The Future of AI and The New World Order

I've summarised trends around AI and the New World Order according to futurist experts Kai-Fu Lee, Martin Ford and Michio Kaku.

Automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Automation (the use of machines / computers instead of people to do a job) and AI (building smart machines capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence) have business advantages. Martin Ford highlights that clothing and shoe production continues to be one of the most labour intensive sectors of manufacturing and that there is a trend towards increased factory automation in developing countries. The CFO at Nike said that in the long term the solution is going to be ‘engineering the labour out of the product’. 

AI has life saving advantages. Once medical applications of AI evolve where the systems can act as true medical advisers capable of providing consistently high quality second opinions, the technology could rein in the 1 in every 28 deaths that occur in the NHS Trust Hospitals as a result of below standard practices (Accident UK) and also save on negligence costs: the NHS had to set aside ï¿¡15.6 billion for dealing with these over 4 years.

AI can help society evolve. Director of Engineering at Google, Ray Kurzweil believes that by 2045 we will reach the singularity i.e. the point at which robots surpass human intelligence. The creation of super intelligence can allow civilisations to solve intractable problems, producing inconceivable brilliant solutions to global warming and previously incurable diseases. 

However there is a risk that man will become to machine what the horse and dog are to man. Google scientist Geoffrey Hinton doubts that the super smart robots will continue to listen to us: 'there is not a good track record of less intelligent things controlling things of greater intelligence'. 

Lastly, AI risks a far more personal crisis. For centuries human beings have filled their days by working. We’ve built entrenched cultural values around our jobs and have been conditioned to derive our worth from daily work. The rise of AI will challenge these values and threaten to undercut the sense of life purpose.

China as the Global Leader in AI 

Few realise that it’s likely that China will be the Global Leader in AI. 

Kai-Fu Lee highlights that internet Chinese entrepreneurs live in a society where speed is essential, copying is an accepted practice and competitors will stop at nothing to win in a new market. This rough environment contrasts to Silicon Valley where copying is stigmatised and many companies are allowed to coast on the basis of one original idea, which can lead to complacency with entrepreneurs failing to explore all possible iterations of their first innovation. 

The Chinese mercenary attitude has historic roots where most Chinese tech entrepreneurs are one generation away from poverty that stretches back centuries. Many are only children - products of the one child policy - carrying on their backs the expectations of two parents and four grandparents who have invested their hopes for a better life in this child. Growing up their parents didn’t talk to them about changing the world but about survival and a responsibility to earn money.

China now creates and captures oceans of new data about the real world. That wealth of information on users - their location every second of the day, how they commute, what foods they like, when and where they buy their groceries - will prove invaluable in the era of AI implementation. 

An example of Chinese tech innovation is the app WeChat. When WeChat took off, in just one year it had 100 million registered users and by its two year anniversary that number was 300 million users. It became a remote control for life that allowed users to pay at restaurants, hail taxis, unlock shared bikes, manage investments, book doctors’ appointments and have those doctors’ prescriptions delivered to your door.

China’s data collection gives these tech companies a detailed trove of users’ daily habits, which can be combined with deep learning algorithms to offer tailored services ranging from financial auditing to city planning. It outstrips what Silicon Valley’s leading companies can decipher from your searches, 'likes', or online purchases. This unparalleled trove of real world data will give Chinese companies a leg up in developing AI driven services.