Artificial Intelligence beyond hype
Artificial Intelligence is probably one of the most popular and hyped technology terms of our time. But, beyond the media hype, there is a real revolution happening. To understand the potential, just consider the recent advances in domains like Computer Vision or Natural Language Processing and their applications.
The ability of a computer to ‘see’ is an astonishing achievement. AI-powered systems can ‘understand’ the context of an image or a video at an impressive level of detail. They can identify a growing set of entities — such as persons, named individuals, cars, buildings, and eventually any object — with increasing levels of accuracy. For example, given an image or video, algorithms can estimate properties such as the number of persons in the picture, their gender, age, their emotional state, or even the occasion and the dynamics. Computer Vision is making huge steps, with massive applications in autonomous cars, navigation, robotics, medical diagnosis, and more.
A chat with one of the popular digital assistants like Alexa or Siri is sufficient to demonstrate the advances of Natural Language Processing technologies. Digital assistants are becoming more intelligent, contextual, and proactive – they continuously learn by leveraging every single interaction with the user. At some point soon, digital assistants will become autonomous by seamlessly leveraging deep knowledge about the user, signals from the user’s environment, and global trends and dynamics. Your digital assistant will respond naturally, in a conversational mode, and possibly with a style, attitude, and humor that matches your personality and your current mood. ChatGPT is only a preview of what’s coming next.
AI is changing our socioeconomic system and redefines the way we work, live, collaborate, decide, and act as individuals, businesses, or societies. We have entered a phase of a drastic transformation of markets, businesses, education, government, social welfare systems, companies, employment models, and social structures.
The transportation sector, for example, is going through a radical transformation, as fully autonomous cars will soon be a reality - and they will be far safer, more efficient, and effective. Autonomous trucks, smart containers, driverless taxis, and smart cities are just some examples of the new era. Consumer habits will possibly shift from owning a car to consuming smart car services, on demand. Entire transportation networks consisting of fleets of autonomous cars will be orchestrated by AI algorithms and adapt in real time to demand, traffic, and other conditions. This will transform the way people commute along with the way cities operate and grow – leading to a more efficient, sustainable, and safe transportation system.
As another example, AI is changing how we build products and services: physical product manufacturing processes already benefit from AI-powered production lines, automated quality control systems, and continuous improvement processes.
I believe that under certain assumptions, this technological revolution will lead to a new era of prosperity, creativity, and well-being. While there will be disruption in employment patterns and a certain level of technological unemployment, AI will create numerous new roles and specializations — with a focus on technology and science. In most cases, AI will play a supportive role to humans — empowering people to perform better in handling complex and critical situations that require judgment and creative thinking.
The general adoption of AI will allow people to free up time from monotonous, low-value work, and engage with more creative and strategic activities.
The workforce and the underlying employment models will move from long-term, full-time commitments, to flexible, adaptive models of services and value exchange. Moreover, AI will empower people to discover and learn more. Smart content discovery and collaboration tools will give everyone access to the world’s digitized knowledge, ideas, and talent. The education system will be improved by AI-powered experiences on top of world-scale digitized content and data, along with scientific and general knowledge. For example, intelligent ‘education agents’ will be able to capture the needs of each student and synthesize optimal, personalized educational programs — matching students’ intent, setting the right level and pace, and utilizing optimal synthesis of content and experiences. As a result, I do believe that there will be streams of new business opportunities and a strong basis for entrepreneurship, creativeness, and innovation. In the health space, AI will bring more accurate medical diagnoses, personalized medicine, and shorter drug development cycles that will significantly improve the overall effectiveness, level of service, and general access to health services.
But of course, there are risks and concerns associated with the application of AI. We need to find ways to ensure that AI is used in the interest of our society - and this is not only a responsibility of the policymakers. People need to achieve a general awareness and sufficient understanding of the technology, its potential, benefits, and associated risks. Societies need to adapt to the new technology landscape and embrace AI as a ‘smart tool’ that helps people to achieve more. People must switch to a life-learning mode — become open and agile in acquiring new skills and exploring new talents and career paths that are more relevant to the new order of things. But governments need to adapt as well - by modernizing laws, frameworks, social programs, and the education systems. New strategies are needed — for education, businesses, and social systems – and leaders must rethink how markets, companies, and employment agreements should work in the new era of AI. Thought leaders need to propose effective new rules, and frameworks to mitigate the risk of centralization of power and control of data and technology.
Preface from ‘60 Leaders on Artificial Intelligence’ - get your free copy here
