NFA Finance

My first thought? We’re already living in it.

I think sometimes we talk about artificial intelligence like it’s something coming down the road. Something we’ll have to figure out someday. Meanwhile, here we are, having conversations with it, working through ideas, asking questions, and using it to get things done.

And I think that’s pretty fucking amazing.

What gets me is the pace. You start getting your head around what it can do, and then you discover something else. I don’t pretend to understand everything happening behind the scenes. I can tell you that using it has made me think differently about what’s possible.

The closest comparison I can make is going from a horse and buggy to an automobile.

Think about how much that changed a person’s world. Where they could go. Where they could work. What they could build. The opportunities that became possible once distance meant something different.

That’s the kind of change I think we’re experiencing. And it feels like we’re trying to understand it while it’s accelerating.

I’ve spent more than 25 years in the car business. I like mechanical things. I like being able to look at something, figure out how it works, and get my hands on it. Give me an old car and some tools, and I’m happy.

So I find it interesting that I’m this excited about something I can’t even put my hands on.

But I can use it.

I can take a thought that’s bouncing around in my head and start working through it. Ask another question. Look at another possibility. Get some help putting words to something I know what I mean by but haven’t quite figured out how to explain.

That matters. How many ideas do we leave sitting in our heads because we don’t know where to start? How many things do we put off because the first step feels like a pain in the ass?

Having some help getting started can make a difference.

To me, AI feels like an extension of us. A helper. Something you can work with to take an idea further than you might have taken it on your own.

I still want to think for myself. I still want to question things. If an answer doesn’t make sense, I’m going to say so. I’ve spent too many years learning lessons the hard way to hand over my judgment just because something gives me a confident response.

But being able to think for yourself and accepting help go together just fine.

I hear a lot of fear around AI. I understand that people have concerns. When something changes this much, this quickly, there are going to be questions. And of course people can misuse it. People can misuse just about anything.

I just don’t share the feeling that the future of it has to be bad.

I see possibilities. I think about the person with an idea and very little money to get it moving. The small business owner trying to handle everything himself. Somebody who wants to learn something but needs it explained a different way.

I know what it’s like to have more ideas than time, more work than hands, and a list that somehow gets longer while you’re working on it. So yes, the idea of having help interests me.

Call some of it convenience if you want. Convenience can mean getting hours of your life back. It can mean finally making progress on something you’ve been putting off.

What you do with that time is still up to you.

I don’t know exactly what AI will look like five or ten years from now. I don’t think anybody can tell us every turn this is going to take. But I’m optimistic. I want to learn how to use it well. I want to see what I can create with it, what problems I can work through, and where it can help me move forward.

There’s something pretty remarkable about being alive for a change this big.

I can appreciate an old Chevelle sitting in the garage and still be excited about a technology that makes me rethink what’s possible. Both of those things make perfect sense to me.

The future of AI?

I think it’s really good. I think we’re going to do some incredible things with it.

And I’m glad I get to be here to find out.

— Nicholas Francis