Warning. Rambling formative thoughts ahead. Maybe there’s a point or two in here worth pondering.
I’ve been using AI in my design work for a year and half at this point. I’ve also been working on an AI-native product for 6 years and 7 months. But here’s a question, am I an expert on AI? What is an expert? Let’s check the definition:
An expert is a person with comprehensive, authoritative knowledge or skill in a particular area, typically gained through extensive training, study, or experience.
Hmm. Let’s be real, I’m not an expert on AI. No one is. Gasp! How dare he?
Look, I’m not trying to offend anyone. But here’s my argument: There are people who are experts in areas of AI, but it isn’t possible to be an expert in the whole field and its application.
I work with some of the finest minds in AI. Seriously. These are people who have extensive training and in many cases teach others. They have definitely studied, and still study, AI. And they absolutely have experience applying it, decades in some cases, and have contributed in amazing ways to academia, industry, and society with it. They are probably the closest there are to experts in AI.
But I still think there are lines each individual doesn’t cross, that prevent people like that from being an expert on AI. I think they would acknowledge that too. The field, and how it’s applied, is ever changing. With each advance, people find new and novel ways to leverage it.
Let’s look at an incomplete list of AI areas:
- Model creation and training
- Model fine tuning based on industry needs
- Designing how users will leverage AI at the intersection of model, industry, and application
- Building AI platforms
- Monitoring AI platforms
- Selling and marketing AI platforms
- Procuring AI platforms
- Industry-specific use of AI platforms
I strongly believe people can be an expert in some of those areas, but not all.
This isn’t meant to be discouraging. It’s actually a beautiful thing. No one person has the whole picture, so building anything real with AI means different people bringing their expertise together. The product is the sum of what no one person could know alone.
But here’s the next question: Can AI be an expert on AI? Will save that one for another day.