Impact & Applications Skills & Employment Current & Future ... · Trading Smart Trading Smart...
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Dr Jacques Ludik Founder & President of MIIA Founder & CEO, Cortex Logic Founder & CTO, Bennit.AI Founder & Director, SynerG ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Impact & Applications Skills & Employment Current & Future Scenarios
Transcript of Impact & Applications Skills & Employment Current & Future ... · Trading Smart Trading Smart...
Dr Jacques Ludik
Founder & President of MIIA
Founder & CEO, Cortex Logic
Founder & CTO, Bennit.AI
Founder & Director, SynerG
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Impact & ApplicationsSkills & Employment
Current & Future Scenarios
Content
• Impact of AI as exponential technology within the Smart Technology Era
• Applications of AI in a corporate context and in Africa
• Africa - some of the key challenges & opportunities
• Building AI and smart technology skills and capacity in Africa
• AI in Africa - The Future
Dr Jacques Ludik
Ph.D. – AI / Machine Learning, Computer Science, Stellenbosch UniversitySenior Lecturer & Researcher; Research & Applications:
Chemical & Elec. Eng., Business School, Finance, Psychiatry
Founder – Machine Intelligence / AI & Analytics Software & Services
(financial, mining, chemical, energy, manufacturing, food & beverage, etc.)
Big Data & Analytics LeaderIndustrial Internet
Director of GE Intelligent Platforms
VP Data Science & CDO –next generation mobile money
marketplace for emerging markets
Founder - Innovative community & accelerator for Machine Intelligence & Data Science Research & Applications to help transform Africa
CSense sold to General Electric
Founder - Intelligent Virtual Production Assistant & Advisor for Manufacturing
Smart
Technology CoE
Background
Founder – AI Engine for Platform Businesses and Corporates, Smart apps, solutions &
products, and Operationalizing Data Science & Big Data Analytics for Finance, Healthcare, Education, Telecoms, Retail, Mining, Resources, Industrial, and Public sector
Founder -Healthcare Data
Platform & App Store for Africa
Founder - Relevant training & upskilling for
Modern Data Scientists
Director & Investor - Next generation eLearning & study support platform
SmartHealthcare
SmartEducation
AIEngineandMachineIntelligenceapps&solutions
Healthcare
Founder - AI / Big Data & Analytics
Healthcare solutions
Founder - State-of-the-art AI based Hedge Fund platform
Trading
SmartTrading
SmartTechnologyCommunity&COESmartFintech
BigData&Analytics
IndustrialInternet
AIResearch&Applications
AISoftware&Solutions
We stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will
fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another...
Builds on the digital revolution
and characterized by the
fusion of new technologies that are blurring the lines
between the physical, digital and biological worlds,
impacting all disciplines, economies and industries, and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human
The Smart Technology Era is here…
Now a Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third,
the digital revolution to create smart automation. It is
characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the
lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.
used electronics and information
technology to automate production.
used electric power to
create mass production
used water and steam power
to mechanize production
Why the 4th and not a prolongation of the 3rd Industrial Revolution
• velocity• speed of current breakthroughs has
no historical precedent.• evolving at an exponential rather
than a linear pace.
• scope• disrupting almost every industry in
every country
• systems impact• breadth and depth of these changes
herald the transformation of entire systems of production, management, and governance.
We do not yet know just how it will unfold, but one thing is clear:
the response to it must be integrated and comprehensive,
involving all stakeholders of the global polity, from the public and private sectors to academia and civil society.
Fusion of technologies already happening…
Already, machine / artificial intelligence is all around us, from self-driving cars and drones to virtual assistants and software that translate or invest. Impressive progress has been made in AI in recent years, driven by exponential increases in computing power and by the availability of vast amounts of data, from software used to discover new drugs to algorithms used to predict our cultural interests.
Digital fabrication technologies are interacting with the biological world on a daily basis. Engineers, designers, and architects are combining computational design, additive manufacturing, materials engineering, and synthetic biology to pioneer a symbiosis between microorganisms, our bodies, the products we consume, and even the buildings we inhabit.
Speed of technology change in Smart Technology Era
Unlimited opportunities with mobile & exponential technologies
The possibilities of billions of people connected by mobile devices, with unprecedented processing power, storage capacity, and access to knowledge, are unlimited.
And these possibilities will be multiplied by emerging
technology breakthroughs in fields such as
artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things,
autonomous vehicles, 3-D printing, nanotechnology,
biotechnology, materials science, energy storage,
and quantum computing.
in Smart Technology Era
15
Impact of Machine Intelligence
• Fundamental changes happening simultaneously
new opportunities through infinite data, efficiencies through self-learning and
ability to bring machine interaction even closer to human interaction
• Software eating the world and MI is on the cusp of eating softwareMajor tech & platform players vying for AI throne MI bundled behind APIs;
AI-as-a-Service apps (e.g., personal assistants to customer service agents)
• Deploy virtual labor to automate knowledge-based tasks
enhance human creativity & capabilities through cognitive tech; Automating
insight generation and moving to real-time analysis & continuous optimization• Cognitive computing
offers predictive & personalized capabilities to address business outcomes across
core verticals
• Cognitive IoT
infuse intelligence into & learn from physical world; Products, services, process and operations infused with cognition; Fast tracks & extends human expertise;
supports human interactions with people
• Moving towards a hybrid future full of diversity where multiple AIs are
interconnected with real humans;
• AI safety & positive impact on humanity: Open AI, MIRI, AIAI• AI DAOs
Deep Learning & other Machine Learning
Natural Language Processing Image & Speech Processing
Big Data Analytics Internet of ThingsBlockchain technology
with application specific cognitive computing user interfaces
Descriptive
Diagnostic
Predictive
Cognitive
Prescriptive
© Cortex Logic (Pty) Ltd
How to make it happen?
What could happen?
Why did it happen?
What happened?
What to do, why & how?
Proactive action
Learn at scaleReason with purpose
Interact naturally
Va
lue
Analysis that suggest a prescribed action
Forecast future performance, events and results
Helps understand unique drivers; Segmentation, Statistical, & Sensitivity analysis
Evolution of Analytics in Smart Technology Era
Describes historical data;Helps understand how things are going
DiscoveryWhat’s hidden in the data?
Helps discover underlying patternsVisualize and detect clusters in the data
Hindsight
Insight
Foresight
Analytics sophistication / Depth
Worldwide AI Revenue growth
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The “estimate of economic gains” during the next 10
years as presented by Mckinsey’s recently:• Automation of knowledge work: $5.2-$6.7 trillion.
