Member Article

AI, tech and the inside track: 5 must-read bloggers

Brian Cooper, chief creative officer at OLIVER UK

When it comes to AI, there are two schools of thought – those that fear its march (think Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking), and those in ardent favour of reaping the benefits of this fourth industrial revolution (think Mark Zuckerberg and his AI butler).

The former fear a mechanised dystopia at the hands of unfeeling but supremely intelligent robots, and so call for strict regulation on AI . The latter champion AI as the ultimate liberation for humanity, a tool that frees us from the mundane.

With the future currently up for grabs like never before, it’s fair to say each camp has a valid view. But as the adage goes, with knowledge comes power: you could do worse than read my top 5 bloggers, below, to get the inside track on advanced tech and a view on the part it will play in shaping our future.

Fred Wilson – AVC

Venture capitalist and blogger extraordinaire Fred Wilson’s daily musings range from Valentine’s Day to stocks, from Planned Parenthood to Chance the Rapper.

He’s one of the smartest commentators of the digital age, but never at the expense of newcomers. Fred writes short, succinct sentences, crafting easily digestible nuggets of genius in plain English.

It’s often reactive. There’s very little in the way of filter – he highlights Rare Pepe and its relevance to investment, then talks frankly about his feelings towards it (given that Pepe was popularised by the ‘alt-right’ etc).

From network effects right down to end-of-year music lists, his insights are as humorous as they are invaluable. Fred is a shining example of a ‘suit’, if you will, exuding humanity in a mechanised world.

Benedict Evans

Some of the most informed people in technology are venture capitalists. Because when you put money behind the future, you want to get every detail right. And Benedict Evans certainly wants to get every detail right. Working for Andreessen Horowitz, he is now the go-to person on where digital is heading.

His speculative 10 year future blog is a fascinating insight into exactly how he approaches investment. Often quoted in The Economist, his blogs are packed with a common sense view of what’s happening; it’s a bit more ‘specialist’, but the in-depth analysis he provides is unrivalled.

His weekly newsletter is an absolute must, as is Mobile is eating the world deck. Benedict’s a true trend-setter on both a consumer and business level, and a fantastic writer to boot.

Gideon Rosenblatt – The Vital Edge

Former ecommerce entrepreneur and now author at The Vital Edge, Gideon Rosenblatt’s insights cover what the world might look like in an age of intelligent machines.

His blog explores a fusion of the future of technology and the future of work, often touching on AI. He goes into how AI could possibly become a ‘silent’ process in one of his posts – with an accompanying conference speech – and examines how we’re going to be ushered into its upcoming reign.

Gideon offers some really interesting views to take note of, especially regarding our naivety towards AI’s presence and acceleration.

Amir Shevat

Microsoft Office. BlackBerry. And then… Slack. Slack is the first business technology to cross into personal use since the two aforesaid giants, so surely those working at the revolutionary, cloud-based communication platform will be in the know?

Amir Shevat, Slack’s head of developer relations, has a keen understanding of accelerating trends and is a dab hand when it comes to bots and virtual agents, too.

His recent Revenue models for bots and chatbots entry builds on how bots can generate revenue and become sustainable businesses. He nobly mentions Slack’s competitor, Kik, and how brands like H&M can successfully use chatbots through the platform.

Amir’s writing is acutely in-depth – a proper analysis from someone working at a cutting-edge, highly-relevant company. If someone from a forward-thinking business like Slack is still thinking light-years ahead, then the rest of us really have no excuse.

John Naughton - Memex 1.1

An Irish academic, journalist, author and tech start-up investor, John Naughton’s online diary is a fascinating document covering everything from tourist snapshots in Venice to calling out corporate valuations.

John is a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities at Cambridge University. Aside from this, he’s also written pieces for The Guardian and pens a must-read Observer column called The Networker, often commenting on the impact of technology on society. Take heed.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Alex Sampson .