Rocket Ships!

So, what's artificial intelligence good for? Lots of things!

Rocket Ships

I’ve wanted to end this book on an upbeat note from the start because, although AI is dangerous, it is also wonderful. It will help us do many amazing things that would be impossible to accomplish without it.

We’re already enjoying the benefits of the technology, and we have been for a while. If you’ve got a smartphone, you’re using AI whether you realize it or not.

I’ve agreed with Chesterton’s clever prophesy that the future will surprise us. But after he chortled and gave us a description of the game, “Cheat the Prophet” he snuck in a little prophesy of this own under the title, “The Napoleon of Notting Hill.” And although he was wrong when it came to nearly every particular, generally his main point in the book has proven surprisingly sound, namely, localism will make a comeback, and even nationalism will return. He was prescient because he didn’t take a trend and extrapolate, instead he looked at human nature and stated the obvious.

But AI truly is a game changer because it isn’t merely another tool, it belongs to a class of things known as “general-purpose technologies.” It’s more like the wheel than a mechanical loom. A general-purpose technology has a million uses, limited only by imagination and a willingness to experiment. Most tools have a very narrow purpose—mechanical looms make cloth, and only cloth. And while mechanical looms put textile workers out of work, AI could put an unimaginable number of people out of work—everyone from paralegals to radiologists. Perhaps that’s not the way it will work out, but it might.

But I’ve slipped back into doomsayer mode, and I want us to look up. So, what should we be looking for—what can we anticipate welcoming?

Here are a few things that we’re already seeing artificial intelligence help us with: