#CostaRica 🇨🇷 #BDS_Article: Organic Data vs. Synthetic Data: The Future Work Challenge That is Already Taking Shape in Companies

Anyone who has ever made a copy of a copy of a copy knows that the final result loses quality, reliability, and the inherent characteristics of the original item. This applies to documents, cloned specimens, or even the once-famous “burned” copies of movies on DVDs and other physical and digital formats.

A similar phenomenon is unfolding before our eyes with the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI). This technology relies on organic data—human-written data—to generate new versions, that is, synthetic data.

So far, everything has worked well, as the various AI versions have had access to vast amounts of organic data, from mass media in different formats to Wikipedia and other digital libraries.

We are witnessing a process of “digesting” this organic data, accumulated over thousands of years, as it is being processed by generative AI. This process consumes significant amounts of natural resources such as water and electricity, as well as computational resources, data centers, and specialized hardware.

It is estimated that this process will conclude before the year 2027, meaning that AI will take approximately four years to process all the available organic data that humanity took years to produce.

The question here is: what will happen after 2027? If, at present, in many cases (especially in text), it is virtually impossible to distinguish between organic and synthetic content, how will we differentiate something that, for example, was written as a result of rigorous scientific research from something derived from previously produced content by artificial intelligence, which may have lost accuracy in the process?

Is human knowledge at risk due to this situation? And perhaps a less catastrophic concern: how will companies protect their intellectual property and copyright, both moral and economic, when AI advances at a pace far faster than our legal systems are able to adapt?

In the coming years, we will witness an explosion of various uses and applications of generative AI. We are on the brink of the arrival of General AI, a sort of oracle encompassing all human knowledge, capable of providing opinions or generating criteria on any subject posed. In this context, what stance should companies take? Should they prohibit any use of AI by their employees to protect their intellectual property, risking extinction in the face of competitors who adopt and monetize this new technology? Or should they experiment in a controlled environment with the potential that AI represents for the company and its market?

At this point, there are no right or wrong answers, only possible conjectures. What is certain is that along the way, the labor field will experience immense pressure to have skilled personnel capable of generating more high-quality organic content. It will also need highly qualified staff who can use AI to optimize existing processes and improve business profitability, as well as experts in future AI applications who will create the companies of the future, leading humanity to a new frontier of knowledge. None of these challenges are easy to face: time is short, and resources are scarce.

But what about your company? Has it already decided on the strategy it will use with its employees regarding AI in the short and medium term?

Alejandro Trejos Gómez

Partner at  BDS Asesores