How AI can save our humanity | Kai-Fu Lee

Summary

In this heartfelt talk, the speaker reflects on his past workaholic tendencies and the profound impact of a near-death experience with cancer, leading to a reevaluation of life's priorities. He discusses the transformative power of AI, its potential to replace routine jobs, and the importance of human creativity and compassion in an AI-driven future. The speaker advocates for a new era where love and empathy define human existence, beyond the reach of AI, and calls for the creation of jobs that focus on compassion to enrich our lives.

Takeaways

• 🕰️ The speaker regrets prioritizing work over family, exemplified by almost leaving his wife during childbirth for a presentation.
• 🎓 He initially thought his AI work was groundbreaking, which was recognized by Apple and the 'Wall Street Journal', but later realized its scope was more limited.
• 🌟 The advent of deep learning marked a significant discovery in AI, enabling machines to predict or decide with superhuman accuracy within a specific domain.
• 🚀 China's role in AI has been pivotal in the era of implementation, with Chinese entrepreneurs known for their intense work ethic and rapid product development.
• 🏆 Chinese products like WeChat and Weibo are considered superior to their American counterparts due to fierce competition and rapid iteration.
• 💡 Mobile payment in China has become ubiquitous, reflecting the country's readiness to embrace technological change and its impact on daily life.
• 📈 The Chinese market's size provides AI companies with vast amounts of data, fueling their advancement in various AI fields such as computer vision and speech recognition.
• 🌍 The combined efforts of the US in discovery and China in implementation are driving a rapid technological revolution with significant economic potential.
• 💼 AI poses challenges such as job displacement, affecting not only manual labor but also professional roles like telesales and medical diagnostics.
• 💔 Beyond jobs, AI's impact includes a potential loss of meaning, as work has traditionally been a significant part of human identity and purpose.
• 🌱 The speaker's personal health crisis led to a reevaluation of life priorities, emphasizing the importance of love and relationships over work.
• ❤️ The distinction between humans and AI lies in our capacity for love and compassion, which are irreplaceable and should be the focus as AI takes over routine tasks.
• 🛠️ AI should be seen as a tool that liberates us from routine, allowing us to focus on creative and compassionate work that defines our humanity.

Q & A

What significant personal event was the speaker about to miss due to work commitments on December 16, 1991?

The speaker was about to become a father for the first time and was considering leaving his wife in the hospital to attend a presentation about AI to Apple's CEO.

How did the speaker's perspective on work and personal life change after his experience in the hospital?

The speaker realized the error in prioritizing work over family and expressed regret for letting his work ethic take precedence over love for his family.

What major AI discovery was made by three North American scientists about 10 years ago?

The major AI discovery was deep learning, a technology that can learn to predict or decide at superhuman accuracy within a single domain using a large amount of data.

How does the speaker describe the work ethic of Chinese entrepreneurs compared to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs?

The speaker describes Chinese entrepreneurs as having an incredible work ethic, working extremely hard, often under a 996 schedule, whereas Silicon Valley entrepreneurs compete in a more gentlemanly fashion.

What is the significance of the 996 work schedule mentioned by the speaker?

The 996 work schedule refers to working from 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week, which is a common practice in some Chinese startups and signifies an intense work culture.

How does the speaker view the potential impact of AI on jobs in the next 15 years?

The speaker believes that AI will gradually replace jobs that involve routine tasks, including factory workers, truckers, drivers, telesales, customer service, and even some roles in healthcare like hematologists and radiologists.

What does the speaker suggest as the unique human capability that differentiates us from AI?

The speaker suggests that the ability to give and receive love, as well as creativity, are unique human capabilities that differentiate us from AI, which cannot experience love or create in the same way humans do.

How did the speaker's diagnosis of fourth stage lymphoma affect his perspective on life and work?

The diagnosis made the speaker reevaluate his priorities, leading him to realize the importance of love and family over work and to change his lifestyle to spend more time with loved ones.

What new form of life did the speaker adopt after his health crisis?

The speaker adopted a new form of life working 965 hours a week, moved closer to his mother, and made an effort to be with his family more often, including traveling with his wife and visiting his children during their vacations.

