On the day March 22, a CONSULT did 22 years. These special dates are a good time to look back and think about what comes next. I start with the path I have taken. These 22 years It makes me happy to work with the people who work with us, the friendships we have built with many clients, and the value we have helped to create in the agricultural and agri-food sector. No one can take that happiness away from me. Therefore, all I want is for the future 22 years bring the same thing: a lot of work, a lot of clients, a lot of friends and a constant desire to do more and better. For me, it might not change anything, because it's already very good as it is.
Leaving aside this more introspective analysis, I went on to look at what happened in more general terms. The first record of a strategic meeting of the CONSULT It has about 20 years.
The minutes contain nothing of particular interest, but when we read them today, there are two things that stand out. The first is that we were wrong in many predictions. Among other things, we planned to expand into the Brazil, create an analysis laboratory and import equipment to sell in Portugal.
We did not expand to the Brazil, Although we have a European-scale operation today; we did not create the laboratory; and we never imported equipment. Despite these forecasting errors, we were right in many other decisions, and these were the ones that helped build our path.
The second finding is that they spent more than 20 years And it seems that everything has evolved slowly. We still go to the office, although not every day anymore. We spend a large part of our time in front of the computer. We continue to use mobile phones, despite their evolution. We mostly travel by car and, unfortunately, we still have to drive it ourselves. When I think about our daily routine, I can't help but wonder: CONSULT, I don't see major paradigm changes. There has been an incremental, positive transformation in many aspects, but our work and life model remains similar. Looking ahead, the exercise would be to think about what the future will be like. CONSULT in 2044. However, it seems to me impossible, or at least not very useful, in the face of the current scenarios of uncertainty.
Therefore, I will focus the argument solely on the technological component. 1965, Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, He predicted that the capacity of integrated circuits would double approximately every two years, a formulation that became known as Moore's Law. At the end of 2022, a Stanford University published a study according to which this evolution occurred until 2012, Having then the computational performance significantly accelerated.
When it comes to technology, the current topic is artificial intelligence (AI). In recent two months, Having a conversation that doesn't end in a fight has been difficult. ChatGPT. I cannot anticipate all the transformations that AI could bring to the sector in this text, but I leave you with an idea: technological capabilities are evolving at a pace that makes any long-term prediction extremely fragile. In just a few years, tasks that today require time, specialized knowledge, and high processing power could be performed with a speed that is difficult to imagine.
From this retreat I draw two conclusions. The first is that what happened in the past 20 years It will be very different from what will happen in the next few years. 20 years. Things are going to change, and they’re going to change a lot. The second is that we won’t have to wait. 20 years to feel this transformation. Companies should start thinking now about how they will adjust, because the paradigms will be different and will change quickly. Personally, I am apprehensive. CONSULT, Fortunately, we don't have much time to worry: we are thinking about how we can actively participate in the changes that are coming.
If anyone wants to know what the main transformations of artificial intelligence will be in the sector, they can try asking the following question: ChatGPT. The answer will not be definitive, but it might be a good starting point for thinking about the future.