@levie: The best way to think about AI is as a force multiplier for the fields you already know about (or for the rate at which…
Summary
Aaron Levie argues that AI is a force multiplier for experts, enabling them to produce higher quality work, while lacking expertise leads to slop. Henry Shevlin adds that internalized knowledge is essential for creative association and filtering misinformation.
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The best way to think about AI is as a force multiplier for the fields you already know about (or for the rate at which you want to learn about a new one). The 3rd category -no existing judgment, no interest in developing it- will basically produce slop and won’t drive that much economically productive activity.
What will happen is that the experts will get better and better at their craft and be able to do so much more. Because they can wield these tools in ways that actually drive high quality output, veer agents in the right direction when they go off, and actually incorporate the work into something useful.
The expert engineer with agents will do far more productive work, precisely because they know how to steer the agent properly. The designer will product far better outcomes using AI than someone without an eye for design. And so on.
As a result of this dynamic, specialization will continue to be important, if not even more so as the tools get more powerful. Because the expectation of the market gets to be much higher. Getting good at any craft will continue to be necessary in the future.
Henry Shevlin (@dioscuri): My students sometimes ask why they should memorise things in the age of Google and LLMs. But internalised facts are your bullshit filters and your raw material for creative association. Facts outside your head are inert.
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