In a recent interview on the Leaders of AI podcast, Emad Mostaque, founder and former CEO of Stability AI and current founder of Intelligent Internet, shared his insights on the accelerating pace of AI development and its potential to reshape the global economy within the next few years.
Mostaque, whose company Stability AI was behind the open-source text-to-image generator Stable Diffusion, believes that AI capabilities are advancing faster than most people realize. “When the technology gets good enough, cheap enough, and fast enough, that’s when mass disruption happens,” he stated.
The AI pioneer predicts significant economic disruption across industries within the next 5-10 years, particularly for service-oriented economies in the West. He notes that AI models are already outperforming humans in many narrow tasks and will soon be able to handle complex knowledge work at a fraction of the cost of human labor.
“We’re seeing it already in areas like why would you need a Filipino call center worker, which is one of the main parts of that economy, right? And AI can do it better at a fraction of the price,” Mostaque explained.
He also highlighted the rapid improvements in AI efficiency, citing examples of models achieving state-of-the-art performance with far less data and computing power than previously thought possible. This trend could accelerate the adoption of AI across various sectors.
While acknowledging the potential benefits of AI in areas like education and healthcare, Mostaque emphasized the need for open-source, aligned AI models to ensure the technology serves humanity’s best interests. He cautioned against the centralization of AI power and advocated for decentralized approaches that empower individuals and communities.
As AI continues to advance at a breakneck pace, Mostaque’s insights serve as a wake-up call for businesses, policymakers, and individuals to prepare for the profound changes that lie ahead. With AI poised to reshape the nature of work and the global economic landscape, staying ahead of the curve will be crucial in the coming years.
Watch the full episode here:
