Someone still has to ask the questions…

2022 has been an incredible year. From “the bads” (war and stock market crash) to “the goods” (fusion energy and AI advances). It is worth considering how these will impact us in 2023 and beyond.

Of all the above, my bet is that AI will have the biggest impact.

AI algorithms (like the type we see in ChatGPT) will transform how we work and live. Not without challenges. But most of it for good.

A criticism levelled at current AIs is that they are not “real intelligences”. They make things up. They make mistakes. (Some of this admittedly sounds quite human).

But the main limitation of AI algorithms is that they have no agency. They can’t think for themselves.

And as we know, all good thinking starts with good questions.

The importance of questions

IBM’s founder Thomas J. Watson, Sr. once said: “Man has made some machines that can answer questions provided the facts are profusely stored in them, but we will never be able to make a machine that will ask questions. The ability to ask the right question is more than half the battle of finding the answer.”

Tech has come a long way in the past 100 years. And future AIs may be able to ask questions as well.

But for now, computers are not sentient. So figuring out which questions to ask is still squarely the purview of humans.

The power of humanity

With computers and AI, we have more powerful tools than ever. Far from making humans redundant, this amplifies the value of what is uniquely human. Asking the right questions is no longer just “half the battle”. When answers are easy, asking the right questions is increasingly the only thing that matters.

The winner of tomorrow is the one who is most curious. Most exploratory. Most determined to ask the right questions. And to look for the most impactful answers.

So as we sit around a marvel/worry about what AI is and can do, it’s worth remembering one thing:

AI algorithms are great at providing answers. But someone still has to ask the questions. And right now, that someone is still very much us.

Happy holidays!