• Internet of things: $2.7-$6.2 trillion.• Advanced robotics: $1.7-$4.5 trillion.
“Tractica forecasts that the revenue
generated from the direct and indirect
application of AI software is estimated to
grow from $643.7 million in 2016 to $36.8
bill ion by 2025. This represents a
significant growth curve for the 9-year
period with a compound annual growth
rate (CAGR) of 56.8%Worldwide Cognitive Systems and Artificial Intelligence Revenues Forecast to Surge Past $47 Billion in 2020, According to New IDC Spending Guide
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS41878616
AI Investment
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Applications of AI in a corporate context
Reduce Risk Lower Costs
Increase Throughput
Increase Yield, QualityCross-sell, Up-sell,
Recommend
Eliminate Redundancy
Energy & Raw Material Usage, Operations &
Maintenance
Process & Equipment Failure
Customer ChurnFraud, Waste & Abuse
Cyber Security
Productivity Revenue
Increasing Automation
Improving ProcessesEquipment Availability
Smarter R&D, forecasting
InnovationCollaboration
Enhanced ScalabilityNew Business ModelsNew Revenue Growth
Opportunities
Faster, Better &
more ProactiveDecisions
- Real-time, on demand, digital,
personalized service delivery, assistance, & advice
- Improve Risk selection and assessment- Enhancing efficiencies (e.g., auto-
mated & augmented underwriting)
- Reducing process times and costs (e.g., robo-claims adjuster)
- Targeted Sales & Marketing
Deep 360 degree insights
about the customer
Acceleration
Example Value Drivers for Platform Businesses & Corporates
AI Engine for Platform Businesses & Corporates
Some use cases
• Healthcare
• Medical Scheme Fraud Detection
• Education
• AI Educational Tool
• Cybersecurity
• Vulnerability Diagnosis & Prescriptive Analytics
• HR
• Talent Index
• Intelligent Virtual Assistant
• Telecommunications
• Churn analytics in Telecoms
• Other industries: Manufacturing, Oil & Gas, Power Generation, Chemical industry, Water & Waste Water, Food & Beverages
Smart Apps, Solutions
& Products
Operationalizing Data Science
and Big Data &
Analytics
• AI + IoT
• Financial industry
• Churning in Insurance Industry
• Fraud detection, credit risk,
affordability scoring in microloans financial services
• Cross-selling, Up-selling, Churn in Financial services
• Lapse propensity and non-activity
prediction
• Intelligent Virtual Assistants
• Mineral, Metals and Mining
• Personalized AI Search Tool
• Process performance enhancement &
predictive maintenance
Deliver state-of-the-art Machine Intelligence based solutions To help platform businesses and corporates survive and thrive in the Smart Technology Era
Intelligent Virtual
Assistants & Robo-advisors
Real-time Fraud
Detection & Prevention
Smart
Churn Prediction & Mitigation
Smart
Recommendation, Cross-sell, up-sell
& Purchase Prediction
Smart Payment,
eGovernance, compliance,
security
Process &
Equipment Performance
Enhancement
Real-time
Customer Insights, Segmentation,
Social network analysis
Smart Risk
Scoring (credit, underwriting,
etc.) & Trading
Smart
Financial
Services
Smart
Retail,
eCommerce
Smart
Telecoms,
Media,
Technology
Smart
Healthcare,
Life sciences
Smart
Public Sector, Cities
Smart Resources,
Utilities, Mining,
Industrial Sector
Smart
Education
Smart
Logistics,
Transportation
…
……
…
BankingCortex Logic solutions build on state-of-the-art Machine Intelligence
1. Analyze,
Design,
Configure
& Build
3. Operate &
Optimize2. Deploy
8
Drive largest scale, lowest cost financial marketplace for emerging markets
Maximise usable information by productising intelligence in a scalable way
Understand customers and automate prediction and analytics to empower users
and drive highest business, partner and ecosystem value
PredictiveModels
CreditRisk
Affordability
Frauddetection
Anomalydetection
Responsemodelling
Segmentation
Churnprediction
RejectInference
AnalysisinSupportofBusiness
Automated&scalableAnalytics
Dashboard
CustomerSegmentationAnalysis
SocialNetworkAnalysis
FeatureGeneration
Problem-solvingAnalysis
Productinnovation
MachineLearningbaseddecisioning
Forecasting&Simulation
WhatIfScenarioAnalysis
Optimisation
Operationalization & Automation of Prediction & Analytics
Model Perf. &
Retraining
Real-time
Anomaly
Dashboard
Analytics
DashboardSimulation
service
Optimisation
service
Feature
Library
Forecasting
service
PM
DashboardCI Dashboard
Data Science
Toolbox
Real-time Machine
Learning
Segmentation
Scoring
service
Growth and Churn prevention in Mobile Money Ecosystem• Transaction Growth: Agent average number of wallet incoming transactions increased by 14%, and outgoing transactions
increased by 22%. Customers incoming wallet transaction volume increased by 500%, and outgoing transaction volumes by 324%.• Revenue Growth: GSM data showed similar trends. Agent GSM revenue went up by 41% overall, by 54% for agents with 5+ loans,
and by 100% for agents with 10+ loans. Consumer GSM revenue went up by 32% overall, by 14% for consumers with 5+ loans, and by 9% for consumers with 10+ loans.
• Ensuring Customer Loyalty/Product Gravity: For agents, our customers displayed monthly churn ranging between 0-1%, while other customers displayed churn ranging between 1-17%, with other agents displaying an average of 4.5% higher churn / month.
Predicting Lapse Propensity Predicting Non-Active Members
104, 512 main member policies(raw: 160,695)
372,545 member & dependents (raw: 572,161)
90,877 payment transactions from Jan 2016 - May 2017
Predictive Model accuracy of 94% (test data) Predictive Model accuracy of 95% (test data)
Predictive Modelling & Analysis: Lapse & Non-Active Members
Average probability to
Lapse by Plan PremiumAverage probability to
Lapse by Plan Brand
Average probability to
Lapse by Age, Gender
Average probability to Lapse by Age,
Gender, Plan Active, Plan Cover
Churning in Insurance Industry• Problem: The leading insurance brand in the “call center” market experienced a 40%
cancellation rate of all there policies issued within 90 days after the sale.
• Data Science solution: A solution was developed using a variety of customer data sources such email correspondence, voice recordings, text interactions and demographics. The “proposed sale” is then analyzed overnight by the system and the price adjusted to reflect the risk and or reject the sale the next day before the bulk of the costs relating to the issue of a policy is incurred.
• Cost Savings: The estimated cost saving is between R100m and R120m per annum.
Medical Scheme Fraud Detection• Problem: A major medical scheme administrator realized that they had a significant
problem in terms of fraud amongst their schemes. It was estimated that around 10% of
all contributions were lost due to fraudulent activity by service providers and members.
• Results: Some data mining highlighted R70m worth of “fraud/abuse” across the three
schemes. This was after the existing fraud detection has been “passed”. The 3 schemes
represent approximately 15% of the total members of this administrator. If the results
are extrapolated the outcome is clearly much more significant.
Intelligent Virtual Assistants & Advisors
Advanced machine learning making
use of all data sources
Deep integration
into all data sources and/or
business & operational systems
Deep personal, home
and/or industrial Internet Of Things (IoT) integration
Dynamic
Information
Large number of
expert and/or data-driven rules
Intuitive Guidance – based
on keywords, Ontology and deep language
understanding
Response based on
Context, History and Profile
Guidance on
process, related transactions,
relevant knowledge, etc.
Multilanguage
support – Multi Avatar for each login or
account
Integrated human
and/or AI support services
Personalized AI Search ToolsAbility to configure
personalized search themes/topics and
keywords
Ability to specify
where to search
Automatic
identification of keywords
related to a search theme Ability to identify
associations and relationships to build
networks or trends
AI-based refinement
of searches based on user inputs confirming certain
results & rejecting others
Multi-language
search capability
Feeds & notifications
based on user preferences
Proprietary search,
calculations, and filtering on domain
data & metrics
Query & web pages
classification via integration of AI
similarity scores, Alexa ranking, Page-Rank algorithm, &
User Search Preferences & History
Optimize Process
Pro
cess
K
PI
Optimal
Performance
Current
Performance
3. Control & OptimizeAdvanced process control (e.g., MPC)Real-time set-point optimization
2. Monitor, Diagnose & PredictReduce variation by real-time monitoring and diagnosticsControl loop performance monitoring
Predict lab measurements (soft sensors) for control purposes
Advanced regulatory control
1. TroubleshootIdentify & understand causes of variationWhat If Scenario analysis & Benefit estimation
Provides process
& equipment troubleshooting, monitoring, &
optimization
Production
Risk Cost
Throughput
Quality
Energy & Raw
material usage, O&M
Equipment
availability
Process &
Equipment Failure
Machine Intelligence based solutions for the Industrial Sector
Stabilisation and 5% increase in throughput
Availability increased from 70% to 85%
Feed Rate Before Feed Rate After
• Process optimization
• Maximize throughput
• Grind quality
• Lower energy
• Predictive analytics
• Engine, transmission and breaking
• Centrally hosted
• Remotely maintained by GE
Industrial industry - Throughput & Availability benefits – some examples
Mining,Minerals,Metals
Oil&Gas,Petrochemical,Chemical,Power
Production
Risk Cost
Throughput
Quality
Energy & Raw
material usage, O&M
Equipment
availability
Process &
Equipment Failure
Provides process & equipment troubleshooting, monitoring, &
optimization
Manufacturing,Automotive,Semiconductor,Food&Bev,Water/WasteWater
FinancialServices,Retail,Telecommunications
GEAero
GEWindGEEnergy
GEOil&Gas
GEHealthcare
GEAviation
GEBusinessesinOEMperiodbeforeacquisition
Technology,Distribution,andSolutionsPartners
Success Stories
Success Stories (continued)
GE Power & Water
GE Aero
GE Oil & Gas
GE HealthcareGE Energy Management
GE Transportation
GE Global Research
GE Intelligent Platforms
Industrial Big Data engagements (some examples in Power Generation, Oil & Gas, Chemicals, Energy,
Utilities, Manufacturing, Transportations, Aerospace, Aviation, Water/ Waste Water, Metals &
Mining, Semiconductor, Materials, Automotive, Heavy Machinery, and Consumer Goods):
Industrial Big Data & Analytics
AI Applications in Africa
Agriculture
ECX e-Trade platform: In 2015, The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) has
teamed up with IBM and IBM Business Partner Wavetec, to build a coffee-
traceability solution based on state-of-the-art analytic, mobile and internet of
things (IoT) technology. Today, the IoT solution tracks coffee through all stages of the supply chain.
Aeroview platform: Aeroview is a
platform developed by the Cape Town
based start-up Aerobotics. It uses AI,
satellites and drones to assist farmers
and help them optimise the yield
through analysing processed maps to
identify problem areas in crops.
Aeroview is available worldwide and
has users in South Africa, Australia,
New Zealand, Australia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Healthcare
SOPHiA: Medical institutions in Morocco, Cameroon and South Africa
have integrated SOPHiA artificial intelligence for clinical genomics into their clinical workflow to improve patients’ care.
Drones: Rwanda has adopted the world’s
first national drone delivery network for
medical aid, which is used to deliver blood
to patients in remote areas. The California
based Robotics company “Zipline” is
working directly with Rwanda’s National
Centre for Blood Transfusion to make 50 to
150 deliveries a day of blood to 21 transfusing facilities
Scanning platform: An optical accessory
that fits onto Android smartphones is now
used by healthcare professional, in six
African countries, to examine women for early signs of cervical cancer.
For many people in Zambia with health queries, sending a text message is the best way to get it answered. U-report, a free
SMS-based service set up by UNICEF and run by volunteers, receives many
thousands of questions a month, many specifically about HIV and AIDS.
Also popular in Uganda, U-report has seen usage triple in the last three years, and
about a thousand new users register every day. The volume of messages is growing so fast that the volunteers can’t keep up,
so UNICEF is testing software that reads and responds to many of the messages
automatically.
In Zambia, there are roughly 27,000 new HIV infections a year, according to UNICEF, and 40 per cent of these are in those aged 15 to 24. With
people constantly texting U-report for all kinds of HIV information and advice, the automated
version uses machine learning algorithms to sort messages into eight categories: symptoms, HIV testing, treatment, pregnancy, transmission, prevention, definition, and male circumcision.
In fact, to fully realize the enormous
scientific potential of this project, we will
need not only better data distribution and
coordination mechanisms, but also improved algorithms, artificial intelligence and
ontologies to extract knowledge in an
automated way at a scale not yet attempted
in science.
