AI
A snapshot of papers, predictions, and thoughts, subjective and a bit random. The goal is not a broad overview, but to help start your journey, provoke thought, and show how AI will change everything.
I. Technical background
Conceptually understand backpropagation and transformer models ★
Figure out why increased intelligence/quality is an emergent phenomenon of increasing training data set size ★
27 Foundational research papers shared by Ilya Sutskever (Cofounder OpenAI) with John Carmack: "If you really learn all of these, you’ll know 90% of what matters today."
II: Impact on the world
LinkedIn post by Henry Shi on the impact of AI on VC
Benedict Evans - AI eats the world (November 2024) ★
My (Alex) guesstimate is that most of today's software engineering jobs will be redundant in startups by EoY 2026.
"Programming at the beginning of 2025 and at the end of 2025 will be very different." - Sam Altman at TU Berlin in February 2025
III. Self-driving startups
Understand what tools, functions, and operators are ★
Figure out what AI agents and agentic systems are ★
Play around with Claude Code, Brower Use, OpenHands, MCP, and n8n ★
IV. Foot for thought: AI trends and patterns
The AI revolution has elements of a singularity: quantitatively and qualitatively considerable changes are mutually reinforcing, making higher-order predictions exceptionally hard. Also, the following list isn't nearly exhaustive
Anomaly Detection
What Changed? AI can now detect subtle, high-dimensional anomalies instantly, improving accuracy in detecting fraud, threats, and medical conditions.
Examples: AI-powered detection of fraud, threats, disease, misinformation, irregularities, inefficiencies in increasingly complex systems, like health, research, security, supply chains, nature, climate, legal, financial markets, politics, public health, ...
Positive Impact: Enhances security, reduces financial losses, improves healthcare diagnostics.
Negative Impact: False positives could lead to wrongful accusations (e.g., innocent people flagged as fraudsters). AI bias may disproportionately impact certain groups in criminal justice or credit scoring.
Jobs augmented or replaced: controllers clerks, auditors, doctors, journalists, traders, investors, ...
Permanent Coaching
What Changed? AI enables 24/7 personalized coaching with deep context awareness.
Examples: On-demand or proactive (always on, always listening) coaching on exercise, relationships, mindfulness, sales, public training, studying, personal brand, addiction recovery, decision-making, job interview, productivity, investment, personal finance, negotiation, ...
Positive Impact: Improved decision-making, enhanced emotional resilience, accessible personal growth tools.
Negative Impact: AI may reinforce cognitive biases or provide misleading advice. Users may become overly dependent on AI instead of developing independent problem-solving skills.
Jobs augmented or replaced: Coaches, trainers, therapists, senior experts, ...
Infinite Attention
What Changed? AI provides limitless emotional support and engagement, offering companionship beyond traditional interactions.
Examples: Virtual companions, friends, partners against loneliness, grief companions, religious or spiritual advisors
Positive Impact: Fills social and emotional gaps, supports mental health at scale, provides continuous companionship.
Negative Impact: Users may develop unhealthy emotional dependencies on AI, leading to social withdrawal. Potential for manipulation or exploitation through AI-driven emotional bonds.
Jobs augmented or replaced: Coaches, priests, missionaries
AI-Run Orgs
What Changed? AI-powered businesses can now function with minimal or no human employees.
Examples: Tax advisories, law firms, self-driving startups, investment firms, publishing houses, end2end automated journalism and content production
Positive Impact: Reduced overhead, scalable operations, AI-led entrepreneurship.
Negative Impact: Complete automation of businesses could lead to widespread unemployment in white-collar jobs. AI-led companies may prioritize efficiency over ethics.
Jobs augmented or replaced: Employees, freelancers (e.g., tax advisors)...
Tailored Marketing
What Changed? AI enables hyper-targeted, real-time personalization in marketing and advertising.
