AI. /Picture·pexels
In the past five years, the craze of AI ( artificial intelligence ) has swept the world, and it has become the hottest technology hotspot in the world. In 2021, Mark Zuckerberg changed the name of the company Facebook to Meta. Subsequently, Tencent also announced its official layout of the "Metaverse". The continuous change and development of
AI technology has caused the public to inevitably have such questions: Where will the future of mankind lead?
Nowadays, there are many eye-catching "predictions" about the future. For example, AI giants will "control our minds", or humans will evolve into a "semi-human" species that combines brain and computer, or AI will Develop "self-awareness", which leads to the destruction of the world, and so on.
In fact, predicting the future has been around since ancient times. Humanity has never given up on such a "pursuit" and hopes to be prepared to face a completely unknown future. However, absurd predictions always prove to be unfounded over time.
Under this premise, Kai-fu Lee and science fiction writer Chen Qiufan collaborated to write "The Future of AI", making a "grounded" prediction of future life - relying on the development trend of AI technology, Future application scenarios are deduced, and AI, characters and plots are woven together through the concepts of science fiction novels.
Kai-fu Lee collaborated with science fiction writer Chen Qiufan to co-write the book "The Future of AI".
For example, in the story "One Leaf Knows Fate", future big data analysis has reached a certain breadth and depth, and at the same time, this technology may also bring some negative impacts to human society. Through massive data analysis, computers can do something we can call "prediction". Humans have even begun to try to use "algorithms" to predict crimes.
Chen Qiufan once said in a dialogue held in the Shanghai Book Review that even if computers really become "prophet" in the future and use human understanding and cognition of history to build the prediction model , they may only see this much. The tip of the iceberg of a vast, complex world of subject interaction.
From this point of view, prediction is not to give an absolute answer. Writing in a way of predicting the future is just to remind people: If science fiction can really predict the future, are we ready to accept it?
Some people embrace it warmly, while
some people use it maliciously. Kai-fu Lee recalled that when he gave speeches about AI around the world, he was often asked: What will the future of the AI era look like? What opportunities and challenges will humanity face?
Over the past 40 years, he has been deeply involved in the AI technology research and product development of Apple , Microsoft and Google . As an AI consultant in many countries, he gradually realized that it was necessary to describe to people the "real story" of AI that might happen at the other end of the time tunnel in a frank, objective, and constructive way.
tells the story of humans and AI. /Picture·pexels
In order to realize this AI "real story" concept, Kaifu Li found Chen Qiufan. Two former Google colleagues sat down to talk about how to combine fictional science fiction with nonfiction technology. The idea of "showing a picture of human society 20 years from now" excited the two of them.
AI's "deep learning", "natural language processing" (NLP), "AI and precision medicine", "XR super-sensory experience" and other technologies will become the "bridge" to build the future world. Kai-Fu Lee predicted that the economic value created by AI in the future will directly help eliminate poverty and hunger. Secondly, AI will also take over some repetitive tasks through efficient calculations, freeing people from busy and arduous daily work. Whether in industries such as education and medical care, or in fields such as autonomous driving and renewable energy, AI can make life smarter and more convenient.
According to Kai-Fu Lee, compared to many dystopian stories that describe a gloomy and pessimistic future, the "positive impact" that the popularization of AI technology can bring to every human individual and society is something that storytellers should pay more attention to. , because this is not an easy road.
As early as 1818, "Frankenstein ", regarded as the first modern science fiction novel, discussed an issue that has not yet been concluded: whether humans have the right to use the power of technology to create a different world. To any existing form of "intelligent life"? And what kind of relationship should be between the creature and the creator?
The first modern science fiction novel "Frankenstein".
From the many current debates surrounding AI technology, we can clearly recognize the prototype proposition put forward by Mary Shelley through science fiction stories 200 years ago.
Science fiction may be responsible for people's myths, but for Chen Qiufan, it is this quality that transcends time and space, connects technology and humanities, confuses reality and fiction, and arouses everyone's empathy and thinking. This makes science fiction, as Yuval Harari, the author of "A Brief History of Humanity" said, "the most important art genre today."
In fact, no matter in which era, any technology with huge potential will have some people embracing it enthusiastically, and some people will use it maliciously.