Africa - some of the key challenges & opportunities
Address African problems • Poor education & skills development• Poor healthcare
• Lack of employment and access to financial
resources• Lack of sustainable governance systems
& crime prevention• Poor infrastructure (transport) & energy
shortages
• Food shortages and ineffective agriculture
• Lack of technology and manufacturing competitiveness
• Increasing water stress (lack of clean
drinking water)• Poor sanitation (lack of access to clean
toilets)• Rising pollution in the developing world
• Weakening of representative democracy
How can Smart
Technology such as AI be used to help solve these
problems and also help Africa to
leapfrog?
Africa Poised For Unprecedented, Long-Term Economic Growth 7 Drivers That Could Transform Africa Into The World's Economic Powerhouse
Cities
Stability
Trade
People
Education
Smart Technology
Farmland
By 2030, half of all Africans are expected to be living in cities
Africa’s middle class is larger than India’s. Africa has 52 cities with at least one million people, the same number Europe has.
Coups are declining and market forces, which the continent is progressively embracing, are tamping down inflation and cutting sovereign debt.
Intra-African trade is embryonic, with just 11 percent of the continent’s trade occurring inside its own borders.
But that's changing: today there are five identifiable, active and growing trade blocs on the continent. In sum, Africa has a $2 trillion economy. The continent will soon have the planet’s
biggest workforce. It will grow to 163 million in this decade and by 2035 Africa will have more workers than China.
Africa’s booming population is benefiting from robust government commitment to education. Overall, 20 percent of government spending goes to education
Cell phone use is exploding.
Africa holds 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated cropland. Latin America has 300 million hectares (741 million acres) of uncultivated cropland; Africa has 590 hectares (1.46 billion acres) of uncultivated cropland.
AI in Africa - The Present
Building AI and smart technologyskills and capacity in Africa
What are the 21st-century skills every student needs?
Foundational literacies - how to apply core skills to everyday tasks (LNSIFC)
Literacy, Numeracy, Scientific literacy, ICT literacy, Financial literacy,
Cultural & civic literacy
Competencies - how to approach complex challenges (CCCC)
Critical thinking / problem solving;
Creativity; Communication; Collaboration
Character qualities - how to approach changing environment (CIPALS)
Curiosity; Initiative; Persistence/grit; Adaptability; Leadership;
Social & cultural awareness
The 10 skills you need to thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Complex problem solving; Critical thinking; Creativity; People management; Coordination
with others; Emotional intelligence; Judgement and decision making; Service orientation;
Negotiation; Cognitive flexibility
21st Century Skills
Smart technology empowered education-entrepreneurship ecosystem to transform Africa
Use 4th Industrial Revolution tech to help Africa leapfrog
w.r.t. education, healthcare,
energy, agriculture, finance, employment, & competitiveness
Everyone should have affordable
access to the
digital world!
Smart Education
Efficient, transparent & agile tech-
empowered government & public sector; decentralized governance & regulatory
services use of Blockchain technology
Secure digital certification
(global id) using Blockchain Secure collaboration platform
Personalized learning using cognitive computing, smart data, learning analytics
Breakthrough interdisciplinary research
Smart Technology COE
4IR Inter-
disciplinary Learning &
Research--------------Technology
Entre-preneurship
Collaboration
platform Secure digital
certificationPartnerships
Startup
Incubationof world-class
high-tech 4IR companies
Technology entrepreneurship accelerator
Extreme acceleration of 21st
century skills
Innovative Community for Machine Intelligence &
Data Science Research & Applications
to help transform Africa
World-class certified
MOOCs with practical relevant curricula
New generation
eLearning & study support
system
Relevant training & upskilling for Modern Data Scientists
Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa
(MIIA)
Transform Africa through
Machine Intelligence
Innovative Community & Accelerator for
Machine Intelligence & Data Science Research and Applications
to help transform Africa
MIIA community is growing! Already 1550+ registrations across MIIA channels
Academic Research Non profit Business
International and intra-African collaboration
Incubators Government
Partners
ACE-DS
Data Science
NigeriaCentre for
HPC
Innovative Community & Accelerator for
Machine Intelligence & Data Science Research and Applications
to help transform Africa
Academic Research
Nonprofit Business
Advances research & technologySupports community building / learning / collaboration
Support entrepreneurial activityAddressing an African problem or opportunity
IncubatorsGovernment
Relevant Industries
Technology
Research
Applications
Projects
Partners
Expected Benefits
Address African problems • Poor education & skills development• Poor healthcare
• Lack of employment and access to financial
resources• Lack of sustainable governance systems
& crime prevention• Poor infrastructure (transport) & energy
shortages
• Food shortages and ineffective agriculture
• Lack of technology and manufacturing competitiveness
• Increasing water stress (lack of clean
drinking water)• Poor sanitation (lack of access to clean
toilets)• Rising pollution in the developing world
• Weakening of representative democracy
HealthcareEducation Agribusiness
ForestryFinance
EnergyOil & Gas, Mining
Infrastructure Utilities
Transport & Logistics
Manufacturing & Services
Tourism, Retail, Property
LegalGovernance
A next generation eLearning and Study support platform for Universities,
Colleges, Schools, Industry & Government.
