AI and Humanity: Navigating the Future

Summary

Sish, a founding engineer at a startup, discusses AI and its potential to transform software development. He explains how AI helps quickly build customized software to solve problems at scale. He believes AI combined with software creates efficient solutions. As an example, AI can analyze complex board games that are impossible for software alone. Sish emphasizes that AI augments human capabilities rather than replaces them. He predicts AI will eliminate routine mental tasks, allowing people to focus on more meaningful work. Overall he's optimistic about AI's impact on jobs, expecting short-term displacement but long-term benefits as new roles emerge designing these AI systems.

Takeaways

• 😊 Sish discusses how AI is fundamentally changing software development and solving problems faster
• 😮 AI is able to build customized software solutions quickly based on specific needs and workflows
• 🤔 AI and software should not be viewed separately; rather AI enhances software capabilities
• 🧐 Sish believes only 10% of his engineering education is actually useful in his current work
• 👍 Sish emphasizes being aware of latest industry trends and having an open mindset to adapt to new technologies
• 💡 Sish talks about the role internet and open education resources played in shaping his interests and passion
• 🌟 Sish highlights that breakthrough innovations are often passion projects that go against the system
• 😀 Sish expects AI to take over repetitive and mentally boring jobs, freeing up human potential
• 😎 Sish foresees AI acting as co-pilots and assistants in decision making roles requiring unbiased judgments
• 💪 The host is advised to share strong opinions publicly to organically attract podcast guests

Q & A

What is the difference between AI and normal software according to Sish?

Sish explains that AI helps create software faster and more efficiently to solve problems, while normal software requires manual coding for each new problem or requirement. So AI augments software capabilities.

What does a founding engineer do in a startup?

A founding engineer plays a key role in a startup, working across functions beyond just engineering such as strategizing with stakeholders, making key decisions etc. They take on more responsibility compared to later employees.

How can professionals adapt to the AI-driven future according to Sish?

Sish suggests being aware of latest advancements in your domain that leverage AI, and having an open mindset to adapt and leverage these new technologies.

What changes does Sish suggest in the education system?

Sish advocates moving away from rote learning of outdated concepts in engineering. Instead education should focus more on applying knowledge, building solutions with passion.

How will AI impact jobs according to Sish?

While some jobs may be disrupted, Sish believes AI will create many new jobs around designing these AI systems. It will enhance jobs by taking over repetitive tasks and freeing up human potential.

What role does Sish envision for AI in governance and policymaking?

Sish suggests having AI systems as advisors for decision makers like politicians to counter human biases and limitations in processing large amounts of information.

Why does the host want to grow his YouTube subscribers?

To establish credibility so he can get interviews with education system directors and deans for his podcast interviews.

What advice does Sish give the host regarding YouTube growth?

Put out interesting opinions online to gain some traction, so stakeholders reach out to be interviewed rather than cold contacting.

What are the pros and cons of the 30 minute podcast format according to Sish?

Pros are concise, prevents overly long segments. Cons are cannot get too in-depth into any one topic.

When does Sish expect to meet the host in person?

Sish hopes to meet the host soon in person after the podcast recording.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Introducing the guest Sish and starting the conversation

The host introduces the guest Sish, mentioning his academic background and achievements. They begin discussing AI and its potential, comparing it to traditional software. Sish explains how AI is fundamentally helping software solve problems faster rather than being a separate entity.

05:01

😊 Explaining the role of a founding engineer

Sish explains what a founding engineer is - someone who joins a startup very early when there is no product or money yet. They take on diverse responsibilities and get more equity than later employees. He shares how his personality fits this role of handling ambiguity but moving fast.

10:02

🤔 Rethinking engineering education for an AI future

They discuss how engineering education needs to change to prepare students for an AI future instead of focusing on outdated concepts. Sish advocates for passion-driven learning using internet resources rather than only relying on formal education systems.

15:02

😎 AI's impact on jobs and needing an AI co-pilot

Sish shares historical examples demonstrating jobs change but don't disappear with new technologies. He predicts boring repetitive jobs will be taken over by AI, creating demand for roles designing these AI systems. He suggests having an AI assistant for decision-makers to reduce biases.

