This column appeared on Ziptone on Oct. 18, 2024
According to Chinese astrology, 2024 is the year of the Dragon. But someone miscalculated there because it is clearly the year of AI. Where Geert Wilders can determine the social conversation of the day, AI has decided to dominate all other topics of conversation – at least within the customer contact industry. Until the birth of baby ChatGPT on Nov. 20, 2022, everyone was busy implementing chatbots in the KCC. But since then, the chatbot has been last season, and I suspect redundant ones are being donated to developing countries. Move over, chatbot. From now on, it’s AI-first.
AI for everybody
By 2023, we will have learned at lightning speed what AI can do for ordinary fellow humans, who don’t necessarily sit around coding all day. Writing texts, creating images, taking work off our hands, and so on. But human as we are, we want more. We prefer AI to do all those tasks with some emotion added. Like a human would, for example. Which is convenient in times of labor shortages. Fortunately, 2024 is the year of the Dragon: the year to pursue existing dreams. All your dreams get a big kickstart in the year of the Dragon! Besides, it’s also a Yang year: forget about rest, there’s a lot of action.
And action, there certainly is. AI is everywhere. Whether we talk to it (Hey Mercedes, Hey Alexa, Hey Siri), talk with it (conversational AI bots), or talk about it (any event or article in the Netherlands), AI dominates the topic of conversation – which is entirely fitting for a Dragon.
Back to the future
AI’s first signs of life were observed on Aug. 31, 1955. John McCarty and colleagues introduced the term in an article called “A Proposal for the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence. In this article, the authors proposed “an effort to discover how machines can use language, form abstractions and concepts, solve types of problems now reserved for humans, and improve themselves. We believe that significant progress could be made on one or more of these problems if a carefully selected group of scientists spent a summer working on them together.”
1955 is not only the birth year of AI, it is also the year of the Goat. This one is creative, quiet but passionate, a little unusual, sincere and has a great imagination. In addition, a Goat is also problem-solving and helpful: something many will recognize and the AI employee in the workplace. What a Goat does not like at all is being the center of attention. He prefers to operate in the background, which suits his introverted character better.
AI in 2024
So a Goat and a Dragon are fairly opposite in some ways. Still, 2024 looked quite optimistic for the Goat. A wonderful year was promised, of personal advancement, new opportunities professionally, provided the Goat is able to wait patiently. It is important to nurture the creative side, by delving into art, music, or other emotional enrichment. Mission accomplished.
Is there a future with AI?
Although AI seems impossible to imagine our lives without, the last word has not yet been said on whether we are dealing with a trend, fad or hype. Will we still be using AI in a few years, or will it be long gone by then? Will we decide en masse that Alexa, Siri and Hey, Mercedes no longer have a place in our daily lives? Or will we embrace the Billies, Taylors, Tracy’s, Buddy’s and all those other AI collaborators so strongly that we can change our nameplates at the door?
Who knows may say, but Chinese astrology does offer a glimpse into 2025 – the year of the Serpent:
Professionally, 2025 looks favorable for the Goat. Although it may be a quiet year without intense competition, there are opportunities to grow and develop new skills. The influence of the Serpent helps you solve problems and do your job effectively, which can bring praise from colleagues and supervisors. Overall, 2025 promises to be a year of growth and inner peace for the Goat. With the support of friends and mentors, you can meet challenges and take advantage of new opportunities, provided you are patient and strategic.
Magical Dragons
In the Western world, a dragon is often a dangerous, angry, fire-breathing and screeching creature. But in the East, on the contrary, they are friendly, happy, magical and joyful. Therefore, it is perhaps not surprising, that precisely in the year of the Dragon, the view of AI also changes. From “scary, exciting, will it take over my life?” to “what magic and possibilities can AI also bring for me?”. After all, with the push of a button, or a good prompt, AI can generate texts, images, videos, presentations, and voices. The magic in your keyboard!
So, to return to whether 2024 is the year of the Dragon, or of AI, only one answer seems possible. AI is the Dragon of our time, and is here to stay.
