Artificial Intelligence and the future | André LeBlanc | TEDxMoncton

Summary

The speaker discusses the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI), predicting computers will match human intelligence by 2035 and surpass it by 2045. AI's evolution from muscle-replacement to brain-enhancement is highlighted, with examples like automated stock trading. The future of AI is seen as adaptive, self-learning, and intuitive, leading to advancements in various fields including medical discoveries. The speaker also touches on the exponential growth of technology, comparing it to Moore's Law, and suggests AI will manage the overwhelming influx of information, potentially connecting human brains to the cloud for enhanced capabilities.

Takeaways

• 🚀 Artificial Intelligence (AI) is growing exponentially and is expected to reach human-level intelligence by 2035.
• 🧠 By 2045, AI could surpass human intelligence collectively, according to Ray Kurzweil's projections.
• 🔄 Historically, technology has evolved from replacing physical labor to enhancing cognitive functions.
• 💡 AI like Google enhances human capabilities by providing information and automating repetitive tasks.
• 💼 The stock market exemplifies AI's capabilities with automated trades, showcasing the potential across industries.
• 🔄 Next-gen AI will be adaptive, self-learning, and intuitive, capable of changing its own rules in response to new information.
• 🌐 AI will operate in a virtual world, potentially leading to significant advancements in fields like medical research.
• 💊 AI could revolutionize medical research by simulating tests on virtual humans, accelerating the discovery of cures.
• 📈 Technological growth is exponential, with computers expected to become incredibly powerful and affordable in the future.
• 🧬 Other fields like nanotechnology and medical technology are also growing exponentially, promising rapid advancements.
• ⏳ Human knowledge is doubling every year, making it impossible for the human brain to keep up, highlighting the need for AI assistance.

Q & A

What is the speaker's perspective on the current state of artificial intelligence?

The speaker is very excited and passionate about artificial intelligence, noting that it is growing at an exponential rate and that we are not even at 1% of what AI will become.

According to the transcript, what is the projected timeline for computers to match human intelligence?

By the year 2035, many experts believe that computers will be just as intelligent as humans.

What does Ray Kurzweil predict about the intelligence of computers by 2045?

Ray Kurzweil has projected that by 2045, computers will be more intelligent than all of humanity combined.

How does the speaker describe the evolution of technology in relation to human capabilities?

Initially, technology was developed to replace human muscles for physical tasks. In the last 100 years, it has been enhancing our brains, with examples like calculators for math, and automating repetitive tasks.

What is an example of AI in the stock market mentioned in the transcript?

A company in the US that performs 500 million automated trades per month, using robots to make decisions every millisecond.

What are the characteristics of the next generation of AI according to the speaker?

The next generation of AI will be more adaptive, self-learning, and intuitive, capable of changing its own rules when changes occur.

How does the speaker's AI company emulate human behavior?

The speaker's AI company can record patterns of behavior, like logging into websites, and then emulate that behavior on other websites.

What is the 'singularity' as mentioned in the transcript?

The singularity refers to a point when computers become so intelligent that the human race as we know it becomes obsolete, as described by Ray Kurzweil.

What historical comparison does the speaker make regarding technological unemployment?

The speaker compares the potential of AI replacing jobs to the historical shift from 90% of people working in agriculture to only 2%, suggesting that while jobs change, society benefits overall.

How does the speaker envision AI contributing to medical advancements?

AI will work in a virtual environment, testing theories and drugs billions of times over to find cures for diseases like cancer and Parkinson's.

What does the speaker suggest about the pace of technological change in the next 40 years?

The speaker suggests that the pace of technological change in the next 40 years will be so rapid that it will be equivalent to the amount of change that happened in the last 2,000 years.

What does the speaker predict about the future of work in relation to AI?

The speaker predicts that with AI advancements, people might work less, possibly reducing from 40-hour work weeks to 20-hour work weeks.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 The Future of Artificial Intelligence

The speaker expresses excitement and passion for artificial intelligence (AI), noting its exponential growth. They mention predictions that by 2035, computers will be as intelligent as humans, and by 2045, more intelligent than all humans combined. The speaker provides a brief history of technology's evolution, from replacing physical labor to enhancing cognitive functions, exemplified by the calculator. They discuss the current state of AI, such as automated stock trading, and predict that the next generation of AI will be adaptive, self-learning, and intuitive. They give an example of an AI company that can mimic human behavior after learning patterns. The speaker concludes by discussing the concept of the singularity, where AI surpasses human intelligence, and compares the potential obsolescence of the human race to the shift from an agricultural to a technological society.