Examples: Automated content creation, dynamic recommendations, personalized content (text, picture, audio, video, hook, storyline, brand, ...), AI-driven A/B testing with realtime adjustment of marketing campaigns, Hyperpersonalized ads and email outreach, automated branding for startups, dynamic website customization, changing layout and content based on user behavior, everything is always globally internationalized
Positive Impact: Increased engagement, improved conversion rates, optimized marketing spend.
Negative Impact: Erosion of trust, privacy concerns due to extensive user tracking. Hyper-personalization may create echo chambers, reinforcing biases. Ethical concerns around AI-generated manipulation.
Jobs augmented or replaced: Marketing manager, designer, social media manager, product manager, creative director
Hyper-Personalization
Custom curricula, nutrition, workout plans
User-specific influencers, user journeys, and storytelling
What Changed? AI allows real-time adaptation of services and experiences for individuals.
Examples: Custom evolving narratives, curriculums, campaigns, exercise plans for education platforms, books, audio books, podcasts, based on behavior, user skill, biometrics, trends; virtual (micro) influencers, custom/evolving travel itineraries,
Positive Impact: Mass customization, improved learning and health outcomes, deeper user engagement.
Negative Impact: AI could optimize for engagement over well-being (e.g., addictive learning patterns). Privacy risks from continuous data collection. Potential for monopolization of personalized content delivery.
Jobs augmented or replaced: Writer, community manager, social media manager, trainer, coach, author, podcast host,
Custom UX
What Changed? AI dynamically adapts interfaces based on individual needs, accessibility, and usage patterns.
Examples: AI-generated UIs and dashboards optimized for user preference and situation, real-time personalizd user journeys, UI testing that automatically accounts for and adapts digital products to different cultural preferences, adaptive VR experiences, voice interfaces that adjust tone, vocabulary, and speed to user preference
Positive Impact: Increased usability, accessibility, and efficiency. More seamless and intuitive digital interactions.
Negative Impact: Increased reliance on AI-driven interfaces may reduce human ;understanding of complex systems. Potential for algorithmic bias in UI personalization. Loss of control for users as AI dictates digital environments.
Jobs augmented or replaced: Business analyst, UX designer, trainer, clerk, ...
Video Games
What Changed? AI can generate and modify entire game worlds, stories, and experiences in real-time.
Examples: AI-driven NPCs that evolve, procedural game generation, world building, music, sounds, voices, textures, level size, narratives, quests, live in-game events, goals, adapting to player skill, behavior, choices, and context, AI-based multiplayer balancing, cheap high-quality voice output for main character and NPCs, e-sports coaching, accessibility for disabled gamers, board game assistants, natural language modding and customization interfaces.
Positive Impact: Infinite replayability, lower development costs, hyper-personalized experiences. New creative opportunities in gaming.
Negative Impact: Players may become addicted to infinitely evolving, highly personalized game loops. AI-generated content could become repetitive or lacking human creativity. Ethical concerns around AI-driven microtransactions and monetization.
Jobs augmented or replaced: Game designer, voice actor, writer, data analyst, community manager, software engineer, ...
Art
What Changed? AI generates high-quality, customized artistic content in real-time.
Examples: AI-generated novels, music, series, movies, audiobooks, personalized digital art for home décor, AI-based storytelling, direction, footage, cutting, and post-production, custom movies ("Please create me Star Wars Episode 1, but with more developed characters and better acting. Also, Obi-Wan should be gay, and in the end, I want to cry."), adaptive storytelling, immersive theater experiences, interactive museum exhibits allowing interaction with past civilizations or animals
Positive Impact: Democratized creativity, infinite content personalization, reduced production costs.
Negative Impact: Over-saturation of AI-generated content, reducing demand for human artists. Potential loss of originality if AI models reinforce popular patterns. Ethical concerns over AI using artists' styles without permission.
Jobs augmented or replaced: Voice actor, actor, writer, director, camera person, animator, designer, visual artist, author, caster, ...
Custom Software
What Changed? AI builds software solutions tailored to highly specific needs without manual programming.
