Watch Now: Cliff Worley Sr., Head Of Portfolio Marketing At Kapor Capital, Believes ‘AI Is Going To Make Us All Entrepreneurs’

Cliff Worley Sr., head of portfolio marketing at Oakland, CA-based venture firm Kapor Capital, believes artificial intelligence (AI) is going to make us all entrepreneurs.

Based on its website, Kapor Capital invests in businesses that improve the lives of low-income communities and communities of color. It was also an early investor in Blavity Inc.

At AFROTECH™ Conference 2024, Worley led a dynamic workshop offering a comprehensive overview of the most effective AI tools for founders. The workshop aimed to equip attendees with the knowledge and strategies  to streamline workflows, enhance productivity, and optimize budgets using cutting-edge AI innovations for business success.

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“If you’ve ever had that idea that you’ve always wanted to build, now is the time to do it,” Worley said while on stage.

Drawing parallels to the internet in 1988 and the release of the first iPhone in 2007, Worley described the current state of AI as “the wild, wild west,” illustrating his stance with an AI-generated image of robots fighting each other.

“The only way I can describe [the current state of AI], it’s that hundreds of teams trying to build high-speed rails while thousands of other teams build the trains, and no one has any idea which rails or trains actually work,” Worley said.

He added, “and there’s a high chance that everything breaks.”

Worley shared insights on using AI to stay competitive at his company and provided a toolkit of AI resources across categories, including graphic design, advertising, sales, and copywriting.

As for whether AI will take people’s jobs, Worley said he doesn’t actually believe so — but someone using AI might.

Just as learning to use computers and the internet was once essential, adapting to AI is important now, more than ever.

“Think about if you came into the workplace today, you interviewed for a job, and you said you didn’t know how to get a job or how to use the internet, you’re probably not getting the job,” Worley said at AFROTECH™ Conference. “I think we’ve got a year or two, if you know how to use these AI tools, it’s not going to do it good, so you’ll definitely need to jump in.”

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