We routinely see a new generation of large-scale language models emerge and take the industry by storm, and in today’s business environment there is also a new generation of humans coming of age to work with this exciting technology.
How will Gen Z change in the way they start and grow businesses and interact with the larger economy, and how will artificial intelligence play into that?
Trust in the digital space
One key principle that rings true is that Gen Z entrepreneurs will become more confident navigating the digital landscape.
“Values-driven, socially conscious and fearless, the Class of 2023 is challenging leaders in new ways and pushing companies to focus on transparency, flexibility and trust.” Stephan Scholl writes for Fast Company. “Eager young people who were college freshmen during pandemic lockdowns are seeking a different kind of work experience, centered around technology. America’s workplace is undergoing a seismic shift as this latest wave of graduates joins the workforce.”
Past generations, including Boomers and even Generation X, have had significantly harder technology curves. Business leaders in these times tend to view technology as a challenge to be addressed, rather than an opportunity to, in some sense, “surf” toward success.
I think this is a good metaphor. Imagine a water-savvy person riding a huge wave (seemingly effortlessly) and riding the wave’s energy all the way to shore. This is kind of the spirit of how Gen Z leverages early LLM capabilities.
people’s part
But in some ways, Gen Z entrepreneurs are also good at collaborating with people. They tend to be good at forming connections, making collaboration work, and breaking through the blinders that see business as hyper-competitive and isolated.
“Rather than viewing the business world as purely competitive, Gen Z sees opportunities for collaboration.” Spencer Hulse writes on GritDaily: “They understand that shared knowledge and resources benefit everyone, and they actively seek out mentors, partners, and communities that are aligned with their goals.”
Liz, brother.
“This collaborative spirit not only accelerates their growth, but also helps them make complex decisions that many budding entrepreneurs struggle with,” Hulse continues. “For those just starting out, this is an important lesson: Building a supportive network demystifies the process and makes decisions easier. Whether it’s joining an online community or finding a local business group, having others to share their insights with will simplify your path forward.”
Therefore, the dual trust of trust in the digital world and trust in the meat space can have a significant economic impact.
Brands, bosses and innovation
I recently saw Elijah Muraoka speak at a Stanford University event. There, young innovators spoke about the potential of this new generation of creators. The Oahu native and co-founder and CEO of Soshi offered some specific ideas for how this type of opportunity could work, based in part on his own experience building brands on social media.
There is one interesting part of Mr. Muraoka’s statement. Please think about this carefully as we all try to decipher the tea leaves about the future of AI.
Muraoka presented three different case scenarios that can illustrate our collective approach to AI.
The first would be to ban AI completely, but most people understand that this is unlikely to happen. As Mr. Muraoka pointed out, there are many underlying grounds for any attempt at a ban, and it will likely be invalidated.
The second case is “Wild West” This is a very similar scenario to what happened with the internet, where there wasn’t enough regulation to actually create any rules, and the business simply spiraled out of control. People are concerned about this, to say the least, in part because of AI’s enormous power to create deepfakes, confuse people, and distort markets. Dystopia, anyone?
The third scenario he envisioned is double-tracking, where human-generated content and AI-generated content coexist in a highly labeled and structured way. He called it “The Great Schism.”
“Every social media platform we encounter will have a stream dedicated to AI and a stream dedicated to the human feed,” he said of the results. “The requirement[in this case]is to have advanced human verification technology, or advanced AI detection technology. And a lot of people are working in this space to determine what content is authentic and what is not, which is a very difficult problem to solve.”
Mr. Muraoka explained this “Great Schism” in a little more detail.
“In this case scenario, money chases attention,” Muraoka continued. “In this case scenario, if people are resonating more with human-verified content, then you (as a company) should focus on creating more human-verified content. But if you see a lot of people are looking at AI content and a lot of attention is being focused on it, you should also be leveraging these AI tools effectively yourself and always trying to stay ahead of the curve so you don’t get left behind.”
This type of approach has a lot of potential to protect us from some of the larger negative effects of AI while giving new technologies a “lane” so to speak.
And this leads to what I think is the challenge of this new generation: leveraging AI in an ethical and beneficial way.
Mr. Muraoka made four recommendations for companies. Let’s see if we can try to summarize these:
Point 1 had to do with “owning” the platform rather than “renting” it. Muraoka evoked walled gardens like Facebook and promoted freer social media environments like Discord. This sort of thing seems similar to the rules of a more traditional business that benefits from ownership of a startup’s machinery, physical assets, and in some cases real estate.
Point number two was to use AI to, in Muraoka’s words, “increase volume.”
This shows the scalable power of AI. Business was once limited to what humans could do in a day, or more precisely, an eight-hour workday. No more.
Point number three is that, as Mr. Muraoka recommends, companies “become one category.” What is it? Microsoft Copilot calls it a “unique and different” business from its competitors. Citing Ashley Murphy’s article on Openview Murphy encourages companies to “become the Beyoncés” of their field.
“The best companies distinguish themselves by focusing on differentiation, thereby evolving into a category of their own,” Murphy writes, quoting business author Joe Calloway. “This differentiation comes from the ability of companies such as Apple, Coca-Cola, Disney, and Tesla to provide superior value to their customers. However, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to achieving this outstanding success. To outperform the competition so significantly as to create a new category, companies must determine their own path to providing truly unparalleled value to their potential customers.”
We can safely assume that startups that take advantage of this advice won’t end up like Apple, Coca-Cola, Disney, or Tesla. But the points were scored.
Point 4 of Mr. Muraoka’s business template? In his words, hyper-personalization will win.
“As AI gets smarter and smarter, these algorithmic targeting systems will also get smarter, and users will essentially have to adapt to the system and create content that matches the level of hyper-personalization of these AI tools,” he said.
All four of these points turned out to be beneficial. Sure, tomorrow’s founders and CEOs will largely have the confidence that comes from growing with AI, but will they have the business knowledge outlined here? Hard to say.
You can also be alert to the impact of AI on our world and start planning now for the changes that will occur in the coming years. Whether it’s healthcare, retail, defense, or any other field, AI has the transformative power to change. But the results also depend on human planning and decisions.
