The Big Tech Bang (part 2): The good, the bad and the ugly

In part 1, I talked about the current state of AI, 5G and iOT and addressed what I think will happen when all three collide. In part 2, I’ll look at the positive potential outcomes for businesses and provide insights into the risks we can all start preparing for.

Possible positive outcomes

To help prepare for the Big Tech Bang, here is a compilation of possible positive outcomes when the three colossal technologies, AI, 5G and iOT, collide:

1. Hyper-custom customer interaction

Content undoubtedly continues to be king is industries such as marketing, social platforms, entertainment, retail and finance. As 5G connection comes into play, the extra G will increase speed and decrease latency.

Cloud-based AI — which is set to dramatically lower costs for developing AI — will also continue to create more tailored live interactions. The level of processing power will allow weather, location, language and even personas to become tailored for the end user.

In other words, with increased speed and connectivity, AI will be able to edit content in real-time, offering hyper personalised interactions between brands and customers.

Even by today’s standards, AI has the ability to affect content (see https://thispersondoesnotexist.com for more details) and this will continue into videos and live streaming, all built on a connection with no latency.

In other words, with increased speed and connectivity, AI will be able to edit content in real-time, offering hyper personalised interactions between brands and customers.

Meanwhile, iOT is set to join the mix in the form of wearables. Essentially, if people continue to use and adopt wearables as a form of iOT then it provides the consumer data that brands can use to personalise content with AI and 5G. Common interactions suddenly become a deeply personal experience that each and everyone of us will experience differently — much like the way we all use our imaginations to conjure up different images when we read a book.

2. New formats (and fun)

The likes of websites, films and social platforms are, in essence, just holders of content which are at the heart of most of user-facing interfaces, such as e-commerce. But behind all of these is the technical infrastructure that we have on offer today. The new technical abilities (speed, voice recognition, data upload, analysis etc) that the three deliver will spawn a whole new range of formats, software, specialities and even jobs. The video below shows a glimpse of what we can do now — and we’re barely scratching the surface:

I believe the Big Tech Bang will also give rise to a new wave of mass entrepreneurship that challenges existing platforms, channels and structures, as the barriers for setting up a company in the three new tech areas continue to decrease. Processes will become simpler as more templates and examples are created within cloud-based solutions.

For financial and retail institutions, the rise in new possibilities will be constant and active changes in industry landscapes will equate to spend and search being centred around people with a start-up mindset.

3. Instant information exchange

The more we use AI and have access to more trained AI models, the lower the cost will be, which will enable us to embed complex solutions[1] into any piece of hardware that has access to an Internet connection. The great part about this is that when we add 5G into the mix, information exchange between hardware and web-based services is instant.

One aspect that businesses can consider is their role in information exchange. For example, as more platforms are hosted on cloud-based solutions, how can brands guarantee compliance with data regulations? Who will host the data of our friends and family?

This space is an area that is primed for financial institutions to start looking at ways of hosting and safeguarding data. Doing so would allow them to negotiate on behalf of their millions of users, allowing the end user to move away from having to sign 100 different agreements every time a new social platform or piece of software is accessed.

Managing the Risks

As with every great opportunity, there are also risks. It’s vital to anticipate them as much as possible as to acknowledge and eventually mitigate them. From a business standpoint, if we look at how quickly the likes of Uber, AirBnB, Amazon, Google and Facebook all appeared, we can only imagine what will happen in this new collision-led era. Ultimately, I think it will allow a whole generation of new companies to emerge that will disrupt traditional ways of working.

One potential threat to this is that that legislation and knowledge of technology isn’t in place to help govern this new wave of opportunity, which in itself creates an unusually high level of risk. Even today’s large established countries aren’t safe.

I think this only scratches the surface of the disruption businesses are facing.

Let me explain using the example of 3D design. Imagine that computing power continues to grow and matches itself with AI and a few creative minds to craft great 3D design. There would be an explosion of new competitors that could create tailored movie creations which could match the quality of Dreamworks or Pixar quality but at a fraction of the cost. It sounds exciting for the end user and it’d certainly be a big disruption to the reigns of Netflix and Disney, but it’s not without potential problems. Because without the necessary regulation there is always a risk of dangerous, fraudulent or malicious practises.

From a financial perspective, the power of 5G and AI with iOT can bring new ways of carrying and exchanging currency so that there’s less reliance on traditional financial entities. The recent blockchain and cryptocurrency boom may not have fully reached the heights of its biggest fanatics but as simpler algorithms begin to become available new solutions can emerge.

I think this only scratches the surface of the disruption businesses are facing. Faster connection and 5G connectivity will change the landscape of real estate and where we choose to live.

New devices currently on the market such as the (new) Microsoft Kinect, and the AWS DeepLens allow better tracking through web interfaces but we’re already seeing that privacy will continue to be a major concern, alongside the growing threat posed by algorithms built on (human) bias.

[1] When we talk about complex solutions it’s mathematical calculations or predictions. For example, it could be a piece of hardware that tracks your runs, the amount you sweat, day of the week, specific temperature and as a follow-up, the device orders you a specific breakfast to balance the exercise you just did. Note that this is not a smartphone as they are focused on single tasks, rather it’s a series of complex calculations completed by a specific iOS device.