SAN DIEGO–When Kevin Surace took the stage before Origence Lending Tech Live event here, it was to a vibrant video and booming voiceover about the future—and it was all created by artificial intelligence tools readily available to anyone at practically no cost.
The video would set the tone for remarks shared by Surace, a futurist, innovator, and CEO, who was on hand to speak about just that subject—AI, and the promise he believes it holds for all organizations, including credit unions.
“Hi, this is Kevin Surace and I am here today to talk to you about artificial intelligence,” announced a new video that appeared to feature him. “Except that's not my voice. I cloned my voice in 15 seconds. Now, at first you may think it is dangerous, but it’s actually kind of brilliant.”
The reason, said the real Surace, is now AI can be used to speak to a million consumers at once, increasing personalization and slashing costs.
‘We Are In Day One’
He did acknowledge the technology also has the capacity to be used by bad actors, but so can all technologies, he told the meeting. He went on to share several more AI-created videos, including him speaking in foreign languages, and noted that what used to involve $100,000 in production costs can now be done for less than a buck.
“We are in day one of generative AI. It’s moving fast and up and to the right as fast as can be,” he said, adding AI is going to become as embedded in day-to-day life as is the Internet. “Artificial intelligence is about to change our lives forever. The brightest future awaits those who embrace these changes with fervor.”
Points Discussed
Other AI-related points touched on by Surace included:
‘Everyone Says AI is Going to Take Everyone’s Jobs’
“Butthe availability of workers in the United States is going down, while the need for workers is going up. There will be 30% fewer people entering the workforce in the next decade,” Surace said. “AI closes the gap. It reduces the need for workers but you won’t be able to lay anyone off because you need the people you have. Without AI you can’t grow the business.
“Those who ignore technology all the way back to the wheel end up on the wrong side of history. AI is the wheel of our time. Eighty percent of today’s tasks will be automated by 2050, but it will create more job opportunities. Yes, some people will probably be left out of that equation, but there will be more opportunity as demand for products and services will go up as higher productivity boosts GDP.”
‘The Scary Part’
“The scary part for humans is we are at the top of the food chain and the mental chain. And we never had anything that was smarter than us,” Surace said. “Now, all of sudden, ChatGPT, (Microsoft) Copilot, are frankly smarter than we are. These systems have better recommendations than any of us could have. They are more informed.”
Market Transformation
“Market transformation happens when we have huge changes in cost, when the nominal cost approaches zero. The cost of computing, data transport and content has come down to practically nothing. The cost of creating content is about to be zero, which means you can all make more content, which is really good and can be really bad.”
The Tipping Point
“The tipping point is here,” Surace said. “Embrace AI or face extinction. I used to say AI could augment your intelligence, but now I say it’s really here to amplify your intelligence. There is this technology, but it works for you.”
IQ and EQ
“The relative value of IQ will lessen, increasing the importance of EQ,” according to Surace. “This is a little scary for some of us. We went to high school or college and probably put a lot of emphasis on being pretty smart about something. The problem you have is that everyone is going to be 100x smarter with the same tools you’re going to use. You can’t differentiate you anymore. This is a really big change.”
Where Can You Start Today?
“It’s all about increasing productively, wherever you start. If you can’t increase productivity, don’t use it,” he said.