The world is filled with CEOs, Product Managers, and millions of people thinking GenAI / LLMs are an all-in-one solution as a replacement for humans. We can’t change what others think. But what we can do is change the way we work and market it that way.
Disclaimer: I will refer to GenAI / LLMs as AI. AI is a blanket term which covers LLMs but it also covers the basic predictive analytics, and computer vision models. In this article, when I use the words “AI”, I’m referring to Generative AI and/or LLMs unless specified otherwise.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that AI is taking over jobs all over the world. If they’re not taking over the jobs themselves, their adoption among companies is increasing.
The AI Controversy
Some are calling it the future, while others say it’s bad for society. Many have called it a replacement for humans, while others call it clankers and call it a waste of time and resources.
I have my own views on it but that’s an entire article in itself. To sum up, AI is a tool that humans have no clue how to use. Everyone thinks they know how to use it and while it gets the job done, we’re constantly finding better ways to use it. You can imagine it as giving the Neanderthals a smart phone. They would probably use it as a hammer.
The excessive usage of AI
Every time I see a project on GitHub with Claude as a top-3 contributor, I groan. Why does Claude need to be used so much? Are you so incapable of writing a passion project by yourself? Do you have to use AI? If your app is a free app, then why do you have to use AI?
At the time of writing this, multiple universities just hosted their graduation ceremonies. I saw videos / articles where CEOs like Jensen Huang, and ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt gave a speech where people booed every time they mentioned AI, LLMs or GenAI.
Sources: Jensen Huang & Eric Schmidt
What I’ve realised
Today, while I was doomscrolling, I saw a video where someone was designing a logo for a customer. Now one of the specifications was “Human Made”, and it’s made me think. AI has made us value handmade / “human-made” products even more. Not because it’s better, but because somebody decided to value their users / customers enough to spend some time to create it themselves.
Using AI is now being seen as cheap and low-effort instead of high-value.
How would you feel if someone just wished you a happy birthday:
- Because someone else wished you in the same chat.
- They copy-pasted someone else’s message and sent it to you.
You would still thank them, but you would still feel slightly hurt. Now this can differ from person to person but it’s an example. It’s not about wishing people on their birthday.
It’s about the effort and value people put into serving their customers
That’s why I’m predicting that if AI becomes mainstream in all companies and becomes a major product developer, then the companies that don’t use AI to make their products will be valued more by humans. Similar to how some companies aren’t hated by many because they’re really kind, regardless of the product they offer.
This also means that many freelancers and those tiny roadside shops may start offering human services at a surcharge because of the value we, as humans, give it.
Conclusion
In summary, people value human-made products more, and that’s how companies will charge more in the future. This is similar to how we pay more for hand / home made products because of the way they’re made.
It’s similar to how Rolls Royce and Ferrari charge extra for a hand drawn line and logo respectively. Arguably, a robot could get the job done better, but they get to charge more because it’s done by a human.