In this thirteen-minute Episode 34, Brick Thompson and Ed Daniels discuss a new trend of CEO’s warning their employees that they need to learn how to use AI. Brick and Ed discuss Fiverr CEO Micha Kaufman’s letter to his employees about AI.
Brick reads a quote “If you do not become an exceptional talent at what you do, a master, you will face the need for a career change in a matter of months. I am not trying to scare you….I am talking about your ability to stay in your profession in the industry. Are we all doomed? Not all of us, but those who will not wake up and understand the new reality fast, are, unfortunately, doomed.”
https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2025/04/fiverr-ceos-stunning-letter-to-all.html
Ed advises employees, “You gotta be ready, you gotta be nimble, and you gotta have a Plan A, a Plan B and a Plan C for your career.” Brick and Ed discuss the likely short term future and the impact of AI on employment and career choices. Brick says CEOs must set aside a certain portion of each day to study AI and learn about new AI trends and innovations. If possible, CEOs should assign one or more employees to just stay on top of AI developments.
To wrap it all up, Ed and Brick say, “You may not be interested in AI, but AI is interested in you.” (Or if not you, your job.)
The name of this podcast, Beyond Electric Sheep, is a reference to the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. That novel is the source for the movies Blade Runner (1982) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017). It explores the themes of artificial intelligence, empathy, and reality in a dystopian future where humans and androids coexist. The novel raises the question of whether androids can dream or feel anything at all, and whether they are different from humans in any meaningful way.
In our Beyond Electric Sheep podcast we go beyond the novel and the movies and discuss the broader implications and applications of artificial intelligence in our personal lives and in our businesses. We explore the pragmatic as well as the ethical and philosophical issues that arise from creating and interacting with intelligent machines.
Beyond Electric Sheep is also available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYg2J0jET_BPCKSnsxz8mleEmYogYJZhn
