December 11 - 12, 2024 marked the AI Summit New York, bringing together more than 4,000 professionals to discuss a wide range of AI, ML, and robotics-related topics. The Summit's more than 250 speakers included leaders from Microsoft, AWS, Intel, IBM, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Visa, Google, the World Bank, Oxford University… the list goes on.
If one thing is abundantly clear from the Summit, it's that there's a fundamental belief that AI is well on its way to revolutionizing the global economy – adding as much as $20 trillion by the end of the decade. Almost every speaker alluded to this growth, giving way to a fascinating mosaic of a future already taking form.
So what will the AI revolution look like? Here are some key insights from the AI Summit that show us a glimpse of the future, according to those who are shaping it.
Boring, Everyday AI
One of the most remarkable aspects of AI – which is already making a massive impact in ways that are invisible to most people – is its ability to master tasks that are mechanical and technical where humans are susceptible to making mistakes.
Supply chain management, which requires data input for things like demand planning, inventory management, and efficiency tracking, is a good example of an area where AI is making improvements by leaps and bounds. This goes hand in hand with digital twin technology, which refers to virtual models of real world objects, like factory equipment, complex installations, and even entire cities. Digital twins allow users to perform testing and simulations in order to see how something might work in real life before it's actually deployed.
As a result, organizations will work more efficiently and foresee outcomes that otherwise would have been unknowable. This kind of "behind the scenes" progress will improve the lives of millions of people.
AI is Coming for Your Job… but Not in the Ways You Expect
The consensus from the Summit is that there is no way to replace human intelligence and creativity, which far surpasses the capacity of AI – no matter how good ChatGPT and other generative AI might look to the untrained eye. With this in mind, jobs requiring AI-human collaboration will outpace the number of jobs lost outright.
Jobs that do not require human intelligence, meanwhile, will become more scarce. As one speaker posed the question, "When's the last time you saw an elevator operator?" Perhaps before most Summit attendees were born.
Administrative assistants are an example of jobs that are becoming obsolete thanks to the emergence of AI-powered scheduling apps and the like. Positions like these may continue to exist, but the role will shift to managing the AI tools that handle administrative tasks.
So yes, jobs will be lost. But by and large, jobs will evolve, as some skills will remain uniquely human.
Web 3.0 and Crypto's Big Break
Many continue to be skeptical of cryptocurrency. After all, even with billions of dollars of investment pouring in from institutional and retail investors – pushing the value of Bitcoin above $100,000 as of this writing – the "intrinsic" value of Bitcoin is only about $1,000.
But we're at the dawn of a new era of the internet, referred to as Web 3.0. In addition to blockchain technology, which will make the internet more decentralized, and AI, which will make the internet more intelligent, it is widely believed that web-based transactions in Web 3.0 will be performed entirely with cryptocurrencies.
This means that cryptocurrencies, with a push from AI, will be adopted on an accelerated timeframe. This would raise both the intrinsic and market-based value of Bitcoin and other digital tokens, marking a new frontier of finance that crypto enthusiasts have long dreamed about.
The Great Equalizer – but Only with the Right Governance
Along with the implications of a new global financial order, there is a fundamental ethical concern that bears monitoring: how to provide better access to underserved populations to ensure they aren’t left behind.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, there are more than 600 million people without reliable access to electricity, and many more without internet access. The World Bank has committed to helping about half of them – but that still leaves a huge gap.
The consensus is that a common framework and sensible governance need to be adopted. If that happens, AI will help democratize the internet. We see this in the promise of Web 3.0, in which users will own their URLs as well as anything they create, via NFTs.
In a similar vein, AI is driving new opportunities for small businesses. At Etsy, for instance, AI and ML are used to make sense of the vast array of seller-posted products – most of which lack traditional commerce markers like SKUs. By harnessing millions of data points, Etsy is allowing small businesses to operate without the traditional adherence to a particular taxonomy.
AI also has the power to lower the barrier to entry in terms of internet usability, by personalizing results based on detailed specifications. This is despite user reluctance to input large amounts of text, which is a result of being conditioned by the conveniences of predictive search. But natural language processing offers an elegant solution, making it possible to converse with AI tools in local language and dialect.
In order to create even more usability, the pressure is shared by users, who must embrace the extended capabilities of AI, and by providers, who need to find ways to meet people where they are and establish sensible frameworks and governance.
Your Partner in All Things AI
We can never know for sure what the future holds, and this certainly holds true for bullish projections coming out of the AI Summit. Then again, the $29 trillion in economic growth could turn out to be a conservative figure. Either way, there is an opportunity for businesses and individual users alike to shape the AI revolution.
But contrary to what some believe, it's not as simple as flipping a switch. In order to deploy a successful AI project, it makes all the difference to have the support of a team that not only understands the technology and how to build with it, but also one with a proven track record of success, based on thoughtful strategy, planning, and thorough testing.
intive continues to be at the vanguard of the AI revolution. It's why the world's leading brands – like Audi, Bayernwerk, HEX, and others – have leaned on intive for conceptualizing and executing some of the most forward-thinking and impactful use cases for AI.
Let's Talk About Your Company's Next AI Breakthrough
The AI revolution is already underway, and the opportunities to shape the future, one that is more user-friendly, efficient, and accessible, are abundant. Progress is being made every day, and those with the expertise and carefully considered strategies are leading the way.
Are you ready to build the future with AI? Get in touch with intive today.
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