Scott Galloway, Stern Professor and serial entrepreneur at NYU Stern, says, “AI won’t take your job away” — but people who know how to use it could.
In an episode of the Masters of Scale podcast that aired earlier this month, Galloway advised anyone who thinks their job might be threatened by automation to start using AI.
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“I would say try to set aside 15, 30, 60 minutes a day, even when spending time with your kids, to try to do sneaker drops — which is what I do with my 14-year-old — using AI to plan in terms of time,” he said. “Just become proficient with it.”
Galloway, who sold his media company L2 for $134 million in 2017, initially experimented with the technology by having AI write for him based on prompts. He quickly realized how much AI wrote “like a computer” or in a boring way.
“I have used AI for every component of my work and find that nothing can replace it,” he said.
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Galloway says he now uses AI more as a “thought partner” than as a writer. He consults the AI for information, asks it to create a pitch deck, and asks it to ask him questions based on the pitch deck, like an investor. AI does not replace the tasks Galloway needs to do; it increases it.
“I would say just start using it [AI]“And your own mind will begin to find ways to integrate it,” Galloway said. “You are the warrior.” This is a weapon, but you are the warrior.
Scott Galloway. Photo by Tobias Hase/Picture Alliance via Getty Images
Galloway's recommendations come at a time when tasks like writing and coding are becoming increasingly automated. In August, Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman predicted a future in which AI does most of the coding for software developers. In April, Goldman Sachs CIO Marco Argenti encouraged college computer science students to also study philosophy to develop the thinking skills to interact with AI.
When it comes to writing, one expert estimates that by the end of next year, 90% of all online content will be AI-generated.
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