In the story of "Masked Gods", face recognition technology has reached the level of "biometric recognition". In addition to recognizing faces, it can also recognize people's gait, finger geometry, voice semantics, pulse, etc. Such technology The upgrade is actually to resist "illegal intrusion", which is the future "network security". Criminals can use deepfakes to deceive AI tracking. In order to identify such visual deception , an "anti-counterfeiting detector" will be born in the future, just like installing anti-virus software on the Internet today.
The AI teacher in "Two Sparrows" is transformed into a cartoon virtual partner loved by the twin orphans, helping them to explore and realize their potential. It is precisely because of "natural language processing" technology that the AI partner can fluently talk to the orphans through human language. , build emotional connection and trust. Nowadays, speech recognition technology has become more and more perfect. Kaifu Lee predicts that NLP will achieve rapid development in the next 10 years. However, without considering the "self-awareness" of AI, what kind of educational concept needs to be implanted in AI is still a question that needs to be thought about.
AI may become children's gaming partner. /Picture·pexels
It is also foreseeable that autonomous driving technology has appeared at home and abroad, and people can look forward to the arrival of the future transportation era of fully autonomous driving. In the story "Holy Driver", society is in the transition period from human drivers to AI drivers. However, a young e-sports genius discovered the secret that AI drivers can also make mistakes. It seems that autonomous driving will also bring new ethical and legal procedural issues.
In Chen Qiufan’s view, the pace of scientific and technological progress is unstoppable, and AI will profoundly change all dimensions of human civilization. These include the various ways in which we perceive the world, communicate emotions, manage society, and explore life. The significance of science fiction lies in its ability to inspire more people to have insights and reflections on reality: How should we respond to future career challenges? How to ensure cultural diversity in a world dominated by AI? How should we teach the next generation to adapt to a new society where humans and AI coexist? Can
bring happiness?
is the "ultimate challenge" facing AI.
Kai-fu Lee boldly predicted that in the near future, AI will significantly reduce the cost of almost all goods. If daily necessities can be cultivated and produced through AI, by then it will be possible for people to escape poverty and hunger as never before and move towards an “era of abundance.”
If this day really comes, how will human society function?
In Kai-fu Lee’s opinion, AI will redefine “value”, and in the process, society will undergo a thorough financial reform. Regardless of whether the outcome of this change is turbulent or controllable, people may no longer be subject to the inertia of pursuing material things, but will pursue more of their own "spiritual happiness."
AI will redefine "value"./Picture·pexels
In the story of "Contactless Love", we see a society that has been completely changed by the "normality of the epidemic", and a pair of "online love" couples who cross the quarantine zone to reach each other. In such an environment, the "digital medical system" brought by AI technology seems to make people safer, but it also blocks emotions and contact between people.
From this point of view, sometimes AI not only fails to help us improve our happiness, but even creates certain obstacles. We can foresee that people's living standards in 20 years will have made a substantial leap with the support of technology. If by that time, the basic needs of most people can be easily met, then the concept of "happiness" will even undergo a new definition.
Research shows that the happiness brought by material wealth does not last long. In Kai-Fu Lee's view, in fact, humanized settings for products are always a necessary attribute at any time. "Only love and belonging, respect and self-realization are the ways to make people happy." Whether
can bring happiness to the future human society is the "ultimate challenge" that AI technology needs to face.
AI may access the deepest and most secret desires of each of us. /Picture·pexels
Through big data algorithms, AI may obtain the deepest and most secret desires of each of us. So in the story of "Happy Island", people gather on a private island and try to use AI to bring themselves the ultimate happiness. However, because AI needs to read a large amount of personal information, when faced with issues involving personal privacy, developing AI that can bring happiness to humans will also face many difficulties.
If people find a "trustworthy AI" that is trustworthy in the future, they may be able to hand over all their data to it. And this "trusted system" may be an open source community or a distributed blockchain network.
In short, AI can not only open the door to the future for mankind, but it also comes with countless hidden dangers. However, AI will not lead to bad consequences on its own. The root cause of the risk lies in people's malicious or careless use of AI.
Kai-Fu Lee said that if we all voluntarily become hedonists in the coming "era of abundance" or use AI to seek personal gain for ourselves, then the development of human civilization will still be slow after all.
Conversely, if we cherish the unique quality of "loving and being loved" that humans are born with, then the best combination of humans and AI will bravely go where no one has gone before in the future.