20:03

👍 Advice for improving the YouTube channel

When asked for suggestions to improve his channel, Sish appreciates the diversity of guests but advises having a more memorable name. He suggests putting out opinions to stand out and get prominent guests interested rather than cold outreach.

Keywords

💡Artificial Intelligence

AI refers to the simulation of human intelligence in computer systems. In the video, the host asks the guest to explain the difference between AI and normal software. The guest responds that AI helps create software faster by building customized solutions, as opposed to an engineer manually coding software features from scratch.

💡Founding Engineer

A founding engineer is one of the first software engineers to join a startup. As the guest explains, founding engineers take on diverse responsibilities in areas like backend, frontend, and AI because startups lack dedicated roles and resources in the early stages.

💡Education System

They discuss how the current Indian education system is not preparing students adequately for an AI-driven future. The guest criticizes the outdated, passive learning and advocates for more passion-driven, hands-on learning enabled by internet resources.

💡Internet Impact

The guest argues the impact of the internet over the next decade will be 10 times that of AI. He gives his personal example of how discovering online learning resources outside the formal education system transformed his interests and ambitions.

💡Biases

When discussing AI's impact on jobs, the guest states AI has no inherent biases that humans do based on upbringing, religion etc. So AI can be useful for unbiased decision-making in fields like politics.

💡Job Automation

The speakers discuss which categories of jobs are most at risk of automation by AI. The guest asserts repetitive administrative jobs and emotionally exhausting jobs will likely be automated. But AI will also create many new human jobs designing these AI systems.

💡Historical Examples

When discussing potential job losses from AI, the guest cites historical examples - e.g. while oil discovery eliminated many horse-riding jobs, it led to new jobs like driving cars. He argues a similar rebalancing will happen with AI's emergence.

💡Co-Pilot

The guest suggests having AI systems as "co-pilots" for human decision-makers like politicians to minimize biases and enhance the decision quality. This indicates AI playing an assisting rather than replacing role for certain critical occupations in the future.

💡Recession Fears

While discussing AI's impact on the job market, the guest acknowledges there may be short-term economic shocks and recessions as humans struggle to adapt. But he remains broadly optimistic about net job creation rather than losses from AI.

💡Podcast Improvement

When asked how to improve his podcast, the host is advised to make it more discoverable through search-friendly naming and posting opinions openly on social media to attract expert guests seeking his unique perspectives.

Highlights

AI will create software and software will leverage AI to create more AI

AI is good at creating software customized for each user's needs

Founding engineers have more diverse responsibilities compared to later employees