The Student Hub presentsAI Engine for
ERAOnline Platform
to revolutionize
Education
Intelligent Virtual
Learning Assistants
for Personalized
Learning
Operationalizing
Data Science and
Big Data & Analytics
Cortex Logic - AI Engine for SynerG Healthcare platform
SynerG JV/PPP
Healthcare Platform
SynerG
Producers Consumers
Elements of Value Exchange
• Data
• Insights• Applications
• Analytical Services
Data
• Data Management and
Access Governance• Data Integration services
• Analytics Services• Interface applications• Proactive matchmaking and
interaction creation
• Data Access
• Access to Insights• Access to Applications with
underlying data • Analytics-ready datasets
Requests
Missing Continents: A Study using Accepted NIPS Papers
As 300 attendees have
hailed from 23 African
countries, as well as other
countries across
the world, this event was
one of the largest machine
learning teaching events
globally
Smart Technology COE
CoE Learning & Research CoE Startup Incubation CoE Collaboration
Technology Entrepreneurship
Masters program
Machine Intelligence & Data Science Masters
Inter- & trans-disciplinary on-line learning & research
Masters & PhD
Smart Technology CoETechnology entrepreneurship accelerator for 4IR education-entrepreneurship ecosystem
Startup incubation of world-class high-tech
competitive 4IR
companies
Smart Education Smart Agriculture
Smart Healthcare
Smart Energy, BioTech NanoTech, NeuroTech
Cognitive IoT, Quantum Computing, Blockchain
Tech
Collaboration platform for university network
Secure digital certification
Collaboration vehicle in Education-
Entrepreneurship
ecosystem
Partnerships with regional & world
organisations
Smart Technology COE
(1) Technology Entrepreneurship Masters program to
develop technology innovation & application, leadership skills and capability for entrepreneurship
• Provide students with interdisciplinary opportunities to apply 21st century skill sets
• Cultivate students to become top engineers, managers,
entrepreneurs or founders of enterprises at forefront of innovative tech
• Provide training opportunities for students interested in working in industry/commercial sector, CoE companies, or starting their own companies with high-end technologies
(2) Machine Intelligence & Data Science Masters program with interdisciplinary curriculum and applications in multiple
industries(3) Facilitate Inter- & trans-disciplinary on-line learning & research – Masters & PhD (innovations happen where
disciplines meet)• Blend world-class certified MOOCs with personalized
learning & practical, relevant curricula (within experiential “inverted classroom”)
• E.g., multiple opportunities for breakthroughs in Machine
Intelligence research and its practical applications
Startup incubation of world-class
competitive 4IR companies within predefined business areas that addresses
Africa & emerging market problems using fusion of state-of-the-art technologies (e.g., define & help develop
business plans for COE incubated companies)
• One of them a Smart Education business to help revolutionize education within SA local universities
as reference and role out to other higher educations institutions across
Africa• Others: Smart Agriculture; Smart
Healthcare; Smart Energy; BioTech;
NanoTech; NeuroTech; Cognitive IoT, Quantum computing,
Blockchain Tech
• Create secure mesh-structured
collaboration platform for university
students/customers/alumni network
• Pioneer Blockchain–enabled
certification for Education• Vehicle for collaboration with
Business & Industry stakeholders, Community organizations such as MIIA and
other Smart Tech CoEs in educational-entrepreneurship
ecosystem• Partner with WEF, World Bank,
IMF, ADB, UNESCO, etc.
(Measure & monitor UN’s new Sustainable Dev Goals & African
aspirations, etc.)
CoE Learning & Research CoE Startup Incubation CoE Collaboration
Smart Technology COE
Smart
Education
Smart
Energy
Cognitive
IoT
Smart
Healthcare
University
Technology
Transfer
company
BioTech
University faculties / departments
Smart
Agriculture
Nanotechnology
& Material
Science
Quantum
computingCoE companies
MIIA
Smart Technology COE at University
Smart
FinTech
University B
Smart Tech COE
University C
Smart Tech COE
University A
Smart Tech COE
4IR Education-Entrepreneurship Ecosystem
Higher Ed collaboration
platform
Regional Technology Hubs
Start-up
Incubators
Government
VCs
Technology
providers
Higher Ed collaboration
platform
Higher Ed
collaboration platform
Technology
providers
Technology providers
Research orgs
Community
organizations
Start-up
Incubators
Community
organizations
MIIA
Mesh structured network of collaboration across Africa & beyond
South Africa
Higher Ed collaboration platforms
Nigeria
Rwanda
KenyaSilicon Cape, JoziHub, etc.
Technology Hubs
Start-up Incubators
Government
VCs
Technology providers
Technology Hubs
Start-up Incubators
Higher Ed collaboration platforms
Government
Technology providers
Technology Hubs
Start-up Incubators
Higher Ed collaboration platforms
Government VCsTechnology providers
Technology Hubs
Start-up Incubators
Higher Ed collaboration platforms
Government
VCs
Technology providers
Community orgs
Research orgs
Community orgs
Research orgs
Community orgs
Research orgs
Community orgs
Research orgs
Smart Tech CoEs
Smart Tech CoEs
Smart Tech CoEs
Smart Tech CoEs
VCs
MIIA
AI in Africa - The Future
The AI Revolution could either
pull the “bottom billion” out of poverty and transform
dysfunctional institutions
or
entrench injustice and increase inequality
The outcome will depend on how we manage the coming changes
Opportunities of the 4th Industrial Revolution
Like the revolutions that preceded it, the 4th Industrial Revolution has the potential to raise global income levels and improve the quality of life for populations around the world. To date, those who have gained the most from it have been consumers able to afford and access the digital world
Technology has made possible new products
and services that increase the efficiency and
pleasure of our personal lives. Ordering a cab,
booking a flight, buying a product, making a
payment, listening to music, watching a film, or
playing a game—any of these can now be done
remotely.
Technological innovation will also lead to a
supply-side miracle, with long-term gains in
efficiency and productivity. Transportation
and communication costs will drop, logistics
and global supply chains will become more
effective, and the cost of trade will diminish,
all of which will open new markets and drive
economic growth.
Demand-side Supply-side
Challenges of the 4th Industrial Revolution
We cannot foresee at this point which scenario is likely to emerge, and history suggests that the outcome is likely to be some combination of the two.
However, it it likely in the future that talent, more than capital, will represent the critical factor of production. This will give rise to a job market increasingly segregated into “low-skill/low-pay” and “high-skill/high-pay” segments, which in turn will lead to an increase in social tensions.
Revolution could yield greater inequality, particularly in its
potential to disrupt labor markets. As automation substitutes
for labor across the entire economy, the
net displacement of workers by machines might exacerbate
the gap between returns to capital and returns to labor
It is also possible that the displacement of
workers by technology will, in aggregate,
result in a
net increase in safe and rewarding jobs.
Two scenarios
Challenges of the 4th Industrial Revolution
• In addition to being a key economic concern, inequality represents the greatest societal concern associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
• The largest beneficiaries of innovation tend to be the providers of intellectual and physical capital—the innovators, shareholders, and investors—which explains the rising gap in wealth between those dependent on capital versus labor.
• Technology is therefore one of the main reasons why incomes have stagnated, or even decreased, for a majority of the population in high-income countries: the demand for highly skilled workers has increased while the demand for workers with less education and lower skills has decreased.
àThe result is a job market with a strong demand at the high and low ends, but a hollowing out of the middle.
Challenges of the 4th Industrial Revolution
• This helps explain why so many workers are disillusioned and fearful that their own real incomes
and those of their children will continue to stagnate. It also helps explain why middle classes
around the world are increasingly experiencing a pervasive sense of dissatisfaction and
unfairness. A winner-takes-all economy that offers only limited access to the
middle class is a recipe for democratic malaise and dereliction.
• Discontent can also be fueled by the pervasiveness of digital technologies and
the dynamics of information sharing typified by social media.
• More than 30 percent of the global population now uses social media platforms to connect,
learn, and share information. In an ideal world, these interactions would provide an
opportunity for cross-cultural understanding and cohesion. However, they can also create
and propagate unrealistic expectations as to what constitutes success for an individual or a
group, as well as offer opportunities for extreme ideas and ideologies to spread.
The Global Network of Internet and Society Research Centers (NoC) has organized the event which are co-hosted, on
behalf of the NoC, by the Institute for Technology and Society of Rio de Janeiro and the Berkman Klein Center for
Internet & Society at Harvard University, with support from the Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Fund.
The aim of the Symposium is to deepen participants's understanding of Artificial Intelligence inclusion challenges and
opportunities, to identify and discuss areas for research, education, or action, and inform and incubate new projects and
other collaborative efforts among participants.
In Summary
•Economists say governments needed to
create access to affordable IT infrastructure
for their youth, to prepare them for a future
where economies will be driven by artificial
intelligence.
•While many believe robots will mainly
affect demand for labour by the industrial
and service sectors, other professions like
accountancy, law and medicine will also be
heavily affected.
•According to Dr Donald Kaberuka recent
history suggests that it is not too late for
Africa to adapt to the future.
Market Size Opportunity
TAM SAM SOM
85
Serviceable Obtainable Market
Serviceable Available Market
Total Available Market
$40-100B by 2025
$1-5B by 2025
$0.5-2.5B by 2025
Worldwide Cognitive Systems and Artificial Intelligence Revenues Forecast to Surge Past $47
Billion in 2020, According to New IDC Spending Guide
Assume SAM of 2.5% of TAM for Africa & other
international opportunities
Assume SOM of 50% of SAM for Africa & other
international opportunities
Annual growth rates by 2035 of gross value added (a close approximation of
GDP), comparing baseline growth by 2035 to an artificial intelligence scenario where AI has been absorbed into the economy.
Where is Africa?
AI Use Cases & Opportunity size
88
Competitive Landscape - 2017 AI Report
Accenture
1. Most consumers and enterprise clients
will select products and services based
on a company’s AI, instead of that
company’s traditional brand.
2. Most interfaces will not have a screen
and will be integrated into daily tasks.
3. An adaptive workforce
4. Ecosystem power plays
5. AI as the new UI
In fact, most executives agree that AI will
revolutionise the way they gain information
from and interact with customers. In South
Africa, some 78% of South African
executives say they need to boost their organisation’s competitiveness by
innovating through investments in AI
technologies, notably embedded AI
solutions and computer vision. But the
reality, though, is that only about a third of these organisations are planning significant
AI investments over the next three years.
With the recent convergence of technologies, economies are entering
a new era in which AI has the potential to overcome the physical limitations
of capital and labor and open up new sources of value and growth.
AI can be seen as a new factor of production that can help address future labour shortagesand a chronic productivity deficit in South Africa.
To estimate the true potential of the impact that AI can make, we developed an economic
model built upon three main channels through which value is generated.
3 main channels through which value is generated
1. CREATE A VIBRANT ECOSYSTEM
Universities
Startups
Large companies
Policymakers
Multi-stakeholder partnerships
South Africa needs to fundamentally
shift its thinking about AI and
strategically plan to create a vibrant
ecosystem where AI flourishes.
A first step in this direction for South
Africa is to create a comprehensive
long-term vision of the role of AI in the
country’s economic development.
E.g., China has laid out clear targets for
AI development in phases, initially by
2020 and going forward by 2030.
2. TURN AI INVESTMENT INTO AI-DRIVEN GROWTH
3. PRACTICE RESPONSIBLE AI
2. TURN AI INVESTMENT
INTO AI-DRIVEN GROWTH
The most significant challenges
to the adoption of AI are no
different in South Africa than
anywhere else. They are about
preparing stakeholdersthoroughly for the major
intellectual, technological,
political, ethical and social
questions that will arise as AI
becomes more deeply integrated into our lives.
3. PRACTICE RESPONSIBLE AI
1. Design
2. Execute3. Monitor
1. Artificial intelligence is getting
ready for business, but
are businesses ready for AI?
2. Artificial intelligence promises
to boost profits and
transform industries
3. Businesses, developers,
and governments need to act
now to realize AI’s full potential
Electric
Utility
Manufacturing
Smart, more nimble, and less prone to error
Education
Virtual Tutors powered by AI can
personalize learning and optimize
teaching
The overarching purpose of the
One Hundred Year Study’s
periodic expert review is to
provide a collected and connected
set of reflections about AI and its influences as the field advances.
Many have already grown accustomed to
touching and talking to their smart
phones. People’s future relationships with
machines will become ever more nuanced,
fluid, and personalized.
Society is now at a crucial juncture in determining
how to deploy AI-based technologies in ways that
promote rather than hinder democratic values such as
freedom, equality, and transparency.
Longer term, AI may be thought of as a radically
different mechanism for wealth creation in which
everyone should be entitled to a portion of the world’s
AI-produced treasures.
The field of AI is shifting toward
building intelligent systems that
can collaborate effectively with
people, including creative ways
to develop interactive and scalable ways for people to
teach robots.
Misunderstandings about what AI is
and is not could fuel opposition to
technologies with the potential to
benefit everyone. Poorly informed
regulation that stifles innovation would be a tragic mistake.
AI and Life in the Future
SOME THOUGHTS
Intelligence lies on a multi-dimensional
spectrum. According to this view, the
difference between an arithmetic calculator and
a human brain is not one of kind, but of scale,
speed, degree of autonomy, and generality.
Human intelligence has no match in the biological
and artificial worlds for sheer versatility, with the
abilities “to reason, achieve goals, understand
and generate language... create art and music,
and even write histories.”
AI technologies already pervade our lives.
As they become a central force in society,
the field is shifting from simply building
systems that are intelligent to building
intelligent systems that are human-aware and trustworthy.
Natural Language Processing is a very active area of
machine perception. Research is now shifting
towards developing systems that are able to interact
with people through dialog, not just react to stylized
requests.
A growing body of research is devoted to the idea that
a wide array of devices can be interconnected to
collect and share their sensory information. Such
devices can include appliances, vehicles, buildings,
cameras, and other things.
AI and Life in the Future
SOME THOUGHTS
TRANSPORTATION
Autonomous transportation will soon be
commonplace and, as most people’s first experience
with physically embodied AI systems, will strongly
influence the public’s perception of AI.
As cars will become better drivers than people, city-
dwellers will own fewer cars, live further from work,
and spend time differently, leading to an entirely new
urban organization.
We will see self-driving and remotely controlled
delivery vehicles, flying vehicles, and trucks. Peer-to-
peer transportation services such as ridesharing are
also likely to utilize self-driving vehicles.
Shared transportation may displace the
need for public transportation—or public
transportation may change form towards
personal rapid transit that uses small
capacity vehicles to transport people on demand.
Ethical questions arise when
programming cars to act in situations
in which human injury or death is
inevitable, especially when there are
split-second choices to be made about whom to put at risk.
AI and Life in the Future
HOME/SERVICE ROBOTS
Over the next fifteen years, coincident advances in
mechanical and AI technologies promise to increase
the safe and reliable use and utility of home robots in
a typical North American city.
Special purpose robots will deliver packages, clean
offices, and enhance security, but technical
constraints and high costs will continue to limit
commercial opportunities for the foreseeable future.
HEALTHCARE
AI-based applications could improve
health outcomes and quality of life for
millions of people in the coming
years—but only if they gain the trust of
doctors, nurses, and patients.
A small group of companies
control the EHR market, and user
interfaces are widely considered
substandard, including annoying
pop-ups that physicians routinely dismiss.
The problem in medicine is not to recognize
what is in the image—is this a liver or a
kidney?—but rather to make a fine-grained
judgement about it. Strict regulations
govern these high-stakes judgements.
Specialized motion tracking devices...
and the emerging (inter)connectedness
between the home environment and
health-monitoring devices have created
a vibrant new sector of innovation.
Better hearing aids and visual assistive devices will
mitigate the effects of hearing and vision loss,
improving safety and social connection. Personalized
rehabilitation and in-home therapy will reduce the
need for hospital stays.
AI and Life in the Future
EDUCATION
Though quality education will always require active
engagement by human teachers, AI promises to
enhance education at all levels, especially by
providing personalization at scale.
It can be argued that AI is the secret sauce that has
enabled instructors, particularly in higher education,
to multiply the size of their classrooms by a few
orders of magnitude—class sizes of a few tens of
thousands are not uncommon.
The current absence of sophisticated use of AI
technologies in schools, colleges, and universities
may be explained by the lack of financial resources as
well as the lack of data establishing the technologies’
effectiveness.
While formal education will not disappear, MOOCs and
other forms of online education will become part of
learning at all levels, from K-12 through university, in a
blended classroom experience.
LOW-RESOURCE COMMUNITIES
With targeted incentives and funding
priorities, AI technologies could help address
the needs of low-resource communities.
Budding efforts are promising.
PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY
One of the more successful uses of AI
analytics is in detecting white collar crime,
such as credit card fraud. Cybersecurity
(including spam) is a widely shared concern,
and machine learning is making an impact.
Predictive policing tools raise the specter of
innocent people being unjustifiably targeted.
But well-deployed AI prediction tools have the
potential to actually remove or reduce human
bias.
AI and Life in the Future
EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE
AI will likely replace tasks rather than jobs in the near
term, and will also create new kinds of jobs. But the
new jobs that will emerge are harder to imagine in
advance than the existing jobs that will likely be lost.
As labor becomes a less important factor in
production as compared to owning intellectual
capital, a majority of citizens may find the value of
their labor insufficient to pay for a socially acceptable
standard of living.
ENTERTAINMENT
AI will increasingly enable
entertainment that is more interactive,
personalized, and engaging. Research
should be directed toward
understanding how to leverage these attributes for individuals’ and society’s
benefit.
More sophisticated tools and apps will
become available to make it even
easier to produce high-quality content,
for example, to compose music or to
choreograph dance using an avatar.
AI and Life in the Future
PROSPECTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR AI PUBLIC POLICY
1.Define a path toward accruing technical expertise in
AI at all levels of government. Effective governance
requires more experts who understand and can
analyze the interactions between AI technologies,
programmatic objectives, and overall societal values.
2.Remove the perceived and actual impediments to
research on the fairness, security, privacy, and social
impacts of AI systems.
3.Increase public and private funding
General policy recommendations:
The measure of success for AI
applications is the value they create for
human lives. Going forward, the ease
with which people use and adapt to AI
applications will likewise largely determine their success.
AI could widen existing inequalities of
opportunity if access to AI technologies—
along with the high-powered computation
and large-scale data that fuel many of
them—is unfairly distributed across society.
As a society, we are underinvesting resources in
research on the societal implications of AI
technologies. Private and public dollars should be
directed toward interdisciplinary teams capable of
analyzing AI from multiple angles.
AI and Life in the Future
Absent sufficient technical expertise to assess safety
or other metrics, national or local officials may refuse
to permit a potentially promising application—or
green light a sensitive application that has not been
adequately vetted.
PROSPECTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR AI PUBLIC POLICY
As AI applications engage in behavior that, were it
done by a human, would constitute a crime, courts
and other legal actors will have to puzzle through
whom to hold accountable and on what theory.
AI applications could increasingly shift
investment from payroll and income to
capital expenditure. Depending on a state
budget’s reliance on payroll and income
tax, such a shift could be destabilizing.
Like other technologies, AI has the
potential to be used for good or
nefarious purposes. A vigorous and
informed debate about how to best steer
AI in ways that enrich our lives and our society is an urgent and vital need.
AI and Life in the Future
Impact on Business
• An underlying theme in conversations with global CEOs and senior business executives is that
the acceleration of innovation and the velocity of disruption are hard to
comprehend or anticipate and that these drivers constitute a source of constant
surprise, even for the best connected and most well informed. Indeed, across all industries,
there is clear evidence that the technologies that underpin the Fourth Industrial Revolution
are having a major impact on businesses.
• On the supply side, many industries are seeing the introduction of new technologies that
create entirely new ways of serving existing needs and significantly disrupt existing industry
value chains. Disruption is also flowing from agile, innovative competitors who,
thanks to access to global digital platforms for research, development, marketing, sales, and
distribution, can oust well-established incumbents faster than ever by improving the quality,
speed, or price at which value is delivered.
• Major shifts on the demand side are also occurring, as growing transparency, consumer engagement, and new patterns of consumer behavior (increasingly built upon access to mobile networks and data) force companies to adapt the way they design, market, and deliver products and services.
• A key trend is the development of technology-enabled platforms that combine both demand and supply to disrupt existing industry structures, such as those we see within the “sharing” or “on demand” economy. These technology platforms, rendered easy to use by the smartphone, convene people, assets, and data—thus creating entirely new ways of consuming goods and services in the process. In addition, they lower the barriers for businesses and individuals to create wealth, altering the personal and professional environments of workers. These new platform businesses are rapidly multiplying into many new services, ranging from laundry to shopping, from chores to parking, from massages to travel.
Impact on Business
Impact on Business
Four main effects that the 4th Industrial Revolution has on business:
1. Customer expectations
Whether consumers or businesses, customers are increasingly at the epicenter of the economy, which is all about improving how customers are served.
2. Product enhancement
Physical products and services, moreover, can now be enhanced with digital capabilities that increase their value. New technologies make assets more durable and resilient, while data and analytics are transforming how they are maintained.
3. Collaborative innovation
A world of customer experiences, data-based services, and asset performance through analytics, meanwhile, requires new forms of collaboration, particularly given the speed at which innovation and disruption are taking place.
4. Organizational forms
And the emergence of global platforms and other new business models, finally, means that talent, culture, and organizational forms will have to be rethought.
Impact on Business
• Overall, the inexorable shift from
simple digitization (the 3rd Industrial Revolution) to innovation based on combinations of technologies (the 4th I.R)is forcing companies to reexamine the way they do business.
àThe bottom line is the same: business leaders and senior executives need to understand their changing environment, challenge the assumptions of their operating teams, and relentlessly and continuously innovate.
Impact on Government
• On the whole, however, governments will increasingly face pressure to change their current approach to public engagement and policymaking, as their central role of conducting policy diminishes owing to new sources of competition and the redistribution and decentralization of power that new technologies make possible.
As the physical, digital, and biological worlds continue
to converge, new technologies and platforms will
increasingly enable citizens to
engage with governments,
voice their opinions,
coordinate their efforts, and
even circumvent supervision of public authorities.
Simultaneously, governments will gain new
technological powers to increase their control
over populations,
based on pervasive surveillance systems and
the ability to control digital infrastructure.
Impact on Government
• Ultimately, the ability of government systems and public authorities to adapt will determine their survival. If they prove capable of embracing a world of disruptive change, subjecting their structures to the levels of transparency and efficiency that will enable them to maintain their competitive edge, they will endure. If they cannot evolve, they will face increasing trouble.
• This will be particularly true in the realm of regulation. Current systems of public policy and decision-making evolved alongside the Second Industrial Revolution, when decision-makers had time to study a specific issue and develop the necessary response or appropriate regulatory framework. The whole process was designed to be linear and mechanistic, following a strict “top down” approach.
Impact on Government
• But such an approach is no longer feasible. Given the Fourth Industrial Revolution’s rapid pace of change and broad impacts, legislators and regulators are being challenged to an unprecedented degree and for the most part are proving unable to cope.
• How, then, can they preserve the interest of the consumers and the public at large while continuing to support innovation and technological development?
• By embracing “agile” governance, just as the private sector has increasingly adopted agile responses to software development and business operations more generally.
• This means regulators must continuously adapt to a new, fast-changing environment, reinventing themselves so they can truly understand what it is they are regulating. To do so, governments and regulatory agencies will need to collaborate closely with business and civil society.
Impact on Government
• The Fourth Industrial Revolution will also profoundly impact the nature of national and international security, affecting both the probability and the nature of conflict.
• The history of warfare and international security is the history of technological innovation, and today is no exception.Modern conflicts involving states are increasingly “hybrid” in nature, combining traditional battlefield techniques with elements previously associated with nonstateactors. The distinction between war and peace, combatant and noncombatant, and even violence and nonviolence (think cyberwarfare) is becoming uncomfortably blurry.
• As this process takes place and new technologies such as autonomous or biological weapons become easier to use, individuals and small groups will increasingly join states in being capable of causing mass harm. This new vulnerability will lead to new fears. But at the same time, advances in technology will create the potential to reduce the scale or impact of violence, through the development of new modes of protection, for example, or greater precision in targeting.
Impact on People
• The 4th Industrial Revolution will change not only what we do but also who we are.
It will affect our identity and all the issues associated with it: our sense of privacy, our notions of ownership, our consumption patterns, the time we devote to work and leisure, and how we develop our careers, cultivate our skills, meet people, and nurture relationships. It is already changing our health and leading to a “quantified” self, and sooner than we think it may lead to human augmentation. The list is endless because it is bound only by our imagination.
• Question: Could the inexorable integration of technology in our lives diminish some of our quintessential human capacities?
E.g., such as compassion and cooperation. Our relationship with our smartphones is a case in point.
Constant connection may deprive us of one of life’s most important assets:
the time to pause, reflect, and engage in meaningful conversation.
Impact on People
• One of the greatest individual challenges posed by new information technologies is privacy. We instinctively understand why it is so essential, yet the tracking and sharing of information about us is a crucial part of the new connectivity.
• Debates about fundamental issues such as the impact on our inner lives of the loss of control over our data will only intensify in the years ahead.
• Similarly, the revolutions occurring in biotechnology and AI, which are redefining what it means to be human by pushing back the current thresholds of life span, health, cognition, and capabilities, will compel us to redefine our moral and ethical boundaries.
Shaping the future
• Neither technology nor the disruption that comes with it is an exogenous force over which humans have no control. All of us are responsible for guiding its evolution, in the decisions we make on a daily basis as citizens, consumers, and investors. We should thus grasp the opportunity and power we have to shape the Fourth Industrial Revolution and direct it toward a future that reflects our common objectives and values.
• To do this, however, we must develop a comprehensive and globally shared view of how technology is affecting our lives and reshaping our economic, social, cultural, and human environments. There has never been a time of greater promise, or one of greater potential peril. Today’s decision-makers, however, are too often trapped in traditional, linear thinking, or too absorbed by the multiple crises demanding their attention, to think strategically about the forces of disruption and innovation shaping our future.
Shaping the future
• It all comes down to people and values. We need to shape a future that works for all of us by putting people first and empowering them.
• In its most pessimistic, dehumanized form, the Fourth Industrial Revolution may indeed have the potential to “robotize” humanity and thus to deprive us of our heart and soul.
• But as a complement to the best parts of human nature—creativity, empathy, stewardship— it can also lift humanity into a new collective and moral consciousness based on a shared sense of destiny. It is incumbent on us all to make sure the latter prevails.
