A few years ago, you might have been forgiven for wondering whether it was just another fad. But recent advances – such as the emergence of generative AI tools like ChatGPT – have left most of us in no doubt that we’re witnessing the dawn of a new era. An era that’s likely to see our lives change just as dramatically as we saw with the arrival of personal computers, the internet, or smartphones.

Perhaps even more so – Google CEO Sundar Pichai famously stated back in 2016 that it would have a bigger impact than fire or electricity.

But let’s forget the hyperbole (if it is hyperbole) for a second and focus on the here and now. What are the most important things we need to understand about this revolutionary technology today? Interesting (or scary) though it may be to wonder whether we will be chauffeured in sentient flying taxis – or even falling in love and marrying robots – in decades to come, there are some pressing concerns that need to be addressed right now. So, here are the facts I believe that everyone needs to get to grips with in 2023 in order to navigate these early days of the AI era.

AI isn’t the future – it’s now

Yes, it’s early days, and the AI tools and apps that are blowing our minds today are going to look amusingly quaint compared to what we’re playing with in five years’ time. But make no mistake, AI is here today, embedded everywhere in the world around us. You might be one of the many who don’t even realize it – a survey a few years back found that while 84% of us were using AI on a daily basis, only 34% knew we were doing it. But when you’re shopping online, searching the internet, ordering food deliveries, hailing a ride, navigating from place to place, or enjoying music and movies, you’re probably using AI.

It’s still tempting to think of AI as something from the domain of science fiction that might emerge at some point in the future – because, to adults alive today, that’s been the case for most of our lives. And today’s AI doesn’t’ exactly look and behave like what we might have been expecting, if we grew up watching Dr. Who, Star Trek, or The Matrix. But if we understand the term AI to mean machines that are capable of simulating at least some of the cognitive functions of biological brains – specifically today, the capacity to learn and improve – then that’s clearly what we have. The last ten years have seen some of the world’s biggest companies focusing their efforts on building these abilities into everyday products and services, which is what has brought us to the point we’re at today.

AI is not going to make you redundant – yet!

One of the biggest concerns about AI is that it will make humans redundant. After all, if our jobs require analyzing and interpreting information and using it to make decisions, it’s very probable that machines can now do it at least as accurately, and certainly much faster, than we can!

The truth, though, is that while some AI systems are good at some jobs, AI, in general, isn’t quite good enough just yet to fully replicate the entire skillsets needed to do most work. Self-driving vehicles haven’t been completely cracked yet – despite billions in investment and numerous companies getting to the trial stage, we aren’t yet at the point where bus or taxi drivers are in danger of being immediately replaced. This is even more true for knowledge workers or workers in roles where there is an emphasis on human-to-human interaction, like nursing or teaching.

It’s clear that some jobs are being replaced by automation – manual manufacturing work, retail cashiers, and bank clerks, for example, had seen machines take over much of their work, even before AI became as commonplace as it is today. At the same time, however, new jobs are created by the need to design, implement, sell, manage, and oversee technology and AI. Generally, these tend to be higher-paying, safer, more comfortable, and more rewarding jobs than those that are replaced.