What is the speaker's vision for the future coexistence of humans and AI?

The speaker envisions a future where AI takes away routine jobs, becomes tools for creatives, works with humans as analytical tools in high-compassion jobs, and where humans differentiate themselves through jobs that are both compassionate and creative.

What role does the speaker see for compassion and love in the age of AI?

The speaker sees compassion, love, and empathy as irreplaceable human qualities that AI cannot replicate. He suggests creating jobs of compassion and making labors of love into careers as a way to adapt to the changes brought by AI.

Outlines

00:00

🤖 AI and Human Values

The speaker begins by addressing the coexistence of AI and humanity, reflecting on his own past prioritization of work over family, exemplified by a pivotal moment when he was torn between his wife's labor and an important AI presentation. He admits his regret for valuing work ethic over family love. The narrative then shifts to the evolution of AI, highlighting his own past achievements and the groundbreaking discovery of deep learning. This technology, capable of learning from vast datasets to achieve superhuman accuracy in predictions and decisions, is exemplified through applications like image recognition and autonomous driving. The speaker humorously illustrates the potential of deep learning with a hypothetical scenario involving President Trump's speeches.

05:01

🌏 The AI Race: US and China

The speaker discusses the transition from the era of AI discovery led by the US to the era of implementation, where execution, product quality, speed, and data are paramount. He emphasizes the exceptional work ethic of Chinese entrepreneurs, comparing the competitive environments of Silicon Valley and China, with the latter being likened to a 'gladiatorial fight to the death.' This intense competition has led to superior Chinese products like WeChat and Weibo. The speaker also highlights China's rapid adaptation to technological change, such as the widespread adoption of mobile payments, which have outpaced the country's GDP. The vast Chinese market provides a rich source of data, fueling AI advancements and propelling Chinese companies to the forefront in various AI sectors.

10:02

💔 Reevaluating Life and AI's Impact

The speaker shares a deeply personal account of his battle with fourth-stage lymphoma, which led to a profound reassessment of his life priorities. He recounts the realization that his intense dedication to work had come at the expense of personal relationships and self-worth. Drawing on the insights gained from facing mortality, he advocates for a redefined relationship with work and AI. He suggests that as AI takes over routine jobs, it should free humanity to pursue more compassionate and creative roles. The speaker proposes that the newfound wealth and technological advancements should be channeled into creating jobs that focus on compassion and empathy, which are uniquely human attributes. He concludes by outlining a blueprint for human-AI coexistence, where AI serves as a tool to enhance human creativity and compassion, and by emphasizing the importance of love and human connection in an age dominated by technology.

Keywords

💡AI (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 central to the discussion on how it can coexist with humans, with a focus on its role in job displacement and its potential to augment human creativity and compassion. The speaker shares his experience with AI, including a pivotal moment where his dedication to work in AI almost led him to miss the birth of his child.

💡Human Values

Human values are the ethical and moral principles that guide individuals in making decisions and judgments. The speaker confesses his past misalignment with human values, prioritizing work over family, and reflects on the importance of reevaluating these values in the context of AI's impact on society. The concept is integral to the video's theme of finding a balance between technological advancement and human connection.

💡Deep Learning

Deep learning is a subset of machine learning that uses neural networks with many layers to analyze and learn from large amounts of data. The speaker highlights deep learning as a significant discovery in AI, capable of superhuman accuracy in tasks like image recognition and autonomous driving. It exemplifies the power of AI and its potential to revolutionize various industries.

💡Implementation Era

The implementation era refers to the phase where AI technology moves from discovery to practical application. The speaker contrasts this with the era of discovery, emphasizing that in the implementation era, execution, product quality, speed, and data become paramount. This concept is crucial to understanding the current state of AI and its global impact.

💡Work Ethic

Work ethic is the idea that hard work and diligence are central to a person's worth and success. The speaker reflects on his own intense work ethic and its consequences, using it as a backdrop to discuss the potential societal shifts as AI begins to replace certain jobs. The concept is tied to the broader message of the video, which encourages a reevaluation of what gives life meaning beyond work.