Education should leverage AI more instead of focusing on old computing concepts

Passion drives creation of great things, not just following system instructions

Internet allows connecting with people globally who share your interests

AI will take over mentally boring and emotionally draining jobs

AI can provide unbiased assistance to decision makers

People from humanities will design AI systems, not just computer scientists

Jobs involving human potential will remain

Initially AI may cause economic recession but long term is positive

AI will make drug discovery 100x more efficient

Podcast name needs to be more memorable

Podcast format allows touching diverse topics

Goal of podcast is connecting with leaders, not just getting views

Transcripts

Hi sish how are you hey hi great man

great

yeah doing good yeah doing good yeah

welcome to SS podcast uh so coming on to

our guest this is sish he completed his

Bachelor from s University that is Sri

wadeshwar University kupati and was a

founder and head of the coding help in

the University itself and he is one of

the finalist of the TCS human ion

finalist in National level a series

contest and product development which

was around 30,000 students participated

from thousand colleges around across

India and currently working as a

founding engineer from work welcome

sadish welcome to SS podcast it's nice

to see you on the other

side it's yeah it's super fun yeah

thanks for the intro and how would you

would like to start this

yeah actually you know I there's a lot

to discuss with you actually I just want

to die with you uh so nowadays there's a

lot of discussion around AI potential

right uh we can see in every field the a

is developing rapidly even in academics

itself while writing articles scientific

articles for research Publications

before itself it was very difficult for

us like editing the text and English

everything now it has even references a

potential have been seeing since two

years in research field how the

potential has been developing so I just

want to know explain this difference

what's difference basically between a

and normal

software

yeah oh yeah okay

you as like I would approach this as

like I don't put them in two different

buckets like software versus a or

differences like that it's like AI will

create software software will leverage

Ai and like to create a if you need

software and like the best uh a there is

also uh so like it's uh the way how we

get things done like fundamentally like

we were able to like you know articulate

our decisions all the mental models and

practices by very structured code very

uh you know like very condition

predefined uh blocks of code and now

what it happens is like the moment you

have an idea and to get that idea into

reality the AI is just like helping you

get it as fast as possible so for every

new sort of uh workflow or problem or uh

you know like need you have with

software like someone doesn't have to

sit with you and create a dedicated

software to you so is something like

it's just good at creating software

right now so so it is able to like

uniquely build software for you so that

is how we put like a is helping software

uh you know like solve all those

problems where like uh it's like very

unscalable right now so if I am as a

engineer solving a problem for one user

using one app and if I have to you know

like solve another problem I will have

to like do it as manually as possible

and then like write all the code

sometimes from scratch so that is

something like a just like simply you

know

uh making sure like whatever we are

doing it just like way faster I me like

I I I can give you my favorite example

uh so there is this game called uh

diplomacy uh it's by uh it's like

diplomacy is like what is like basically

a board game where there will be seven

or eight players and what we have to do

is at the end of the day you will have a

country I will have a country other have

a country and then you have to win the

majority more than 50% of the countries

you have to get it if if we would

approach it by a software where it's

impossible it's like just like there are

like billions of millions of all the

paths that are possible in the game so

that is something software can do and

then humans are natural like you just

practice couple of hours and then you

will get all the things all the tricks

and all so those are things like only

software can do those are mission

critical things for example surgery or

you know like missile guidance all these

things like Precision is really

important and then like you can't know

like let a take control over there like

so like it's like software versus it's

not vers it's like combined together uh

it's just like another efficient way for

us to solve the

problems yeah it's nice but you know I

really doesn't know I have zero

knowledge on this matters like because

my background totally was biology senses

and as I divided latter then so so I but

seeing this potential from a it's really

nice to feel and uh and what's your role

basically as a founding engineer I I I

was listening this ter for the first

time like founding

engineer I made up made up word this is

like to attract I think uh Engineers to

say likey you not just an engineer you

are founding engineer you are important

so like some ego boost but like yeah

like essentially the difference would be

uh coming like if you are an engineer at

a startup versus if you're engineer at a

company so that is like right now for

folks it is very clear like at startups

you know you would be doing a lot of

things uh and you won't be like very

specifically focusing on like uh

implementing One requirement requirement

is basically like let say a screen or a

page or an app or something like that so

in startups it's more like you will be

working with a lot of diverse St holders

uh and then like you will be doing like

a little bit of everything so you won't

be confined basically so that is like

engineering startup but like basically

foring engineer it just a difference in

the timing so you are the company

where there is no money there is no idea

there's no product uh you know like you

just join because you believe in the

team or you believe in the you know like

the passion in them or you believe in

the space right now like that like

nothing will be uh you know like set in

stone like it's a high risk with like a

