As a Futurist, I am involved in a number of projects where I am speaking to companies, governments, and TV production companies about the big world of Artificial Intelligence. Here are some of my thoughts on the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
My go to reference when considering the field of AI is Rodney Brooks’ amazing article ‘The Seven Deadly Sins of AI Predictions‘. In this he covers seven ways we’re getting it wrong – Overestimating and underestimating, Imagining magic, Performance versus competence, Suitcase words, Exponentials (seriously Pop Futurists get a grip on this idea), Hollywood scenarios, and Speed of deployment. Read it immediately.
AI is not this…

Or this…

(to be honest, I’d kind of like a friend like Johnny 5)
AI is a tool. It will come and change everything. Just like electricity changed everything. It’ll be in all of the systems that surround us. In our phones, in our homes, in the schools, in the hospitals, and in the workplace. The dull, mundane algorithmic tasks of low-level human work will slowly disappear from the employment landscape – let’s be honest, no-one should be flipping burgers in 2018.
However, those economies built on low-cost labour – China, India, Bangladesh etc. – will find themselves in a tight spot as millions of workers will need to be retrained and up-skilled. In time these nations will become powerful as those workers head into the ‘wisdom economy’.
I’m excited. I’m an optimist. AI is here, it’s progressing nicely, and many people are going to use it for good. I’m going to leave you with a presentation I gave on AI and creativity along with a documentary from Bloomberg. Enjoy!

The Rise of AI (documentary)

There’s an AI revolution sweeping across the world. Yet few people know the real story about where this technology came from and why it suddenly took off. In this ground-breaking episode of “Hello World,” the story of AI’s rise is told in detail for the first time, as journalist Ashlee Vance heads to the unexpected birthplace of the technology, Canada.

Nikolas is a world-leading Futurist Speaker and is available to speak at your event. Contact him to discuss how to engage and inspire your audience.
You can also see more of Nikolas’ thoughts on my Futurist Speaker VLOGs as he publishes them in this Youtube playlist. Please SUBSCRIBE to his Youtube channel so that you don’t miss any as they come up (it’ll be worth your time, we promise).
You can see more of his thoughts on Linkedin, Twitter, and bookmarked research on Tumblr.