Artificial Intelligence Is A Massive Opportunity -- Don't Be Afraid
Peter H. Diamandis
Data-driven optimist inspiring entrepreneurs through research, investment & community to create an abundant future for humanity | M.D. | Futurist | Speaker | Podcast Host | 4x NY Times Best-Selling Author
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the most important technology we're developing this decade.
It's a massive opportunity for humanity, not a threat.
So what is AI?
Broadly, AI is the ability of a computer to understand your question, to search its vast memory banks, and to give you the best, most accurate, answer.
AI is the ability of a computer to process a vast amount of information for you, make decisions, and take (and/or advise you to take) appropriate action.
You may know early versions of AI as Siri on your iPhone, or IBM's Watson supercomputer.
Watson made headlines back in 2011 by winning Jeopardy, and now it's helping doctors treat cancer patients by processing massive amounts of clinical data and cross-referencing thousands of individual cases and medical outcomes.
Apple's Siri rests in the palm of your hand, giving directions, making recommendations and even cracking jokes.
But these are the early, "weak" versions of AI. What's coming this next decade will be more like JARVIS from the movie Iron Man.
But this technology won't be just for Tony Stark.
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Why AI is a Massive Opportunity
AI will level the global playing field.
Today, Google's search engine gives a teenager with a smartphone in Mumbai and a billionaire in Manhattan equal access to the world's information.
In the future, AI will democratize the ability for everyone to have equal access to services ranging from healthcare to finance advice.
AI will be your physician.
AI will be your financial advisor.
AI will be your teacher and that of your children.
AI will be your fashion designer.
AI will be your chef AI will be your entertainer
And more…
And likely it will do all of these things for free, or nearly for free, independent of who you are or where you live.
Ultimately, AIs will dematerialize, demonetize and democratize all of these services, dramatically improving the quality of life for 8 billion people, pushing us closer towards a world of abundance.
Why I Don't Fear AI (At Least, Not For Now)
First of all, we (humans) consistently overreact to new technologies. Our default, evolutionary response to new things that we don't understand is to fear the worst.
Nowadays, the fear is promulgated by a flood of dystopian Hollywood movies and negative news that keeps us in fear of the future.
In the 1980's, when DNA restriction enzymes were discovered, making genetic engineering possible, the fear mongers warned the world of devastating killer engineered viruses and mutated life forms.
What we got was miracle drugs, and extraordinary increases in food production.
Rather than extensive government regulations, a group of biologists, physicians, even lawyers came together at the Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA to discuss the potential biohazards and regulation of biotechnology and to draw up voluntary guidelines to ensure the safety of recombinant DNA technology.
The guidelines they came up with allowed the researchers to move forward safely and continue to innovate, and we've been using them for 30 years.
The cloning of Dolly the sheep in 1997 led to prophesies that in just a few years we would have armies of cloned super-soldiers, parents implanting Einstein genes in their unborn children, and warehouses of zombies being harvested for spare organs.
To my knowledge, none of this has come true.
The Benefits Outweigh the Risks
That being said, I do acknowledge that strong AI (versus narrow or weak AI) is different – it is perhaps the most important and profound technological development humanity will ever make. (Note: Strong AI is a thinking machine closer to human or superhuman thought, versus Narrow AI, which is more like Siri or Google search engine).
And, as with all technologies since fire and stone tools, there are dangers to consider.
However, as Ray Kurzweil has argued, I think the benefits are likely to outweigh the risks and dangers.
As Ray says, "The main reason I believe that AI will be beneficial is that it will be decentralized and widely distributed as it is today. It is not in the hands of one person or one organization or a few but rather in over a billion hands and will become even more ubiquitous as we go into the future. We are all going to enhance ourselves with AI. The world is getting exponentially more peaceful as documented by Steven Pinker's book The Better Angels of Our Nature."
A Tool, Not a Threat
AI will be an incredibly powerful tool that we can use to expand our capabilities and access to resources.
Kevin Kelley describes it as an "opportunity to elevate and sharpen our own ethics and morality and ambition."
