AI & Automation — What does the future hold?

What does AI and Automation mean to you?

When we look to the future of work (and our place in it), we’re often exposed with content around “Artificial Intelligence, Automation & Machines”- to name just a few modern technologies.

With the rise of digital, we need to look deeper into what these technologies hold in store for us, and in what capacity they will impact our world.

“Machines could take up to 50% of jobs in the next 30 years.” — Moshe Vardi, professor of computer science at Rice University.

So many of us look to the future in peril, but just how scary is it? Are we all going to lose our jobs? Are we really about to be taken over by terminators? Is Arnold Schwarzenegger going to pop up out of nowhere in the middle of the highway in a blazing electro-magnetic bubble?

Probably not (at least for now).

But that’s not to say BIG changes aren’t about to occur soon.

Well, it would be stupid to try and even pose the argument that the world isn’t already being affected by these technologies, just look at our last post to see for yourself.

To truly understand what is happening, we need to take a step back and really figure out how, and in what way these technologies are going to do.

Sam Harris, in his famous TedTalk said:

“We have a failure of intuition, our ability to detect any kind of danger from a scenario which is both terrifying, yet likely to occur.”

Make sure you take a look at Harris’ Tedtalk, it’s a fascinating perspective on the future of intelligent machines & AI.

Harris gives his take on Artifical Intelligence, and how future technology is likely to destroy us.

Now before you go running off being scared of robots and hitting out like this guy did… we needn’t get too ahead of ourselves.

Without getting too far ahead of ourselves, we need to consider what the short term looks like, as well as our advances in the future. For the purpose of this article, we’re going to look at these technologies and their immediate up to 2050.

Automation

When we think about automation, you probably think about expensive giant custom built robots that work in factories, blind to the world and their own work. Sure, some people lost their jobs because of these automated robots but they haven’t taken over the world just yet. This kind of automation is only cost-effective in small numbers. Right now, it’s either way too expensive to mass produce or, certain jobs just aren’t capable of being automated yet.

These large automated machines still require skilled technicians, constant servicing and millions of dollars in upkeep (not something that can be scaled sustainably), so we’re still a while away from truly automating the entire planet.

Nevertheless, automation is growing fast — machines are getting more and more capable of doing human tasks and you can start to see it slowly creeping towards us — just look at the 30 self-service kiosks in your local supermarkets, that used to be 30 jobs — now they only require one or two human workers.

It seems apparent that automation will have its initial impact in manufacturing and low-skilled labour more than medium & high-skilled roles.

With increased demand, automation will inevitably become cheaper, and it’s capabilities enhanced year on year. Automation today is the equivalent of the computer in the 1980’s. It’s still in its infancy, yet it is already having a massive impact.

Next up will be the transportation industry, we’re already seeing driverless cars, and it won’t be long before they become the norm.

“Machines are already undertaking tasks which were unthinkable — if not unimaginable — a decade ago.” — Andy Haldane, chief economist at the Bank of England.

These startling quotes just go to show how much the world is about to change, the challenge that stands before us? We need to prepare.

Do you Want to take a look into what an automated world could look like? Watch look at this video that the guardian produced. It follows the story of a woman who holds the last job on earth.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence — one of the most prevalent themes of almost every science fiction movie. The idea that a machine can exhibit the same level of intelligence than a sentient being, hard to imagine right?

Well, it’s no longer science fiction.

Not to get too ahead again, at some point in the future this could be a possibility. Some of the most prominent figures in the technology world, such as Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking have voiced genuine concern of the advancement of an AI capable of human level intelligence.

AI has the potential to exceed human cognition, theoretically, it is possible for AI to ‘self-learn.’ In essence it could teach itself how to learn and wouldn’t require a programmer, eliminating the need for humans.

In the race to be the first to create a fully functional AI that exceeds human intellect, what’s lost during this idealistic quest for improvement is the function of humanity itself.

If we make humans become incompetent, no longer capable of driving humanity forward, would that pave the way for AI to take over because they are more capable than us?

How long until it happens? Estimates show that this is likely to become possible in the next three to six decades…

What will happen? The story hasn’t been written, but what is certain is that the world is about to experience an intelligence boom that will change every aspect of life as we know it.

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More about the author: Anthony Adeloye