Chapter 10. What lies ahead

 

This chapter covers

  • Possible negative implications of AI on society
  • The most promising ways in which AI can reshape humanity
  • The potential for disruption by AI in specific industries

This is the last chapter of the book. By now, you have all the tools to understand what AI is and what the most important families of algorithms can be useful for. We also shared with you the lessons we and industry leaders have learned through building AI projects. However, just as no mountain ascent is complete without stopping to look over the landscape, our journey wouldn’t be complete without a broader look at the future of AI. Thanks to your newfound knowledge about the technical and organizational aspects of AI, you now have the mindset you need to break through the hype and think critically about how this technology is going to shape society in the next 5 to 10 years.

The book focused on what AI can do within the boundaries of organizations. For this final chapter, please allow us to be a bit more philosophical as we broaden the horizons of our discussion to society as a whole. To give as balanced an outlook as possible, we decided to frame our discussion in terms of threats and opportunities. We also included a review of several industry-specific trends that you should be aware of. Keep in mind that the ideas we’ll discuss are our own: we encourage you to challenge them and think critically.

10.1 How AI threatens society

10.1.1 Bias and fairness

10.1.2 AI and jobs

10.1.3 The AI filter bubble

10.1.4 When AI fails: Corner cases and adversarial attacks

10.1.5 When the artificial looks real: AI-generated fake content

10.2 Opportunities for AI in society

10.2.1 Democratization of technology

10.2.2 Massive scale

10.3 Opportunities for AI in industries

10.3.1 Social media networks

10.3.2 Health care

10.3.3 Energy

10.3.4 Manufacturing

10.3.5 Finance

10.3.6 Education

10.4 What about general AI?