He goes on, "We'll quickly find that trying to train AIs to be more humanistic will challenge us to be more humanistic. In the way that children can better their parents, the challenge of rearing AIs is an opportunity – not a horror. We should welcome it."
In short, humanity will ultimately collaborate and co-evolve with AI.
In fact, at the XPRIZE, we're currently working on designing an "AI-Human Collaboration XPRIZE" with our friends at TED.
When we talk about all of the problems we have on Earth, and the need to solve them, it is only through such AI-human collaboration that we will gain the ability to solve our grandest challenges and trulycreate a world of Abundance.
If You Want to Learn More
This is the type of conversations we discuss at my 250-person executive mastermind group called Abundance 360. The program is highly selective and has 90%+ of the spots filled. You can apply here.
Share this email with your friends, especially if they are interested in any of the areas outlined above.
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We are living toward incredible times where the only constant is change, and the rate of change is increasing.
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P.P.S. Please forward this to your best clients, colleagues and friends — especially those who could use some encouragement as they pursue big, bold dreams.
AI is inevitable, fact of the matter is… it's going to become a reality whether we want it to, or not. The real question is, how does society govern AI innovation until a certain level of quality, and margin for error has been met? If you were to ask yourself whether you’d trust Microsoft technology to drive your car to work, or to take you from one town to the next using a form of AI they developed… would you say yes? Based on my own experiences with Microsoft technology, I’d say hell no… the last thing I need at 60mph is Microsoft software at the helm, trying to think for itself. I reference Microsoft above, but it could also very well be Google, or any country’s military programs. I use it in reference because most of us are all too familiar with the blue screen of death, and can relate to something going wrong, at the worst possible time. Statistically speaking though, if for every 10,000,000 lines of code there are up to 30 bugs, and 5% of those bugs have the potential to be security related, and it only takes 1 security related bug to take over an entire system at an application layer.... don’t you think the probability of AI 1st becoming a practical joke for hackers, then getting exploited for intentional misuse, in an ever growing cyber war something to consider? After all, you’d be dealing with a machine that theoretically believes its learning, and is thinking for itself… but is it not safe to say it would still be bound by logic to think the way you've programmed it to think, and if people can change their minds on a whim, based on external input, what makes you think a machine that’s trying to think and learn like a human won’t either? Security and quality should not be sacrificed for the sake of curiosity, innovation, or profit… Where do you think society stands today with the above? Based on that, with the examples you’ve given in your article for opportunity, physician, financial advisor, teacher, fashion designer, chef etc… all exploitable, and all for sale to the highest bidder in my opinion. So who’s opportunity? I’m in favor of AI, I’m all for it… but I think a society that’s driven by eager beavers looking for the next pay day is not going to take the time to ensure it’s flawless. I think there will always be an acceptable risk factor that’s considered high for them, and realistically low for us… and it’s that risk that needs to be governed, which will take us into ? when, not if. Good article though… thanks for the read.
Interesting, are we going to see AI at the levelof Jarvis from Iron Man? That will certainly be interesting hopefully this would used for good than evil.
CEO High MelchizeTECH(RC:948250)
9 年For Ai to survive without wahalla(mis-??????), humans/humanity need to elevate in self knowledge per person/man. Hmn. Else ,Ai will be problem for the rich and revolutionary targets for the masses: Even in Silicon Valley. No kidding. Universal mind as per conscious vibration isn't ready. Scared to post this. Why. Leave everything alone most times.
Product and Program Management Leader
9 年AI is a rather tough topic to discuss. It it impossible for human beings to advance without AI, but it is equally impossible for human beings to remain human with the inclusion of AI. What we need are AI policies that ensure our humanity is not lost in the name of AI progress. That is core.
President/CEO at Catalytic Health Partners
9 年AI does not replace humans, rather it provides insights from massive amounts of data that we cannot analyze ourselves in a timely enough manner to make important decisions. With such insights in hand, we are able to excel over and above our capacity today. It is important that these insights not be relegated to the elite few but be available to support people around the globe regardless of their location or other resources.