18. IR to AI: What Can We Infer?
Will the 21st century’s AI transform humanity as the 19th century IR did? Industrial Revolution increased productivity by about 50% in the first half of the 19th century and shifted the global economic centre from Asia -India & China to Europe -predominantly England.
IR transformed human life in three distinct ways: rapid urbanization, capitalists replacing the feudal lords at the apex of society, and shortages induced scarcity mindset replaced by increasing insensitivity to the rapidly growing inequality, where surplus production and starving population coexists. The last four decades saw China and India start to regain their lost position with their population again playing a key role: China as the manufacturing hub and India as the global service center for the world.
The rapid growth of AI in the last few years has the potential to transform human society once again. What IR was to goods, AI can be to services. Textiles that took days and weeks to make, or distances that took weeks and months to travel after IR could be done in days if not hours. Likewise, it looks like the work that takes weeks and months to learn or complete, can be done in hours if not days. Software coding, inbound calls for client support, designing of almost anything, translations, and learning new skills are only a few examples of many more that can be done.
Like IR, AI too will transform human life. I asked AI what positive impact it can have for us humans? Its response was both insightful and stunning, it depicted a compass pointing to wisdom, compassion, innovation, and justice as the four directions of its potential impact. Thoughtful and incessive decision making for wisdom, empathy and care infused into policy making, creativity with speed in innovative problem solving, and fairness and equity in providing timely justice.
AI can do all this and more for the human potential to bloom and transform this earth into heaven. But the moot question is, will human greed and lust for power let this happen, or will AI be forced to serve the elite and the powerful once again? What do you think?
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