💡Job Displacement

Job displacement occurs when jobs are eliminated or made obsolete due to technological advancements. The speaker discusses the challenges of job displacement caused by AI, noting that unlike the Industrial Age, AI has the potential to completely replace certain jobs rather than just changing their nature. This concept is central to the video's exploration of AI's societal impact.

💡Compassion

Compassion is the feeling of empathy and concern for others' suffering, often prompting a desire to help. The speaker suggests that as AI takes over routine jobs, humans can focus more on jobs of compassion, which AI cannot perform. Compassion is presented as a uniquely human trait that differentiates us from AI and should be valued and nurtured.

💡Creativity

Creativity is the use of imagination or original ideas to create something. The video posits that creative jobs are protected from AI replacement because AI can optimize but not create. The concept of creativity is tied to the idea that humans should leverage their unique abilities in the face of AI advancements.

💡Mobile Payment

Mobile payment refers to the use of mobile devices to conduct financial transactions. The speaker uses mobile payment in China as an example of rapid technological adoption and its impact on society, illustrating the scale and speed at which AI and related technologies can transform everyday life.

💡996 Work Schedule

The 996 work schedule refers to working from 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week. The speaker contrasts this grueling work schedule with the more relaxed pace of Silicon Valley, using it to highlight the intense work culture in China that has contributed to rapid technological advancements and the competitive edge in AI implementation.

💡Coexistence

Coexistence refers to the state of living or existing together, which in the context of the video, refers to how humans and AI can work together harmoniously. The speaker outlines a blueprint for coexistence, emphasizing the complementary roles that humans and AI can play in various aspects of life and work.

Highlights

The speaker confesses prioritizing work over family during the birth of his first child, highlighting the need to rethink human values in the context of AI.

The speaker's AI presentation at Apple was well-received and announced at TED1992, illustrating the significance of his work in AI.

Deep learning, a pivotal discovery in AI, enables machines to predict or decide with superhuman accuracy within a single domain.

AI's ability to recognize images and drive cars demonstrates its potential to perform tasks at a human level or better.

The speaker humorously illustrates AI's capability to mimic speech, including that of President Trump, in various languages.

The era of AI implementation is characterized by execution, product quality, speed, and data, with China playing a leading role.

Chinese entrepreneurs' exceptional work ethic and the competitive environment contribute to rapid product improvement and business model refinement.

The Chinese market's embrace of mobile payments has led to a nearly cashless society, reflecting rapid technological adoption.

The large Chinese market provides AI companies with extensive user data, fueling advancements in AI technologies.

Chinese AI companies have become leaders in various fields such as computer vision, speech recognition, and drones.

The combined efforts of the US and China in AI are driving a rapid technological revolution with significant economic potential.

AI is predicted to bring unprecedented wealth but also poses challenges such as job displacement.

The speaker's personal battle with cancer led to a reevaluation of his life priorities and a shift in his work-life balance.

The speaker advocates for a shift in human values, emphasizing love and compassion as unique human qualities that differentiate us from AI.

AI's impact on jobs should be seen as an opportunity to create roles that require compassion and creativity, areas where humans excel.

The speaker outlines a blueprint for human-AI coexistence, focusing on leveraging AI as a tool while humans focus on creative and compassionate roles.

The speaker concludes by encouraging the embrace of AI and the reinforcement of human love and compassion.

Transcripts

I'm going to talk about how AI and mankind can coexist,

but first, we have to rethink about our human values.

So let me first make a confession about my errors in my values.

It was 11 o'clock, December 16, 1991.

I was about to become a father for the first time.

My wife, Shen-Ling, lay in the hospital bed

going through a very difficult 12-hour labor.

I sat by her bedside

but looked anxiously at my watch,

and I knew something that she didn't.

I knew that if in one hour,

our child didn't come,

I was going to leave her there

and go back to work

and make a presentation about AI

to my boss, Apple's CEO.

Fortunately, my daughter was born at 11:30 --

(Laughter)

(Applause)

sparing me from doing the unthinkable,

and to this day, I am so sorry

for letting my work ethic take precedence over love for my family.

(Applause)

My AI talk, however, went off brilliantly.

(Laughter)

Apple loved my work and decided to announce it

at TED1992,

26 years ago on this very stage.

I thought I had made one of the biggest, most important discoveries in AI,

and so did the "Wall Street Journal" on the following day.

But as far as discoveries went,

it turned out,

I didn't discover India, or America.

Perhaps I discovered a little island off of Portugal.

But the AI era of discovery continued,

and more scientists poured their souls into it.

About 10 years ago, the grand AI discovery

was made by three North American scientists,

and it's known as deep learning.

Deep learning is a technology that can take a huge amount of data

within one single domain

and learn to predict or decide at superhuman accuracy.

For example, if we show the deep learning network

a massive number of food photos,

it can recognize food

such as hot dog or no hot dog.

(Applause)

Or if we show it many pictures and videos and sensor data

from driving on the highway,

it can actually drive a car as well as a human being

on the highway.

And what if we showed this deep learning network

all the speeches made by President Trump?

Then this artificially intelligent President Trump,

actually the network --

(Laughter)

can --

(Applause)

You like double oxymorons, huh?

(Laughter)

(Applause)

So this network, if given the request to make a speech about AI,

he, or it, might say --

(Recording) Donald Trump: It's a great thing

to build a better world with artificial intelligence.

Kai-Fu Lee: And maybe in another language?

DT: (Speaking Chinese)

(Laughter)

KFL: You didn't know he knew Chinese, did you?

So deep learning has become the core in the era of AI discovery,

and that's led by the US.

But we're now in the era of implementation,

where what really matters is execution, product quality, speed and data.

And that's where China comes in.

Chinese entrepreneurs,

who I fund as a venture capitalist,

are incredible workers,

amazing work ethic.

My example in the delivery room is nothing compared to how hard people work in China.

As an example, one startup tried to claim work-life balance:

"Come work for us because we are 996."

And what does that mean?

It means the work hours of 9am to 9pm, six days a week.

That's contrasted with other startups that do 997.

And the Chinese product quality has consistently gone up

in the past decade,

and that's because of a fiercely competitive environment.

In Silicon Valley, entrepreneurs compete in a very gentlemanly fashion,

sort of like in old wars in which each side took turns

to fire at each other.

(Laughter)

But in the Chinese environment,

it's truly a gladiatorial fight to the death.

In such a brutal environment, entrepreneurs learn to grow very rapidly,

they learn to make their products better at lightning speed,

and they learn to hone their business models

until they're impregnable.

As a result, great Chinese products like WeChat and Weibo

are arguably better

than the equivalent American products from Facebook and Twitter.

And the Chinese market embraces this change

and accelerated change and paradigm shifts.

As an example, if any of you go to China,

you will see it's almost cashless and credit card-less,

because that thing that we all talk about, mobile payment,

has become the reality in China.

In the last year,

18.8 trillion US dollars were transacted on mobile internet,

and that's because of very robust technologies

built behind it.

It's even bigger than the China GDP.

And this technology, you can say, how can it be bigger than the GDP?

Because it includes all transactions:

wholesale, channels, retail, online, offline,

going into a shopping mall or going into a farmers market like this.

The technology is used by 700 million people

to pay each other, not just merchants,

so it's peer to peer,

and it's almost transaction-fee-free.

And it's instantaneous,

and it's used everywhere.

And finally, the China market is enormous.

This market is large,

which helps give entrepreneurs more users, more revenue,

more investment, but most importantly,

it gives the entrepreneurs a chance to collect a huge amount of data

which becomes rocket fuel for the AI engine.

So as a result, the Chinese AI companies

have leaped ahead

so that today, the most valuable companies

in computer vision, speech recognition,

speech synthesis, machine translation and drones

are all Chinese companies.

So with the US leading the era of discovery

and China leading the era of implementation,

we are now in an amazing age

where the dual engine of the two superpowers

are working together

to drive the fastest revolution in technology

that we have ever seen as humans.

And this will bring tremendous wealth,

unprecedented wealth:

16 trillion dollars, according to PwC,

in terms of added GDP to the worldwide GDP by 2030.

It will also bring immense challenges

in terms of potential job replacements.

Whereas in the Industrial Age

it created more jobs

because craftsman jobs were being decomposed into jobs in the assembly line,

so more jobs were created.

