Avi Goldfarb - The Economic Impact of AI - [Invest Like the Best, EP.321]

My guest today is Avi Goldfarb. Avi is a Professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, the Rotman Chair in Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare, as well as the co-author of two bestselling books on AI and its economic impact. His most recent book, Power and Prediction, is probably the best piece of content I have read in explaining how AI may reshape business models, systems, and products. We recorded this before GPT-4’s release last week which, if anything, makes Avi’s ideas on AI’s impact all the more poignant. Please enjoy my conversation with Avi Goldfarb.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. 

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Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more.

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Show Notes

(00:03:15) - [First question] - His initial reaction to chat GPT when it first launched 

(00:07:08) - Prediction Machines; The impact price has on how much something is used by humans

(00:11:07) - The shift from steam powered factories to electric ones and the transition between the two in regards to systems and application solutions; Power and Prediction

(00:17:06) - Midpoints between a point solution and a systems solution and applications that are being built in the middle of them

(00:19:10) - What application, system, and point solutions feel like today in the world of AI

(00:27:03) - The transition from a world governed by rules to one by decisions  

(00:30:58) - How the power of prediction moves us from a binary to a decimal framework

(00:34:48) - Ways power disruption will occur as we navigate the emerging AI frontier

(00:44:33) - Other functions like personalization that entrepreneurs should think about putting into their products and features

(00:47:18) - How we should be thinking about the generation of information and data 

(00:51:32) - A future where technology either desimates or empowers specific industries

(00:54:16) - What he’s most excited and worried about given the emerging frontier of AI 

(00:55:41) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him