Former Intel employee says understanding AI is key to Ohio's emerging tech market

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Silicon Valley insider and former Intel employee James Cape said Ohio is well-positioned to become a technological manufacturing hub, which could create reliable jobs as AI replaces other careers.

Cape worked at Intel for years and is still well connected in Silicon Valley as president and cofounder of the Intel Alumni Network, an organization for former Intel employees. He said AI and other transformative technologies are rooted in Intel's innovations and are quickly replacing many office jobs. As Intel's New Albany project helped spark Ohio's emerging tech manufacturing market, Cape said it's important that Ohioans learn about AI to stay competitive.

California's Silicon Valley is known as the global center of high-tech innovation, named for silicon-based computer chips. After Intel announced a $20 billion chip manufacturing venture in central Ohio, it began attracting many other Silicon Valley projects, earning the region the nickname "Silicon Heartland." Central Ohio is now home to a number of planned or completed data centers and manufacturing plants, despite some uncertainty about the future of Intel in Ohio.

Just this month, Intel’s CEO reportedly said the company is too far behind in market capitalization to catch up in the AI game, recommending the company pivot to newer, emerging artificial intelligence. Cape said Intel's AI lag comes from the same source as market leader Nvidia's success: video games.

“Intel decided to not prioritize video games anywhere,” Cape said. “The video game initiative was canceled, and (Nvidia) took it up. And it just so happens that video games are basically essential for AI.”

Cape said it’s hard to catch up with AI, and he meant that far beyond Intel. He believes AI and other groundbreaking technologies will disrupt the workforce immensely -- not in years but in months. In January, the World Economic Forum said employers expect one-third of work tasks to be performed mainly or entirely by AI or robotics in the next five years. See AI replace human workers at Ohio Wendy's drive-thrus in the video player above.

Cape mentors young adults in the computer industry, and said AI has majorly disrupted the usefulness of college degrees that were lauded as crucial just a few years ago. He said many STEM students, like computer science majors, are struggling to find employment as AI begins to replace or restructure a lot of entry-level, white-collar jobs. 

Cape said Ohio's emergence as a manufacturing hub sets up more reliable STEM fields than other places. Cape said the skill-based work that will need to be done at plants like defense systems manufacturer Anduril or Intel is hard to replicate with AI, making those jobs more secure. The state also has a number of educational partnerships to build up the manufacturing workforce, and Ohio State University has pledged that all graduating students will be "AI fluent" by 2029.

Cape said a clear grasp of proper grammar and sentence structure is crucial for effectively using AI, disrupting the industry further. Cape joked this is the "revenge of the English major," saying knowing the right way to pose a question to AI is quickly becoming one of the most important skills in tech.

"AI is like an idiot savant intern who is reporting to you," Cape said. "They are absolutely brilliant, but they have no context, they have no experience, and if you don't give them very, very precise direction and carefully check what they say, you could have a problem."

Cape said these AI concerns feel personal for him and many other former Intel workers. Cape retired from Intel in 2001, but he said AI would not be possible without advanced processors, silicon use and integrated circuit technology developed at Intel and similar high-tech companies. He said AI and omni-use technologies – emerging, transformational fields such as advanced genetic and robotic changes – will have major, global effects very quickly.

“We all should feel a little sense of a responsibility ... there's a direct thread between advanced processors based on silicon and silicon transistors, and where we are today," Cape said. "There's a straight line.”

Despite delays, Intel's plant is still being built alongside other tech manufacturing projects. Cape said AI will reshape Ohio's labor force whether Intel is completed or not, so he encouraged Ohioans to learn how to work with AI as soon as possible.