Benedict Evans. [MUSIC] >> Benedict, thank you so much for being here. Welcome to the podcast.
Transcription truncated.