Book: “AI 2041” by Kai-Fu Lee and Chen Qiufan

A series of short stories set in 2041 around AI tech and themes that have a decent chance of emerging by 2041. Each story is followed by a technical analysis and explainer of the AI concepts at play in the fiction. Translated from traditional Chinese, it is a fun way to see AI explored in sci-fi realism. Rather than being apocalyptic, the stories explore the real challenges of future AI; security, deepfakes, privacy infringements, autonomous weapons and job loss.

Equally, I think Kai-Fu Lee and Chen Qiufan have an optimistic hope for AI- human symbiosis; one where we author our relationship with AI and its development and that the challenges we face can be solved with human creativity, a sense of justice and our capacity to learn. For me, I’m not sure we will be in a position to really “judge” the impact of AI. It will simply be part of our lives. Take motor vehicles, for example. They enabled mobility that we had never seen and our passions have been given an incredible canvas through vehicle design and our ability to travel to places we simply could not reach otherwise. They are also are the cause of great harm; the leading cause of death for people under 30. Equally the majority of green house gases is generated by transportation. We cannot imagine being without cars; so few people would say that they are a net negative to the planet. A few do of course. I have a friend that will not drive or ride in a car.

For AI, I have a hard time seeing it differently. AI will be a great help to us in enabling our learning, decision making; certainly making aspects of life safer and richer. One of the challenges that Lee and Qiufan don’t pretend to have much reassurance is how we will protect our data and our very identities in a way that is reliable. But like accidents and intentional harm made with any technology, it seems more up to us to work through those challenges than to be somehow be helpless in the face of technology.

The one piece lacking in the stories is how AI might apply to our lives in nature someday. I can imagine tracking an animal in 20 years. We have already lost most of the abilities of our ancestors that enabled what we would see as unbelievable in their abilities. But those abilities might return with AR devices worn in the wild that help us to see where that elk or moose has passed. I expect however, I’ll still want to be in the woods as I am now, with a paper map, my senses, some minimum tech for my water and food and will still see it as my spiritual retreat rather than wanting to take technology with me.