The Steve Jobs archives continue to surprise us. A video from 1983 has just been revealed, showing the Apple co-founder sharing his vision for the future. And guess what? He was right on so many points, especially when it comes to artificial intelligence.
When we think of Steve Jobs, we often imagine the genius behind the iPhone or Mac, the man in the black turtleneck, but also the speaker who knew how to captivate everyone. Video posted online by Steve Jobs Archive It reminds us that the Apple co-founder was more than just an innovator: he was a visionary, able to predict the future of technology with astonishing accuracy.
In 1983, when most of us had never touched a computer, 28-year-old Steve Jobs spoke at the International Design Conference in Aspen, Colorado.
Expectations that hit the mark
Let’s start with the most impressive: Jobs predicted that by 1986, the number of computers sold would exceed the number of cars. At the time, it must have sounded like pure science fiction. Yet he was right. Not only has that prediction come true, but today we’re likely to have more connected devices than mugs in our closets.
Now hold on tight, because this is getting really interesting. In his speech, Jobs describes something that sounds eerily similar to what we would today call a human-trained AI model (LLM). This is 1983, remember. AI as we know it today doesn’t exist yet, and yet Steve Jobs talks about it as if it were a given.
He describes the potential of software in a way that is eerily reminiscent of today’s generative AI. Coincidence or genius? It’s hard to say. What’s certain is that Steve Jobs had already understood something fundamental: In technology, it’s not the “what” that matters, but the “why.”
Steve Jobs talks about software that can take in massive amounts of information, process it, and retrieve it in a useful way. Doesn’t that sound like anything? That’s exactly what our great language model friends are doing today!
Apple’s co-founder may have been imagining super-advanced databases, but what he’s describing sounds eerily similar to what generative AI systems do today. They ingest terabytes of data, digest it in their artificial neural layers, and, voila! They give us text, images, and code, as if by magic.
It is so amazing that even Jony Ive, the famous designer who worked alongside Jobs for years, was left speechless. He declared, and we quote: I find it amazing how deeply he understands the dramatic changes that would occur with the spread of computer use. »
What is striking about Jobs’ words is not only their technical accuracy, but also his understanding of the impact these technologies could have on our lives. He is not only predicting technological progress, but how it will change the way we live, work, and communicate.
It is likely this vision that has allowed Apple to create products that are not only technologically advanced, but deeply resonate with our needs and desires.
the Steve Jobs Archive Don't just stop at this video. They contain Over an hour of videoincluding a presentation of the Apple Lisa, one of the first consumer computers with a graphical interface and a mouse. It's great to see Jobs presenting these innovations that seem so commonplace to us today, with such enthusiasm.
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