Examples: custom enterprise applications easily interfacing with existing processes and stack, AI-generated legacy system modernization, AI-generated software documentation and training materials optimized for each team, many more industry-specific examples
Positive Impact: Faster deployment, lower costs, democratized software development.
Negative Impact: Over-reliance on AI for coding may reduce the need for junior developers. AI-generated software may introduce vulnerabilities if not properly tested. Potential homogenization of software solutions with reduced innovation.
Jobs augmented or replaced: Business analyst, application developer, ICT people, custom software houses, ...
Business Agents
What Changed? AI can autonomously handle high-stakes business processes.
Examples: Cheap, fast, near-perfect, hyperpersonalized contract negotiation, procurement, sales outreach, recruitment, legal advise, financial trading, business intelligence, M&A advisory, tax optimization, vendor contract enforcement, auditing
Positive Impact: Faster operations, cost reduction, reduced human workload in business functions.
Negative Impact: Loss of human oversight in sensitive negotiations. Legal accountability and AI-driven contract disputes could become complex. Potential job loss in white-collar professions requiring analytical decision-making.
Jobs augmented or replaced: Sales, procurement, business analysts, legal advisors, customer ops, operations experts, operations managers, juniors, lawyers, auditors, traders, ...
Evolving Strategies
What Changed? AI continuously optimizes business models and adapts based on real-world data.
Examples: Realtime deep-context scrutiny of a given strategy, dynamic adjustment and experimentation (supply chains, customer segmentation, active markets, growth hacking, ad campaigns, employee engagement, positioning
Positive Impact: Maximized profitability, real-time market adaptation, improved decision-making.
Negative Impact: AI could over-optimize for short-term gains at the expense of long-term sustainability. Potential ethical concerns around AI-driven price manipulation. Dependence on AI decision-making may reduce strategic thinking skills in human teams.
Jobs augmented or replaced: managers and ICs in business intelligence, growth, supply chain management, and strategy
Large-Scale Crowd Sourcing & Coordination
What Changed? AI can now coordinate large-scale collaboration efficiently.
Examples: Decentralized organization, knowledge sharing, and orchestration of citizen science, FOSS, activism, grassroots movements, advocacy, humanitarian relief, legislative proposals, knowledge sharing, microtasking, crowdfunding, remote workforce collaboration, collaborative journalism, disaster response
Positive Impact: Improved efficiency in collective efforts, better scalability of human-AI collaborations.
Negative Impact: AI-led coordination could be weaponized for misinformation campaigns or social manipulation. Large-scale automation could centralize power among AI controllers.
Jobs augmented or replaced: Activists, FOSS contributors, citizen scientists, ...
Scientific Breakthroughs
What Changed? AI accelerates discovery by predicting outcomes faster than traditional R&D.
Examples: drugs, materials, proteins, DNA, prediction of biological systems, reconstruction of archeological evidence, ecosystem prediction, disease patterns, extensive deep research, pattern recognition in old data
Positive Impact: Faster innovation, reduced research costs, democratized scientific exploration.
Negative Impact: Ethical concerns over AI-designed biological modifications. Risk of AI models reinforcing human biases in research. Potential over-reliance on AI for scientific creativity.
Jobs augmented or replaced: Researchers, lab assistants...
On-Demand Assets
What Changed? AI can now create fully functional, optimized designs without manual engineering.
Examples: Adhoc fashion lines, building blueprints, jewellery, sports equipment, prosthetics and assistive devices tailored to individual needs.
Positive Impact: Faster prototyping, reduced cost, scalable production.
Negative Impact: Decreased demand for human designers, risk of AI-generated patents crowding out innovation. Ethical concerns over AI removing human artistic input from product design.
Jobs augmented or replaced: Engineers, designers, architects...
Automation of Routine Tasks
What Changed? AI now handles repetitive, rule-based processes faster and with fewer errors.
