As a child, I grew up in a household full of computers, thanks to my Dad’s occupation as an IT consultant. There were few people who understood computers the way Wim Plaat did.

Dad, he looked at technology in similar ways others look at sports teams; he studied their every move, trends, competition and playing advantages. Now that I’m older, I can appreciate the way he dove into his field with an interest that few understood at that time.

I can only wonder what he would think about the technology we have today, with the near perfection of the smartphone and the advent of AI intelligence.

Every day, I dive a little further into the world of AI. Between adopting it as an ‘always on’ tool for my business, I also ponder the future implications of the technology and how it will impact our lives on a day-to-day basis.

The answer is simple. A lot.

It’s going to impact our lives a lot. 

Before you assume I’m going to go on a tireless rant about technology, I’d like to insert that my below viewpoints come as both a parent, but also a veteran of the tech industry and the internet.

One of the biggest advantages of technology is that it allows manual processes to be completed in a programmatic way. Programmatic, meaning a process that is run like a program. Rather than having human input, programmatic approaches to industries such as advertising allow the client to make their decisions leveraging data.

Imagine Moneyball with a global scale.

A non-programmatic Google Ad might target potential viewers using a simple set of keywords. However, a programmatic approach will allow the client to control variables in the ad, including the ad copy, creatives and messaging.

Additionally, certain measures can be taken to control the ad visibility based on the potential visitor.

E.g. 30-34 year-olds are more likely to purchase products at X time. Visitors that view the ad after visiting X websites are X% more likely to convert into a customer.

It’s hard, really hard, for small business owners to compete against the competitors that have the resources to properly use full technology stacks to drive better results.

As more companies take a programatic approach towards pushing their product, the same can be said for ideas and concepts.

How do you change somebody’s mind? Well, there are a lot of ways to make that happen. In this case, AI is very patient and willing to play the long game.

I see a world where more people get their information from their smartphone, and often from people they’ve never met in real life. Most people ‘follow’ thousands of people on the internet, and often in predictable manners.

AI technology is soon reaching a point where tools will be able to go beyond content creation – they will be able to create entire personas; digital avatars that don’t exist outside of an algorithm.

The technology is already here that allows AI to create photorealistic images of people. In short time, it will allow for the creation of these avatars that can look, talk, move and interact just like a ‘real’ human being.

These avatars will easily be programmed to communicate, persuade, befriend, influence and indoctrinate the people who follow them and will be unable to distinguish them from a ‘real’ human being.

I urge you think about the implications of this sort of world, especially as it pertains to your children.