little bit of reward also obviously

because why would anyone take uh that

much risk so yeah like some mths are

also there like uh founding Engineers

are not co-founders uh you know like we

don't get like uh super Equity also but

like we will get the QD uh much better

than any other employee joining uh in

startups in a later stes let's say like

after getting the funding or after you

know getting that first dollar of

Revenue so yeah it's like personally for

me it just like fits into my personality

like I will get to do like lot of lot of

things I will have fun in this startups

just what's your role like you design

something or you do a kind of stuff or

youy new

things

it's a little bit of everything but not

like design and marketing so that is

something like I'm not proficient in so

even if I do they will be bad but like

some back end some front end uh most but

mostly like let's say 60% would be going

into a yeah like thinking about a

building actual a experiences like that

and yeah so you basically like onto the

every software part as a founding

engineer yeah

it's it's like not because like that's

school or something but it's lack of

resources basically like we wouldn't be

having like you know one dedicated

person just you know like deploying

something like that it's like you will

get to do everything because you have to

do everything and yeah it's just like we

just want to move faster the more people

involved it's uh like you know like

upskilling them training them or you

know like communicating the vision with

them it's just like it will slow down

actually the more number of people you

add into the process early on it will

like just slow how fast you are

executing basically I was in academy

sport a year so my education plays a

vital role I guess in these preparing

individuals for driven future as you

know so the upcoming future will be of

totally when I was in bform I wasn't

known about this future but in during a

drug Discovery process now we had to do

some had to learn stuff about e how the

drug work and everything so what

basically you think how people from

background such as BC or any other like

normal not a professional course so

would take up the

skills that are necessary but the AI

feure right uh it's necessarily nothing

it has to do with a actually it's just

like every new technology we have our

the way we do things the way we learn

some things we just have to unlearn them

so it comes with like some sort of

mindset like hey I just need to be uh

aware of what is going on so in case

let's say in your case you might be like

uh you know have to be aware of all the

recent ml leveraging drug Discovery

papers you know what are the like let's

say what is Silicon Valley doing with

latest drug Discovery things so like

some little bit of awareness but like

just being open like hey this thing

worked well so far but like I have to

adapt no uh and then like it's basically

the learning the specific Technologies

languages all these things doesn't

matter like uh it's just like they will

always change and uh it just like mostly

the Delta will come from you being more

aware and open but like yeah to get into

space

fix yeahor was just want to like Bas so

you did your btech so in your btech you

think that education system must

ad so

that working professional so you might

have some like education system must be

changed like this so that in the future

a driven future is there so I take a

place in the job

market yeah it's like uh we are like

severely under leveraging AI especially

I think like in education we are like

still doing very low level upat low

level

uh you know like practicing low level

things to say

uh uh yeah like basically right now we

just have to be like focusing on like

hey what all can I do how can I make

things better uh and then like we should

start from there uh instead of you know

like me learning something that happened

from 1980s back so that is how like at

least in engineering education is like

you just have to learn what happened in

Computing from from 1980 1990 all those

uh you know like they were fundamentally

impactful things but like those are the

things like I think like I have little I

got little value out of them like all

the education let's say like only 10%

I'm reusing right now and the 10% is

probably because someone with the

passion to change education put them in

the

syllabus

yes I don't believe in this I don't

believe in this University based

education should come from within like

okay so you just say like it has to be

from Passion for a student yeah yeah I

mean like that that's how like nothing

in world is actually came from a system

and then a person trying to know follow

the rules in the system like everything

you see is like that's a beautiful quote

like every beautiful thing you see is a

passion project for someone and they are

not merely you know like following

instructions from a system like whatever

you see like like that partk of that or

a building you appreciated uh or a

beautiful software you you are using to

research like nothing is like okay let

me just do my

job yeah they do out of

passion yeah it's like they they really

have to go against everything that was

said

right we di a lot but like education

yeah I so still I think for an average

uh student coming out uh right now like

I can say I can put myself as an average

person right like till engineering first

year I was not aw like this much of

beautiful resources are there in

Internet so it was like plus one plus

two hosle uh only resource we have is

the immediate teacher you can talk to

and the couple of books you have bought

in second hand and in t especially you

know like it's like they consider it as

like you know some sort of sin to go and

use computer I think like they might

have like time waste or something but we

mostly use it to play games but the

mindset shift happened to me discovering

that like hey there are amazing people

across the globe who share similar

passion to me who like you know like

nerd about the things I only I thought

only I care about so like let's say like

you have a very specific interest none

of you your classmates will you know

like resonate with you but there will be

thousand people across the globe that

only internet can connect so right now

like India like

still a lot uh we have to leverage there

like yeah I think like still people are