05:01

📈 Exponential Growth and Technological Advancements

The speaker discusses the concept of exponential growth in technology, citing Moore's Law and the rapid pace at which technology is advancing. They predict that in the future, computers will be incredibly small and powerful, potentially leading to nanotechnology that can repair the body from within. The speaker reflects on the acceleration of knowledge doubling over time, from every 1500 years to every year in the information age. They discuss the limitations of the human brain in processing information and how AI can help manage the influx of data. The speaker envisions a future where humans can connect to AI, potentially expanding their cognitive abilities. They also touch on the idea of a virtual world, like the Matrix, where AI could simulate environments for research and development. The speaker concludes by emphasizing the positive impact of technology on society, suggesting that we may work less and benefit from the advancements in various fields.

Keywords

💡Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions. In the video, AI is discussed as a rapidly growing field with the potential to surpass human intelligence by 2045, as projected by Ray Kurzweil. The speaker is passionate about AI's exponential growth and its future impact across various industries.

💡Exponential Trend

An exponential trend indicates a growth pattern that increases at an accelerating rate. The script uses this term to describe the rapid advancement of AI, suggesting that we've only seen a tiny fraction of what AI can achieve. The speaker emphasizes that AI is growing so fast that in about 20 years, computers might match human intelligence.

💡Singularity

The singularity is a hypothetical point in the future at which technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, resulting in unprecedented developments in AI. Ray Kurzweil's projection about computers surpassing human intelligence is an example of approaching the singularity. The video suggests that this could lead to humans becoming obsolete.

💡Adaptive AI

Adaptive AI refers to artificial intelligence systems that can adjust and learn from new data, improving their performance over time without being explicitly programmed. The speaker gives an example of an AI company that can mimic human behavior, like logging into a website, showcasing the adaptive nature of next-generation AI.

💡Automation

Automation is the use of technology to perform tasks with minimal human intervention. The script mentions how automation has replaced physical labor and is now enhancing cognitive tasks. An example from the video is the stock market, where robots execute trades at a speed and volume unattainable by humans.

💡Neurons

Neurons are the fundamental units of the nervous system, responsible for transmitting information. In the context of the video, the speaker discusses the human brain's neuron count and how AI could potentially connect to a vast network, expanding human cognitive capabilities by linking to the cloud.

💡Moore's Law

Moore's Law is the observation that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles approximately every two years, leading to rapid advancements in computing power. The video uses Moore's Law to illustrate the exponential growth of technology and the decreasing cost of computing, which fuels AI development.

💡Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology involves the manipulation of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale. The video suggests that nanotechnology, like AI, is growing at an exponential rate and could lead to innovations such as microscopic computers capable of entering and repairing the human body.

💡Information Age

The Information Age is a period in human history during which the acceleration of technological innovation has led to a rapid increase in the availability of information. The video discusses how knowledge doubles every year in this age, making it impossible for the human brain to comprehend all incoming information, hence the need for AI to manage this data.

💡Virtual World

A virtual world is a computer-based simulated environment. The script talks about AI operating in a virtual world, suggesting that this is where innovations like finding cures for diseases will occur. The virtual world allows for safe, rapid testing and development, detached from physical constraints.

💡Knowledge Doubling

Knowledge doubling refers to the rapid acceleration of human knowledge and information. The video highlights that human knowledge is doubling every 12 months, making it increasingly difficult for individuals to stay updated without the aid of AI, which can process and analyze information at unprecedented speeds.

Highlights

Artificial intelligence is growing at an exponential rate.

Experts predict computers will be as intelligent as humans by 2035.

Ray Kurzweil projects computers will surpass human intelligence by 2045.

Technology has evolved from replacing physical labor to enhancing cognitive abilities.

Calculators are an early example of technology enhancing human brain functions.

Google is a form of artificial intelligence that enhances human experience.

AI in the stock market performs 500 million automated trades per month.

Next-generation AI will be adaptive, self-learning, and intuitive.

AI will be able to change its own rules when faced with changes.

An AI company can emulate human behavior patterns after learning from enough examples.

AI will lead to the singularity, making human race obsolete according to some.

The shift from agricultural to technological age has improved human life.

AI will work for humans, and humans will learn from AI.

Most inventions and cures in the future will be found by AI.

Exponential growth of technology is outpacing human comprehension.

Human knowledge is doubling every year in the information age.

AI will manage the overwhelming influx of information.

The potential for humans to connect wirelessly to AI, expanding cognitive abilities.

The pace of technological change will be dizzying and incredible.

The choice between embracing reality or virtual worlds in the future.

Technology will bring benefits and possibly less work for humans.

The future is exciting with technology exploding in growth.

Transcripts

so I'm going to talk to you guys about

artificial

intelligence and artificial intelligence

is still I'm very excited about it I'm

very passionate about it and uh it's

it's growing at an exponential rate and

what's exciting about it is we're not

even at 1% of what artificial

intelligence is going to be and but it

is an exponential Trend so by the year

2035 a lot of experts are saying that

computers will be just as intelligent as

a

human so that's in in about 20 years and

by 2045 Ray kurtwell has has uh

projected that computers will be more

intelligent than all of humans

combined so this is an exponential Trend

just to give you a little bit background

about uh the evolution of technology and

everything we used to develop technology

to replace our muscles right to do to

pick up a bigger Boulder to a bigger

truck a bigger this a bigger that and a

lot of physical things have been uh

replaced by technology in the past in

the last 100 years we've been

replacing we've been doing things to

enhance our brains so the calculator

would be a simple example of enhancing

our ways of doing math and then we

started automating things that were that

were uh repetitive and then Google's

another type of artificial intelligence

in the sense that if I had Google and

nobody else here did I would seem like a

very intelligent person what what this

does is it enhances our experience but

it's not direct artificial intelligence

now if you look at if you look at uh

right now in the stock market there's

one company in the US they do 500

million automated trades per month so

this is a

robot that takes tons of

information makes decisions every

millisecond and makes millions hundreds

of millions of dollars every year and so

this is just an example of some of the

artificial intelligence that's coming

this is going to happen in every

industry there's no way that a human

could do that

there's no way that a human could

compete with that because there's so so

much information going through this

system and it's moving at the speed of

light so the next generation of AI is

going to be more adaptive it's going to

be self-learning and it's going to be

intuitive so when things change that's

when automation kind of fails but the

next generation of uh of automation

what's going to happen is if something

changes it'll be able to change its own

rules and so just as an example I have

an artificial intelligence company and

what what it does is if I give it a

simple command like if I told the person

to log into a website intuitively we

know how to log into a website we know

what to do and it's the same thing if

you if you can record that pattern of

behavior once you've seen enough

websites a computer can do that as well

and eventually basically anything that's

done on a computer will be able to be

emulated and eventually these computers

will be so intelligent that it'll it

will lead to the singularity which is

what Ray kwell calls it and that will

mean that the human race as we know it

will become

obsolete exciting isn't

it

so a lot of people think this is what's

going to happen when that happens but

the reality is this has happened before

200 years ago 90% of people worked in

the agricultural age they worked in

agriculture and so now 2% of people work

in

agriculture now are we better off or are

we worse off we're better off things got

better and the same thing's going to

happen in the next 40 years as all these

Technologies get faster and faster

they're going to be we're going to see

we're going to have to shift to do

something else but it's going to be it's

going to be good for the for the human

race in general because the robots will

be working for

us and what's also important to

understand is the AI world will be

virtual most people see AI as a robot

but really Google when you do a Google

search million of algorithms are running

in the background on servers somewhere

else and it's going to be the same idea

but AI are going to be doing tests in a

virtual world and we can call that the

Matrix we can call it whatever we want

but what's going to happen is that if

you had if you wanted to get find the

cure for

cancer what more effective way to do it

than to test on a simulated human being

a billion times with a certain

drug right instead of doing it on a rat

or on a monkey or all these things

you're going to do do it in a simulated

environment a million times and let's

say this this AI is looking for a cancer

drug this one's looking for a Parkinson

drug and this AI will develop a theory

on try to on trying to find a cure for

that that disease and it may find

something that helps out the Parkinson

so these billions of AIS will all be

working together and in the Next

Generation most inventions and most

cures in medical Fields will be found by

Ai and not by

humans now when's this going to happen

well Bill Gates said we always

overestimate the change that will occur

in the next two years and we

underestimate the change that will occur

in the next 10 and the reason he says

that is because of exponential growth if

you think about Mo's

law where technology doubles every two

years technology now 25 or 50 years ago

if you had a cell phone if you have a

cell phone now 50 years ago it's more

powerful than all the computers

combin and so computers getting faster

and faster and faster and they're

getting cheaper and cheaper and cheaper

and so 25 years from now they're

projecting that computers will will be

able to uh a cell phone sized computer

will be fit able to fit into a cell into

a blood cell so you'll be able to take a

vaccine and maybe it'll go inside and

repair your body who knows the techn ne

nanotechnology is growing at an

exponential rate as well so

nanotechnology Medical Technology all

these Technologies are growing

exponentially and we're not even in the

baby phase of what's going on these

Trends are going to going to start to go

up and things are going to change

drastically and very

quickly 1500 years

ago or 1500 years ago in the past before

the year zero it took about 1500 years

to to double knowledge so if every 1500

years you you would double knowledge so

you'd have two times of knowledge and

then every 1500 years after that double

again and so we started writing books

and we started to write things down and

language and things like that and it

started to happen every 250 years and

then we discovered science and then it

started happening every 25

years and then we created the created an

information technology it happened every

8 years and now we're in the information

age and it's happening every year so

literally every 12 months human

knowledge is

doubling and so we're getting to a point

where the human brain can't comprehend

all the information that's coming

in and so what's going to happen is 200

years ago you could have been an expert

in 10 different fields if you studi them

enough now you can barely be an expert

in one field you have to go into a

section of a section of a section of a

field and be an expert in

that and and to make an impact in that

field will be very difficult and so the

human brain has about 86 billion neurons

it's about four times as much as a

chimpanzee it's not enough so this is

where artificial intelligence is going

to come in all this information that's

coming in

is going to get managed by artificial

intelligence but at the same time human

is the humankind is going to learn from

this AI so what if we could add 10 times

the neurons that you have in your

brain what if you could add a 100 what

if you had add a million a million times

the neurons that you have right now into

the cloud so wirelessly connecting

imagine if you had a doctor that says I

don't like

technology the internet's not for me and

then you had another one where

information is doubl every year in fact

it's going to double every 12 hours at

one point according to IBM so imagine

one month goes by that one month it has

doubled 60 times so you need to take an

8-year degree to learn what happened

last

month right not going to happen so the

doctor that's connected to AI he's going

to walk into the doctor's office he's

going to run a Windows update boom he's

learned everything that's happened in

the last month and this is how things

are going to happen they're going to

accelerate at a dizzying pace

and it's going to be

incredible now my last slide here is the

is the Matrix so at some point we're

going to have to make a choice right you

take the blue pill and you believe

whatever you want to believe and I I

don't believe that people will be forced

into this

system you you know if you don't want to

live in reality you could go and and

play something or play a game and it

already exists it's called video games

right but if you wanted to be World of

Warcraft and be a fantasy fighter and do

all that stuff you could do it in a

virtual world fill your boots but if you

want to take

part in the next 50 100 years which 40

years from now we will look back to

today and say I cannot believe we used

to do

that in the medical field in every in

every field possible we we'll look back

and we'll say I cannot believe the

amount of

advances that happen in the next 30

Years there's going to be just as much

change happen that happen in the last

2,000 and technology is is exploding and

but it's going to be good it's going to

be good for all of us we're actually

going to benefit from it we might even

be able to work less right uh we used to

work 80 hours a week right when we used

to work in the agricultural age now we

work 40 maybe we'll work 20 right I'll

probably still work a 100 but that's

just me but it's going to be an exciting

time and uh I hope you're excited about

the future I'm excited about the future

thank you very much much