The Rise of AI and the Fourth Revolution

In June this year, Oxford University was given £150m by an American billionaire to investigate the ethical implications of A.I. (Artificial Intelligence). Stephen Schwarzman, co-founder of Blackstone, a private equity group, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme it is his belief that A.I. will constitute the “fourth revolution” for humanity.  “I think the scientists agree that they want A.I. introduced in an ethical way, because they don’t want to experience the downsides.” He said he wanted to help people “remember what being human is” amid what will be the “unstoppable” rise of robots.

Fear or Opportunity for the Future of Work?

We are on the cusp of the fourth revolution. There has been considerable hype about how this will be the death knell for the workplace as we know it. However, there is a growing tribe of thinkers who believe the rise of the robots will be great for workers.

What Happens When Machines Do the Thinking?

Last year I went to a talk by James Whittaker, Distinguished Engineer and Technical Evangelist at Microsoft. He is leading the way on engineering A.I. His talk lasted about an hour, but its message has stayed with me.

James questioned whether, by letting machines take the brunt of data processing, we might be able to live our lives, stop looking at screens, and find our humanity again.

He talked about “skills that  AI will force into extinction”;  complex tasks that A.I. will complete faster and more efficiently.

As the internet of things grows, there is simply too much data for the human brain to process without A.I. assistance.

Why Human Creativity Still Matters

But James Whittaker also stressed the growing need for human creativity. Artificial intelligence is not imaginative.

Spontaneous ideas, and the desire to think creatively to enhance and adapt the world around us, will always belong to the human brain.

Rediscovering Our Humanity

So, whilst the robots are coming, they may give us the space and time to think more creatively and reconnect with our core humanity. Just as in today’s workplace, it will be important to play to the strengths of each ‘brain’, be that a human brain or an artificial brain. How managers go about doing that is a conversation for another day.

Oh, and listen to a James Whittaker talk if you can. You can find him on YouTube. He’s not for the faint hearted (as you can tell by the challenge to ‘Do Epic Shit’ on his t-shirt) – but his message blew my mind. 

Written by VA Consultant Rachel Woodward.