📉 “The cost of AI has fallen by 80% in the last 16 months.”
đź’˛ “In the near future, we’ll see AI Agents available for as little as $1 an hour.”
As part of Tanglin Trust School’s Centennial Year Talks in Singapore, AI Advisor, Dr. Ayesha Khanna shared these stats in her “Winning with AI” session yesterday. Emphasizing we all have a role in shaping how AI affects business, careers and society.
Three key takeaways:
1. Commercial Impact of AI
The steep drop in AI costs – (increased chip market competition, lower computation costs) – is remarkable and likely to continue. This opens rapid opportunities for productivity and innovation across all industries. Yesterday’s session showed AI used not only to “do more with less” but to innovate in previously unimaginable ways:
– Walmart, using AI to edit 425 million product descriptions to improve search, saving 2 years’ work.
– Toys”R”Us, using OpenAI‘s Sora for a marketing video story, with AI doing 80% of the work, and a small creative team refining.
With more examples, this raises questions about jobs.
2. Job Transformation
Ayesha tackled the jobs question head-on, highlighting the need for adaptability and continuous learning to meet demands of new roles evolving with AI.
I’ve long emphasized career reinvention, adaptability & self-awareness as essential “life skills” for youth – just like cooking, managing money or relationships. With ongoing disruption, we all need adaptability muscles and a learner mindset. Talking to Ayesha after the session, I was encouraged to hear her praise Tanglin’s focus on building entrepreneurial future-ready traits in students.
Organizations take note: build leadership teams & HR policies that foster and reward a growth mindset, adaptability and willingness to experiment and fail. In my view, these traits are crucial for driving innovation, staying competitive and winning in the AI era.
3. Inclusion and Social Good
After 15 years supporting girls’ education in rural Asia, I’ve seen firsthand the transformative impact of education. Ayesha’s message underscored how AI could amplify empowerment. From personalized education at scale (e.g. Khanmigo from Khan Academy) to AI-enabled women’s entrepreneurship. Showing that AI can be a force for social good in a world where many have previously been left behind by economic advancements.
Ayesha left us a reminder: To paraphrase, “AI is imperfect. To reap the rewards, we all need to be building, creating, and governing AI”
I’d add one more element: be courageous with AI.
Many feel anxious amid AI’s rapid change. To move forward, we need more conversations like last night’s – simplifying AI, encouraging us to learn, test, and even fail. To bring in our human traits – critical thinking, creativity, art and heart. With this, we can indeed win in the age of AI.