discovering like you know corera uh

YouTube

courses open course like lot of courses

are there uh the same with the there are

lot of tools lot of knowledge sharing

happening this this just happening a we

are like seeing the tip right now A I

think personally sucks like you really

can't like you know like uh give a goal

and then like it will help you bring a

research report you have to like you

know manually babyit like every line of

coding but but like we are just just two

years down the line yeah like internet

nothing with actually like yeah of

course yeah like you know like there

is there are like cooler tools that are

purposefully built for your profession

so we just have to like you know like

use and then sit on top of them uh

instead of like going back again to the

roots and then you know like our

University education will basically be

like hey you have to write this thing on

paper from me passing so what your views

on AI on job market so whether it you

think whether it will enhance the job

market or disrupt the job market and

create more

unemploy I will have to borrow this

answer from history lake so there

happened they like what is this there

was uh oil Discovery 189 or something

like that what happened to the jobs that

used to like people who used to ride

horses like yeah they the specific job

had died but then they moved on to

driving cars then came the internet I

don't know the impact of the internet is

like very huge that like a lot of

fundamentally jobs have like changed the

same but like 10 ex that like oil into

10 is internet impact internet impact

into 10 is the a impact like all the

jobs that are you know like very

mentally boring to

do you just have to like you know copy

your research report to excel put them

back back foot mentally boring job are

you know like some jobs are there like

that are emotionally very very very very

hard uh like so those are the jobs I

think

like have to take out of us like all

these things then there are jobs that

like uh let's say like some decision

making or something like that so

something like I personally want is a

co-pilot or you know like e assistant

for all the politicians Etc so you and I

will have biases like the background we

grew up from the religion and the Cults

all that influen with us like

subconsciously like we don't know we

think we have smart but we will have lot

of biases we will have a lot of

emotionally attached things like these

are the things a doesn't have it doesn't

like you know even if you ask it to do a

same thing 10,000 times it won't get B

out of that it won't like try to change

jobs or anything like that there there

are no such things for a so those are

the jobs uh that first I think like it

will create those new jobs so whoever

has to design these systems like bass

free decision making systems so those

will be the people not like the

engineers coming from Computer Sciences

it will be a Humanities people who will

like you know like uh okay now I am

researching how to make best decisions

then they will like okay let me like uh

B this into whatever I learned into a AI

system or it will be the drug Discovery

folks like you know whatever the process

you are doing you will just make it 100x

better by because you can't keep up with

100 papers a day that are getting

released but can just shift them all

through and give you the this is the

paper you have to ignore the rest of

them

yeah but like it will fundamentally

change some of the jobs that are uh that

are not getting used of the best human

potential and I think it's for the best

there will be a setback like 5 years 10

years like human have to adopt and then

like you know like maybe like it will be

very uh recession level set backs but if

we not at that stage like still

yeah that's nice uh so and I have a last

question for you so okay how do you

think I can improve my

channel yeah I

actually I mean

like like lowest B like your channel

name is not

rememberable yeah okay then yeah but

like I try to search then like lot of

other podcast Domin you and then like

they are slightly rememberable but in

general like I believe like since I'm

not a Aid podcast consumer or a podcast

post or something like that I like you

you are smart enough to figure out and

then you just have to do like 100 more

exts to figure out like what is just

just go on like yeah you just say like

just whatever it might be right yeah

just stick to them

yeah yeah obviously yeah I'll try my

best for that yeah it's very nice yeah I

will sorry you were just saying

something yeah I mean like it's it's

cool actually yeah like uh right now

doing couple of things good I think like

the format is very restrictive 30 30

minutes I can get to deep of anything

but like I can barely touch all of them

but it's also a good format because no

one would watch to our podcast and the

other guest I saw like like very diverse

like so that is Al something cool uh

yeah you'll you'll figure

out yeah figure out no actually my

main uh so I not like to get views or

something like subscribers I just want

to connect with individuals so for

example I just need subscribers for

example when I contact with other

directors like educational system

directors or Deans team to studing so

when they will think like yeah this is a

very small Channel I couldn't just

connect with

you I don't get much view so I just need

subscribers and viewers for this content

just to contact with the persons to

bring on yeah that was my main Moto to

learn something from

them oh I think you can borrow the

Playbook of uh you know all these 18

year 20 year old value US based podcasts

what they do is like they go online and

then like they will tweet something

opinions that are super interesting that

they will eventually you know like

resonate with someone and then like they

will connect the

folks uh like hey SI is interesting you

has super opinions he's not hey like let

me just ask him to come on to this

channel that is how it will work like we

not reaching out but like you will you

uh putting the content out there putting

your skin in the game then they will be

like oh damn this person is will go

places I have to like be on the train

first early on like that yeah yeah yeah

yeah nice meeting with you s thanks

thanks once again for coming conneting

with me today yeah hope to see you in

person soon

then see

okay

cool