Dedicated to women nurturing our next generation
Recently, my classmates from junior college celebrated our 30 years reunion at our alma mater. The 16–17-year-old boys then, playing street fighter in computing class, hiding under the desks with their mischievous pranks, are now directors, heads, principals of software consultancies and engineering. Kudos to their hard work!
Many of the smart and high-flying girls in my class, gave up their jobs to become highly respectable stay-home-mums. Even as they dedicate their lives to their kids and family, they are many a times forgotten by others, or disconnected from society. It is tough to bring up kids, as I am a mum myself, but I choose to juggle work-life, with the help of my husband nannying through the diaper moments, meltdowns, and playtime.
One of my classmates, who is a stay-home-mum, sought for my advice, “My son is considering whether to study Computer Science or AI. I am not sure what is the trend in IT now, so I thought of asking you since you are the expert.”
Bearing in mind she was a business graduate, and how she has focused on her kids for almost two decades, I replied “AI is the hottest trend now, every company is a software company and an AI company very soon, it means lots of job openings for your son when he graduates! However, technology will always change, so even after he graduates, he will still have to learn on his own.”
“Will companies prefer one university over the other when both are the same course?” she asked for his son.
Having worked in USA, and interviewed countless graduates, here’s my answer. “For fresh graduates from the global top universities like Standford, MIT, they will naturally stand out, otherwise the preference is not huge between universities.” For fresh graduates, other than grades, interviewers look at relevance of their subjects, final year projects, attitude, leadership experience, and many more as required by the job. Once they gain experience, the relevance of the experience will be more important than graduate grades.
“For AI, what do you do?” she asked.
“In simple terms, AI is Math. For example, learn to calculate the best fit graph for all the data points. It’s a bit deeper than A level Math.” Just like our junior college physics experiment, where we used a stopwatch to time the pendulum’s swing and vary its mass. With the data points, we plotted a graph and gave it a 2-dimensional XY linear equation. With the equation, you now can derive the relationship between time vs weight and calculate any given point. Applying this concept to anything else, the easiest AI is to have a best fit equation that could be a linear line, otherwise it could be a 2-part, 3-part, N-part line, curve, or elliptical equation, and so on. I didn’t explain neural networks, as I thought it might be too deep.
“So will you recommend Comp Science or AI as an undergraduate study?” she asked again for her son.
“Both? Based on his interest, study AI to future proof himself. Everyone in our computer science class is a head or director of IT, it is a really good career to pursue, and our classmates are all doing very well.” “Alternatively, Cybersecurity is always needed, governments will always need to protect their systems with evolving threats.”
Why will AI be important in the future?
It has been 30 years since I have started software programming, survived through the dotcom bubble, SARS, Asis financial crisis, US housing crisis, the recent COVID, and saw many successes and failures of technology companies.
With each new technology breakthrough, like the internet or cellphone, there will be an explosion of innovations, followed by adoption by the mass, simply because of the convenience it brings to our lives. “Make life lazy” was a slogan when I was at a top consumer electronic company, which reflects precisely how we were to create technology products every day, where people could enjoy more of what they want with their limited time, through technology advances.
AI is here to stay, because it brings significant convenience to everyone. It will become the foundation of new technology products, and the foundation for future innovations. Surely, there will be exceptions, not everything needs to have AI. Here I am illustrating the general technology shift. There are times when companies declined to participate in new technology innovations and found their business shrinking as they could not catch up or match up their services and products with their competitors. The key is still to understand the relevance of the technology breakthrough to end customers.
Would AI burst like the dotcom bubble?
AI as a Math subject would not, but there’s always the probability of over-valuation by over-zealous investors, that would over-whelm its market’s worth. The dotcom bubble burst was attributed to multiple factors such as rising interest rates, and onset of recession. Post Covid, we are at a point of inflation, rising interest rates and recession. Would the economics of AI be sound to overcome these factors?
How would OpenAI and the latest ChatGPT change our lives?
You probably heard of ChatGPT, the latest AI breakthrough from OpenAI, with the ability to converse naturally. It failed the Primary School Leaving Exam (PSLE) and passed prestigious law school exams. As with computers systems, ChatGPT learnt from massive amount of information, and can search and summarize facts. Yet, it does not know how to solve problems, but you can teach it using natural language such as English, and it will learn.
In the commercial world, we talk about ChatGPT changing the operations at call centers, transforming and optimizing businesses, helping movie writers create scripts, etc. Companies are updating their chatbots, for their customers to have more natural human-like conversations powered by AI. The changes are unlimited, retail, manufacturing, financial services, travel, healthcare, public sector industries, are leveraging AI to become more productive, and to reduce costs.
For mothers, you may ask if your younger child could learn from ChatGPT safely? Yes, Microsoft is committed to responsible AI, and has committed to filter for malicious content and abuse. Your child can chat through Bing and learn more about things they are curious with or ask AI to explain answers they don’t understand. Homeworks will change, your child will be learning more about logical reasoning, than regurgitating facts, and even have AI verify their answers to their homework,
However, at this point, not everything that is said by ChatGPT is factually true, and your parental guidance is needed. In future, technology will improve, and it would be possible for your child to ask and learn from ChatGPT independently.
You may find talking fridges, or washing machines, as with robotic vacuum cleaners, a little bit smarter, a little bit better at understanding local language nuances, thus reducing the need for you to learn to operate these electronics. The electronics can help you connect to support centers when you need help, especially when it needs to be maintained.
Would ChatGPT be different from Siri, or other voice assistants? Yes, with ChatGPT, generally your voice assistants will be able to understand you better and answer your questions with more relevance. At times as a busy mum, you may be disconnected from society, ChatGPT can bring relevant information to you through your phones, or TV, and keep you updated of trends and what’s happening. Not just by displaying news and articles like today, but you can converse back to find out more on what you like to learn further, ask questions, or even request for a summary.
Do you have a question about AI? Send me a note to find out more.
Thoughts 