In this episode of Ventures, I (https://www.linkedin.com/in/wclittle) discuss cases for and against the skill/productivity gap widening in light of Generative AI such as ChatGPT and Midjourney. On the “for” side, I discuss a YouTube video showing how to go from MidJourney to Figma to Code, and I show how this - and tools like GitHub CoPilot - enhances the work of already-skilled programmers. On the “against” side, I show a recent study from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) that demonstrated GenAI most greatly enhancing the productivity of novice and low-skilled workers.

You can watch this episode below or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts (search for “Ventures”).

0:03 - Tee-up for the episode, where to find the audio and/or video for this screencast, talking about the skill gap and GenAI

0:39 - Case for the skill gap being widened: Examples from a YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A_Jpr9HkGA&ab_channel=CJGammon) and GitHub Copilot (https://github.com/features/copilot)

3:14 - Case for the skill gap narrowing: https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w31161/w31161.pdf // Study showing that the skill gap is narrowing. 14% increase in productivity for all workers, and even more for novice and low-skilled workers.

4:36 - Link to McKinsey’s article: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-generative-ai 

4:48 - Access GPT-4 for free with Bing. Example using Bing Chat to ask about Satchel.Works