Examples: Cheap, efficient automation of document processing, scheduling, customer service, email management, bookkeeping, IT support, workflow automation, tax filing, supply chain, (legal) research, (medical) record transcription, order processing, procurement, vendor management, software testing, report generation, invoice processing, digital personal assistants, HR
Positive Impact: Increased productivity, reduced labor costs, reallocation of human effort to higher-value tasks.
Negative Impact: Job displacement in low-skill roles. Errors in automation can cascade into widespread operational failures. Risk of over-reliance on AI leading to loss of manual expertise.
Jobs augmented or replaced: Clerks, secretaries, business analysts, assistants, translators, customer service agents, HR, supply chain analysts
Enhanced Decision-Making
What Changed? AI can analyze vast amounts of structured and unstructured data to improve strategic decision-making.
Examples: AI-driven legal case strategy predicting, contract analysis, investment portfolio management, risk assessment, market trend forecasting, hiring decisions, M&A evaluations, crisis management simulations for emergency response teams, geopolitical forecasting, predictive policing, clinical trial analysis, dynamic pricing, supply chain forecasting, consumer habit predicting.
Positive Impact: More informed decisions, reduced risks, optimized legal and financial strategies.
Negative Impact: AI-driven decisions may lack human intuition and ethical considerations. Black-box AI models could lead to decisions with no clear explanation. Risk of bias in AI-driven decision-making if trained on flawed data.
Jobs augmented or replaced: Controllers, risk managers, investment analytics managers, (business) analysts, data scientists, consumer insights managers, strategy consultants
Simulated Economies
What Changed? AI-driven virtual economies can test and optimize real-world strategies.
Examples: Agentic simulations predicting the impact of new government policies, virtual stock markets, synthetic supply chains, consumer behavior simulations, policy impact simulations, election result simulations, hyperrealistic training environments for leaders, virtual cities for infrastructure planning
Positive Impact: Better policy decisions, market optimization, improved crisis predictions.
Negative Impact: AI-driven simulations may be biased by their training data. Over-reliance on simulations could lead to unintended real-world consequences. Potential for economic models that optimize for efficiency over fairness.
Jobs augmented or replaced: data scientists, analysts, strategy consultants, policy analysts, supply chain analysts
Augmented Cognition
What Changed? AI extends human memory, knowledge, and decision-making abilities by acting as a seamless cognitive assistant.
Examples: Advanced assistants for personal memory recalling screen activity and past conversations, decision support suggesting optimal choices in real-time, research, real-time fact-checking, medical diagnosis, attention management, subconscious pattern analysis identifying hidden biases, emotional regulation monitoring stress and offering coping strategies, personalized learning paths, personal productivity trackers that optimize daily schedules based on cognitive load.
Positive Impact: Enhanced learning, better decision-making, greater productivity, reduced cognitive overload.
Negative Impact: Risk of over-reliance on AI reducing human critical thinking and memory skills. Potential data privacy concerns with continuous cognitive tracking. AI may unintentionally reinforce biases in decision-making.
Jobs augmented or replaced: Everyone's job is augmented with superpowers, ratio of labour to output changes significantly.
New Lifeforms
What Changed? AI and synthetic biology now allow the design and engineering of entirely new biological and artificial life forms.
Examples: AI-designed microorganisms that break down plastic, synthetic crops engineered to survive extreme climates, robotic swarms mimicking biological behaviors for industrial automation, microbiome engineering optimizing gut health and immune function, synthetic ecosystems, xenobots (programmable living organisms) performing targeted medical tasks, self-replicating robotic organisms, AI-human hybrids enhancing cognitive functions via brain interfaces, artificial species that evolve in virtual environments
Positive Impact: Advancements in medicine, agriculture, environmental conservation, and sustainability. Potential for self-repairing ecosystems and AI-optimized biological structures.
Negative Impact: Ethical concerns regarding the creation of synthetic life. Potential unintended consequences of engineered organisms in natural ecosystems. Risk of AI-designed life forms being used for harmful applications (e.g., bioweapons).
Jobs augmented or replaced: Low impact on today's job market
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