But AI completely replaces the individual jobs

in the assembly line with robots.

And it's not just in factories,

but truckers, drivers

and even jobs like telesales, customer service

and hematologists as well as radiologists

over the next 15 years

are going to be gradually replaced

by artificial intelligence.

And only the creative jobs --

(Laughter)

I have to make myself safe, right?

Really, the creative jobs are the ones that are protected,

because AI can optimize but not create.

But what's more serious than the loss of jobs

is the loss of meaning,

because the work ethic in the Industrial Age

has brainwashed us into thinking that work is the reason we exist,

that work defined the meaning of our lives.

And I was a prime and willing victim to that type of workaholic thinking.

I worked incredibly hard.

That's why I almost left my wife in the delivery room,

that's why I worked 996 alongside my entrepreneurs.

And that obsession that I had with work

ended abruptly a few years ago

when I was diagnosed with fourth stage lymphoma.

The PET scan here shows over 20 malignant tumors

jumping out like fireballs,

melting away my ambition.

But more importantly,

it helped me reexamine my life.

Knowing that I may only have a few months to live

caused me to see how foolish it was

for me to base my entire self-worth

on how hard I worked and the accomplishments from hard work.

My priorities were completely out of order.

I neglected my family.

My father had passed away,

and I never had a chance to tell him I loved him.

My mother had dementia and no longer recognized me,

and my children had grown up.

During my chemotherapy,

I read a book by Bronnie Ware

who talked about dying wishes and regrets of the people in the deathbed.

She found that facing death,

nobody regretted that they didn't work hard enough in this life.

They only regretted that they didn't spend enough time with their loved ones

and that they didn't spread their love.

So I am fortunately today in remission.

(Applause)

So I can be back at TED again

to share with you that I have changed my ways.

I now only work 965 --

occasionally 996, but usually 965.

I moved closer to my mother,

my wife usually travels with me,

and when my kids have vacation, if they don't come home, I go to them.

So it's a new form of life

that helped me recognize

how important it is that love is for me,

and facing death helped me change my life,

but it also helped me see a new way

of how AI should impact mankind

and work and coexist with mankind,

that really, AI is taking away a lot of routine jobs,

but routine jobs are not what we're about.

Why we exist is love.

When we hold our newborn baby,

love at first sight,

or when we help someone in need,

humans are uniquely able to give and receive love,

and that's what differentiates us from AI.

Despite what science fiction may portray,

I can responsibly tell you that AI has no love.

When AlphaGo defeated the world champion Ke Jie,

while Ke Jie was crying and loving the game of go,

AlphaGo felt no happiness from winning

and certainly no desire to hug a loved one.

So how do we differentiate ourselves

as humans in the age of AI?

We talked about the axis of creativity,

and certainly that is one possibility,

and now we introduce a new axis

that we can call compassion, love, or empathy.

Those are things that AI cannot do.

So as AI takes away the routine jobs,

I like to think we can, we should and we must create jobs of compassion.

You might ask how many of those there are,

but I would ask you:

Do you not think that we are going to need a lot of social workers

to help us make this transition?

Do you not think we need a lot of compassionate caregivers

to give more medical care to more people?

Do you not think we're going to need 10 times more teachers

to help our children find their way

to survive and thrive in this brave new world?

And with all the newfound wealth,

should we not also make labors of love into careers

and let elderly accompaniment

or homeschooling become careers also?

(Applause)

This graph is surely not perfect,

but it points at four ways that we can work with AI.

AI will come and take away the routine jobs

and in due time, we will be thankful.

AI will become great tools for the creatives

so that scientists, artists, musicians and writers

can be even more creative.

AI will work with humans as analytical tools

that humans can wrap their warmth around

for the high-compassion jobs.

And we can always differentiate ourselves

with the uniquely capable jobs

that are both compassionate and creative,

using and leveraging our irreplaceable brains and hearts.

So there you have it:

a blueprint of coexistence for humans and AI.

AI is serendipity.

It is here to liberate us from routine jobs,

and it is here to remind us what it is that makes us human.

So let us choose to embrace AI and to love one another.

Thank you.

(Applause)