Artificial Intelligence is the New Electricity

“Just as electricity transformed almost everything 100 years ago, today I actually have a hard time thinking of an industry that I don’t think AI will transform in the next several years” - Andrew Ng

AI will soon be integrated into most aspects of peoples lives, with new efficiencies and enhanced capacities. This transformation will fundamentally define global balance of power and economy of future.

Software 2.0

This evolution of AI which we can call Software 2.0 will redefine what we can possibly do with software. Traditional software stack that we can write in languages C++, Python consists of explicit instructions to a computer. In contrast, Software 2.0 can be written in much more abstract, human unfriendly language such as the weights of a neural network. Feeding data into a neural network can adjust those weight for us. No explicit instructions needed.

Let’s briefly examine what the transition software 2.0 enables.

Self driving vehicles

Self driving is a hard problem which is impossible to solve with traditional programing approaches. A computer has to react like a human to many unpredictable situations happens in the road. Reading sensor data from a vehicle a computer inside the vehicle should be able to make decisions in real time. Training models with sensor data and human input while driving is one of the established approaches. Lot of companies actively working on today to solve this problem using AI algorithms at scale.

AI assistants

Today’s so called AI assistants are dumb (Hey Siri!) but don’t be fooled by this. They will improve in an unimaginable phase. This could define as a step towards AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), the ultimate goal of many AI researchers. With ability to understand people with context future digital assistants will be an integrated part of our lives. With improvements of robotics this can enable unimaginable social economic impacts to the world.

Optimize complex systems

Optimization is a requirement of every organization. How to optimize a financial institution for maximum profit, a delivery network for minimum delivery time ect. Optimizing complex systems such as factories, electric grids, data centers for efficient energy consumption is one example of how AI can help solving climate challenges.

Artificial creativity

Can AI be creative? Creativity is a skill we usually consider uniquely human. Not anymore. With AI algorithms computers will be able to be creative in ways we have never imagined. From writing poetry, generating music to creating entire movies will be a task for future AI.

Scientific research

With minimal human input, AI systems such as artificial neural networks can plow through mountains of data, highlighting anomalies and detecting patterns that humans could never have spotted. AI can aids the modeling of physical systems both by speeding up calculations and by enabling new types of calculations. This approach is changing how we do scientific research.

Towards an automated world

Whether we like it or not the world are moving towards an automated world where AI will be like electrify today. Just like electricity transformed society AI will take to the next level. Governments and companies need to adapt to this transition otherwise sooner or later they will become irrelevant.

Countries need to invest more into artificial intelligence eduction. The county which has best AI researchers will become the next global superpower. The company which has the best AI technology will become the next largest company in the world.

AI is the most transformative technology available today. The possibilities are endless. Let’s hope data, AI and humans can work together to create a better world.