AI 2041

I read this book because Artificial Intelligence is going to dominate technology and business in the future. Exactly how is being figured out now.   It will be important for technologists to understand the underlying principles and the business applications. AI 2041 aims to facilitate understanding through a collaboration between a technologist (Lee) and a short story writer (Quifan).  There are ten vignettes in the book, each comprising a fictional depiction of AI in 2041 and an explanation of the technology support it.  The stories are set in locales around the world.

The first story “The Golden Elephant” concerns the use of AI within insurance and finance applications.  Do we want AI bots to monitor our every action, in order to lower insurance rates?  This is starting to happen now.

The next story, “Gods Behinds the Masks” concerns the use of deep fakes within political battles in Nigeria.  Deep fakes are already used in fringe applications and fraud.  It is likely they will grow in complexity as AI is used more widely.

“Twin Sparrows” concerns the use of AI to educate two very different siblings.  Ultimately AI, in the story, can offer customized education to each and to bring together the siblings.  Today it is used to enrich student learning.

“Contactless Love” is about the use of AI in healthcare.  This will happen on many fronts such as drug discovery, patient diagnoses and electronic records keeping.

“My Haunting Idol” explores the use of AI in entertainment.  In this scenario, physical and virtual blend.  It is not clear to me whether this will be good or a time waster.

“The Holy Driver” concerns the use of AI in self-driving cars.  The authors explain that this application is a very advanced level of AI.  Many people now look at the questionable performance of Level 5 cars, but this does not mean AI is lacking.  Time will tell.

“In Quantum Genocide” a disgruntled scientist launches a terrorist attack using AI and quantum computing.  The authors are optimistic about quantum computers and their ability to crack encryption algorithms.  However, many other experts feel that this time may be far off.

“The Job Savior” refers to a business whose job is retraining workers displaced by AI.  This is likely to occur, as low level, repetitive tasks will be increasingly automated by AI.  Will AI realize its promise without eliminating jobs?

“The Isle of Happiness” refers to an island set up to ensure the happiness of all who go there.  AI agents are used to understand each person’s needs and to make sure those are met.  The results are problematic.

The final story, “Dreaming of Plenitude” paints a picture of a world (starting in Australia) where human needs are met, thanks to the AI revolution.  Many leaps will have to be made here including such things as climate and healthcare.  The vision will be non-uniformly achieved around the world.

Each of these fictional stories is accompanied by tech background information written by Kai-Fu Lee, an AI pioneer.  The result of this book is an excellent combination of business scenarios and tech insight.  The book was written a few years ago, but is not out of date, yet!