Learn to Compose: how artificial intelligence is changing everything, and mastering the new skills of composition and working with generative technologies are critical to your career in the coming decade.

1. I recently claimed that
“Prompt Artist” would be the
fastest growing job in 2023.
I was wrong.
Instead, read on to understand
the critical skill that will be
essential to every knowledge
worker in the 20’s.
By Jon Radoff
December 2022

2. A decade ago, when
someone asked the
most important skill,
I’d say:
“Learn to Code”
Coding is still a great
skill to know.
But now there’s
something even more
important—and more
universal…

3. The skill is now “Learn to Compose”
Specifically: learn to Compose with
AI.
If you’re a coder, then AI must
become part of your skills.
If you’re a writer, then AI must
become part of your skills.
If you’re an designer, then AI must
become part of your skills.
If you’re an marketer, then AI
must become part of your skills.
But “Compose” might not mean
exactly what you think it does…

4. Exponential growth of LLMs. It’s probably a bit wrong
because GPT-4 will probably work better due to
hyperparameter tuning, but the point remains that the rate
of progress is MUCH faster than Moore’s Law.
From: https://bit.ly/AImetaverse
Large Language Models
(LLMs) have made
incredible progress in
only a few short years.
ChatGPT finally showed
everyone how powerful
it could become. But
what does this mean
for you?

5. *From ChatGPT. Not actually a real job
A lot of people have talked about
”Prompt Engineering.”
I’ve written about the job of
“Prompt Artist.”
But this by itself won’t be a real
job: mostly because individual
generative systems will get better
at understanding what you want.
That won’t be the real job.

6. Composition
Generative AI can output
text, code, 2D art, 3D art and
even entire virtual worlds.
Sometimes the output is
immediately useful, and
anyone without access to
these tools will be driving
horse-drawn carriage in a
world of cars.
But that’s just “level 1”
composition. What’s next?
Midjourney: musical notation, composition, painting by
William Blake

7. Composition: Iteration
Generative AI will rapidly
replace much of the labor
involved in repetitive
knowledge tasks that are
not actually creative.
It is an incredibly powerful
tool for scaling-up your
creative process, for
iterating, for riffing off new
ideas and directions.

8. Coding is still
really helpful!
Although Composition will
become more important than
“Coding,” for most people, it is
important to know how to
work with code.
Code is the glue between
different systems.
And code is the only rigorous
way to record the behavior of
a software system.

9. You’ll incorporate AI in
appropriate places to
optimize, accelerate and
create intelligent programs.
This will become as basic as
knowing how to call
functions in a spreadsheet.
But this is still just “level 2”
composition.

10. Level 3 Composition is
about having a breadth
of knowledge about
the components you
can use, and how they
can interoperate within
complete systems.
Code Text Image Music
Generating and iterating components: the domain of
level-1 and level-2 composition
System Composition: Level 3

11. Qualities of a Level-3 Composer
• Curiosity: always learning about
new methods, new components,
new generative tools
• Systems thinking: holistic
understanding of relationships and
interfaces between components.
• Action-oriented: builds things
because real-world testing of ideas
is faster than thinking about them.
• “T-shaped” From the Valve Software employee handbook: deep
domain expertise + broad understanding will be important.

12. Level 3 Composition is Already Happening
Proof-of-concept: Using conversational AI, microservices and visual scripting to create a massively multiplayer game: bit.ly/MMORPG_ChatGPT
Everyone’s head is spinning because of the rapid progress of AI from
2020-2022. Humans aren’t used to exponential growth curves

13. Thank you for making it to the end.
I want you take this guidance to heart,
and build the skills you need for the next
decade.
If you found this helpful, you will
probably enjoy reading more of the
things I share.
Here’s an article I wrote that is the
foundation for a lot of my thinking:
https://bit.ly/Composability https://twitter.com/jradoff
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonradoff/