The Damodaran Bot, an AI creation, has been developed to value companies by analyzing the work of Professor Aswath Damodaran. The Bot has read all of his writings, watched his webcasts, and reviewed his public valuations. It is now ready for a trial run to compare its valuations against those done by the best students in Damodaran’s class.
The results of this contest are still being calculated, and it remains uncertain what outcomes are desired. If the AI performs as well as or better than Damodaran in valuing companies, it could indicate that he is becoming obsolete. Conversely, if the Bot performs poorly, it may reflect a failure on Damodaran’s part as a teacher.
Artificial intelligence (AI) combines increasing computing power with vast amounts of data to excel in certain areas compared to humans. Specifically, AI has an advantage in mechanical/formulaic work rather than intuitive tasks and rule-based disciplines instead of principle-based ones. Additionally, AI thrives when there is an objective answer rather than subjective judgment.
While current forms of AI may not be able to fully replace human workers yet, they will continue improving over time by learning from human actions. To make it more challenging for machines or AI to replace jobs or professions:
1) Generalists who can see the bigger picture across disciplines will have an advantage over specialists operating within silos.
2) Valuation techniques heavily reliant on financial modeling and extrapolation can be done quicker and with fewer errors by AI. However, if valuations incorporate soft data and rely on business stories rather than just past data analysis, replicating them becomes more difficult for AI.
3) Avoid falling into the “Google Search” curse where immediate online answers replace reasoning out solutions independently.
4) Embrace creativity born from connecting seemingly unrelated facts since this capacity remains unique to humans.
Considering potential conspiracy theories about technology companies using products that make individuals more specialized while filling their free time before unleashing powerful AIs upon them raises concerns about personal threats posed by such advancements.
To address these threats:
1) Maintain secrecy regarding work processes; however, caution must be exercised as actions can reveal one’s methods which could then be reverse-engineered by AIs.
2) Seek system protection through regulatory measures against disruptive AIs; courts and accounting rule writers may favor appraisals conducted by human appraisers.
3) Build strategic defenses (“moats”) that make it harder for AIs to replace specific job roles; this requires honest self-assessment regarding one’s contributions at work.
Whether or not one believes there is an imminent threat from AI disruption should not deter proactive action since potential consequences are significant. Acting now will enhance professional skills regardless of whether the threat turns out to be real or imaginary.
