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2.5 Minute Read

The Single Most Important Thing To Know About AI

Here at Artificially Intelligent, we discuss the countless ways that AI is transforming political advocacy. Today, we widen the aperture to focus on the single most important thing to understand about AI—the very essence of what makes AI different than every other invention in history. It is from this premise that all of AI's applications follow.

First—All Credit To The Author

All credit for crystallizing this point goes to Yuval Noah Harari, the best-selling author of Sapiens, Nexus, and several other fascinating books. If you haven't read his work, you are missing out on one of the great minds of our time. We have no financial relationship with him, but we are indebted to him deeply nonetheless. You can find all of his books here. If you want to read the most AI-focused of his works, we recommend Nexus, A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI.

AI Is Not A Tool—It Is An Agent

Harari makes the inescapable point that every invention in human history until now has been a tool. And even the most powerful tools like the Atom bomb could only be invented by humans and deployed by humans.

AI, however, is not a tool. It is an agent. By agent we mean an algorithm that can do two remarkable things. It can both make decisions on its own, and invent new ideas on its own.

The atom bomb, for all its power, could not decide where to drop itself. Humans had to do that—until now. We already have autonomous weapons systems that make targeting and deployment decisions themselves. Remember this the next time you hear someone arguing for a moratorium on AI regulation.

Another thing that the atom bomb could not do was invent the hydrogen bomb. Humans had to do that as well. But AIs can now invent new weapons, and they almost certainly have already.

If you were to internalize only one thing about AI, this is the point to appreciate. AI is not a tool. It is a fellow traveler, albeit one created by humans, but one that can now do things that only humans could do in the past. Most importantly, AI can make decisions on its own, and invent new ideas on its own.

And by the way, unlike humans, AI doesn't sleep. Does that thought exhaust you? It doesn't exhaust AI.

What Does An Agent Mean For Political Advocacy?

Now that we have a common language for what AI is and what it is not, what are the implications for public affairs and campaigns? That's a topic for a lifetime, and the subject of this newsletter week-in and week-out. But here's just a few examples:

🔱 AI can make decisions about who to deliver your messages to, how much to pay for those messages, and where to deliver them. This is exactly what AI already does in programmatic advertising.

🔱 AI can invent new creative concepts including ad scripts, images, and video. This is precisely how modern creative studios are already using it.

🔱 AI can identify who a decision-maker's influencers are, and show you how to reach them. The most advanced public affairs campaigns are doing this right now.

So as you can see, political advocacy is well into the "agentic era" already.

Three Ways To Operationalize This Email

🔱 Keep this phrase at hand—AI is not a tool, it's an agent. It can make decisions on its own, and invent ideas on its own.

🔱 Consider ways you can harness the power of those two facts, both in work and your personal life.

🔱 Think about the broader implications of these two facts, for politics, society at large, and the issues you are working on.

🔱 If you're enjoying this content, please consider forwarding this email to a colleague or friend.

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🔱 If you have suggestions for future newsletters or any other feedback, we'd love to hear from you.

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