AI can create a world of abundance, contribute to humanity: Daniel Hulme

Artificial Intelligence is already changing the way industries around the world function. This massive innovation and its uses have started to take over every sector, right from pharma to retail. The advertising and marketing industry is also seeing the perks of this technology. At the e4m TechManch conference, Daniel Hulme, CEO Satalia and Chief AI Officer, WPP, spoke on the topic ‘AI’s Impact on Humanity’ and explained in detail about this new innovative tool makings its way into the world.

Hulme took an interactive session where he delved deeper into what is the definition of data and AI. From explaining how algorithms work, to how AI is about multiplying the way humans think and make decisions, he brought on stage a world filled with mathematics, data, AI and macro concerns of AI.

He argued that humans were not capable of making all the decisions as problems can multiply into extremely complex stages. But he believes technologies like AI can get into deeper algorithms and solve those problems. He thinks there is more to be done with this tool, and we have still not used its capacity to full.

Explaining the macro impacts of AI, Hulme says, “I think we need to acknowledge that these technologies have not just been had the most profound impact on society, they're going to have the most profound impact on humanity. And I think we've all heard of the word singularity. A singularity comes from physics is a point in time that we can't see beyond. It was adopted by the AI community to refer to the technological singularity, which is the point in time where we build a brain a million times smarter than us. I think there are at least six singularities that we need to concern ourselves with very quickly.”

“The political singularity is where we no longer know what is true. Deep fakes, misinformation, bots have not only challenged our political foundations and continue to challenge our political foundations, but they're now challenging the fabric of our reality. I actually think that this industry will play an important role in ensuring the old content is authenticated.

Environmental singularity is something we're all familiar with. We know that consumption is putting pressure on our planetary boundaries. I believe if we apply these technologies in the right way, we can half the amount of energy that we required to win the world.

The social singularity is not my expertise, but there are scientists who believe there are people alive today that won't have to die. AI is advancing medicine and is able to monitor ourselves and clean ourselves out.

The technological singularity is what we're concerned about at the moment, which is building a brain million times smarter than us. This is the last invention that humanity will create. We have no idea whether it's been a glorious thing that happens to us or our biggest existential threat.

The legal singularity is when surveillance becomes ubiquitous. So, this is the concern that AI now not only is able to know and profile consumers people very well, but they can also manipulate the behaviours and I believe, again, this industry will play a significant role in mitigating the risks of abusing these technologies.

Finally, my favourite singularity is the economic singularity. This is the concern about job losses. I think, I think over the next decade, we are going to see a Cambrian explosion of innovations. Yes, jobs will be replaced displaced but new opportunities for work will appear. I think the next 10 years are going to be glorious. We're going to free loads and loads of people up to be able to contribute to the world.”

“I believe that AI has the ability to create a world of abundance, freeing people up, actually to contribute to humanity,” he concluded.