This roundtable issue is slightly different than what you’re used to getting from me - I’m going to try something new today. Bear with me, and read more about why I’m doing this in the EOF (don’t worry, the normal Unzip.dev format will be coming back with a bang in the next issue!).

AI Roundtable (2024)

It seems like Sam Altman is someone we should take seriously when he says that AGI will be available “in the reasonably close-ish future”.

The same goes, when NVIDIA’s NVIDIA’s CEO says “kids won’t need to learn to code anymore” - this isn’t some fringe thought anymore.

Those two got me thinking about what are the practical implications of AI. A few concrete thoughts emerged:

• If Sam is correct, and you haven't yet discussed your plans for next year, I strongly suggest you do that ASAP. Ask "How will AGI affect my business/industry?" - you don't have to be right, but it's better to prepare and be aware of the dangers than being caught with your pants down.
• Compounding any type of work is better than jumping ship to the next shiny thing (like a startup pivot). Be smart, don't make hasty decisions without serious grounding.
• Sam also said that we will soon see one-person unicorns ($1B+) - ask yourself how that changes things? Is this going to be a whole new persona? What companies are going under? So many things will change (pricing, products, ...)
• Given the rise of in-house development tools like Retool (see the low-code issue) and AI solutions (e.g., Copilot, ChatGPT) - SaaS companies will need to start finding new moats. Open-sourcing products might be more relevant than ever (check his blog too).

“No dev stuff? What is going on Agam?”, you might think.

No no, don't worry, I'm not going to leave you empty-handed ;)

Following are a few emerging techniques in the realm of AI, ones that I am going to cover quickly, so you don't lose your edge: