Explorations of the potential impact of Artificial Intelligence on business and society.
It’s tough to keep up with all the latest news about developments in AI given how quickly the technology is being rolled out and the huge variety of industries it’s being deployed in. Here are some links to a few recent articles on the topic that have caught my attention.
Even if the political class manages to summon up the will to fund a Universal Basic Income, this will be only the start of its problems. Implementing an efficient and equitable system for distributing it will be a nightmare. Continue reading The universal basic income: magic bullet or Pandora’s Box?
One of the most daunting challenges of introducing a Universal Basic Income is figuring out how to fund it. If millions of people are going to be thrown out of work by automation and AI, government budgets will already be hit by the double-whammy of a precipitous decline in tax revenues caused by a dramatic rise in unemployment combined with a huge increase in expenditures to cover the resulting additional welfare costs. Where would the money come from to fund such a significant new initiative at the same time? Continue reading Robots and taxes: how to fund the universal basic income?
There is a fundamental contradiction driving much of the AI narrative. On the one hand, it is argued that AI will usher in a golden age of wealth and prosperity by making manufacturing, distribution, and engagement processes much more efficient than ever before thanks to the magic of algorithms. On the other hand, however, there are growing concerns that AI will end up destroying vast numbers of blue-collar and white-collar jobs that up to now have been immune from the forces of automation. Continue reading A fundamental contadiction in the AI narrative
Unlike Kai-Fu Li, Alibaba chairman and founder Jack Ma didn’t make any attempt to sugar-coat the potential impact of AI earlier this week, warning that it will lead to “more pain than happiness” for people over the next thirty years. Continue reading More pain than happiness: Jack Ma on AI
Will the emergence of AI herald a new golden era of prosperity in which humans lounge by the poolside sipping cocktails while intelligent machines cater to their every whim and need? Or will it lead to the destruction of civilization and turn the hapless survivors into slaves of the machines? Continue reading Touching one’s heart with your heart: Kai-Fu Li on AI