Nathaniel Whittemore

I will say that I think even with this, a quality of access is going to continue to be an issue and probably one that gets worse.

As much as we might not like the experience of ads in something like ChatGPT, I do believe that it does extend access and keeps access democratized in a way that a non-ad supported model just couldn't.

However, ads from the platforms are certainly not the only way to ensure access.

There might be a role for government here, and frankly, it's one of the reasons that some of the ideas around things like stopping data center construction are so wrongheaded, because they are likely to have the exact opposite impact, where they actually further restrict access to only the people who can pay for it.

So how can we support individuals overcoming the capability overhang?

One is a different conversation about AI and an acknowledgement that it's coming.

Two is continuing to look for ways to democratize access, whether that's from the platforms themselves through ads or other models, or through public-private partnerships or some other larger type of initiative.

And I think the last piece, and something that certainly we will be trying to do a lot of this year with this show, is self-education opportunities.

So many people are engaging so deeply with this New Year's AI resolution that I am 100% sure that we will release other similar time-bound, but ultimately self-directed types of programs.

Next up, let's talk about communities.

Communities hold many of the assets that AI can't replicate.

Trust networks, local context, physical gathering, shared identity, accountability structures, and the overhang actually increases the value of these assets.

As digital interactions become AI-mediated, and in many cases for people harder to trust, in-person community becomes a premium good.

In fact, as we think about the individual overhang...

Local institutions are sitting on distribution and trust infrastructure that could be leveraged to help members navigate the AI transition.

But of course, most aren't thinking this way yet.

Indeed, the challenge for communities is that community institutions tend to be the most strapped for hard resources.

And so the people who are involved in leading communities have to trade time for everything.

Basically, when there isn't money, you require people to volunteer time and service.

That means less time for keeping up with all of these opportunities.