The Sense and Nonsense of the Coming AI Revolution

Incomplete Inflection

Literature December 17, 2018 Like

Book reviewed

Shaping the Future of the Fourth Industrial Revolution by Klaus Schwab and Nicholas Davis
Crown Currency 2018
ISBN 978-1-9848-2261-1
288 pp

Alas, literature it is not. Shaping the Future of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is, at times, an awkward read held together by the vacuous phraseology much in vogue with upper-management types. After all, what is ‘linear thinking’ and why should it be avoided? Conversely, why must leaders learn how to navigate ‘exponentially disruptive change’, and will they know how to identify such a dreadful phenomenon?

However, and thankfully, this is a rather slim volume running just 288 pages. It is also a rather important tome and packs quite a punch, albeit probably not in the way intended. In a nutshell, the message is: society better be prepared to deal with smart machines, powered by artificial intelligence and other marvels of technology.

This is not just about a benign internet-of-things that allows shoppers to entrust their requirements and desires to Alexa. This is about Alexa and her kin taking over life itself – giving orders instead of taking them.

Dehumanising Dystopia

Scary stuff, and to the author’s credit he readily admits that the Fourth Industrial Revolution may well create a ‘dehumanising dystopia’. The book, then, becomes a plea to use disruptive advances in technology wisely, or: Know Your Enemy.

The rallying cry, of sorts, is broadcasted by none other than Professor Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairperson of the World Economic Forum (WEF). Thus, he may instantly be forgiven his tendency to deploy corporate newspeak to convey an otherwise interesting message. Taking out, or translating into normal English, cringeworthy terms such as ‘developtory sandboxes’, ‘problematise’, and countless ‘inflection points’, the reader is left with the warning that dots need to be connected urgently in order for the coming revolution to serve the needs of humanity.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Prof Schwab argues, is HAL 9000 on steroids. Well, the professor does not actually mention the manipulative computer from 2001 A Space Odyssey, reduced to pleading for its life as the plug is being pulled; but he probably should have in order to provide some perspective and liven up the pages. Then again, Prof Schwab’s second book on the Fourth Industrial Revolution needs to be taken seriously and must not elicit any smiles.

The author wishes to equip his readers with the knowledge needed to help determine the ultimate trajectory of the revolution. He also attempts to dispel numerous myths surrounding the progress of technology and the disruption it causes. Prof Schwab sets out a case for leveraging the power of big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and all the other advances to tackle pressing global issues and build a more inclusive and sustainable future. Fair enough, but it is at this (inflection) point that Prof Schwab risks losing the plot.

Woke Avant-la-Lettre

Prof Schwab is political correctness personified – a true gentleman first and foremost – and that limits his ability to call things as they are – hence the use of corporate newspeak. He also struggles to connect with the man/woman on the street who may be proverbial but actually exists, has concerns, harbours anger, and may not be dismissed as an ignoramus for he/she will drive change – see Brexit.

Most voters do not care all that much about additive manufacturing, quantum computing, or geo-engineering – even if these and countless other technologies will change their lives. People, however, do care about the near-absurd inequality that characterises today’s world, the steady deterioration of their spending power, the invasive might of Big Tech, and the apparent disconnect between politics and society.

The advances that power, almost in unison, the Fourth Industrial Revolution are all about technology – but man shall not live by technology alone, to take a cue from Deuteronomy. Prof Schwab is clearly ill at ease when social and political forces intrude and threaten to upset his carefully formulated equation. For example, there is no mention of China’s deployment of technology to create the perfect digital dictatorship.

Perhaps, Prof Schwab should talk with the Israeli historian and best-selling author Yuval Noah Harari – why not invite him to Davos? – and discuss the future of human agency. Mr Harari asks the really interesting questions and would like to know if frail, irrational, and fault-prone humans will eventually be rendered superfluous or even reduced to an economic and political liability that stands in the way of progress and must be side tracked. After all, why would a really smart and intelligent robot with instant access to all the world’s data tolerate a rather ignorant, obtuse, argumentative, and supremely illogical mammal?

Disconcerting Ambiguity

Whilst Prof Schwab boldly asserts the primacy of the individual, he introduces – in the very next sentence – a disconcerting ambiguity by concluding that, ‘individuals are, ultimately, the people who will live in the future that technologies help create’.

This statement, not quite as innocent as it looks, neatly sums up why the World Economic Forum Prof Schwab created desperately needs less suits and more turtlenecks: it says virtually nothing but leaves the impression that humanity’s future is to be shaped by technology which will then determine how individuals should live. The WEF needs a serious infusion of philosophers – classicists who actually think about life and are not confined to an intellectual box delineated by convention, diplomacy, and/or political expediency.

To find out what the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with all that it entails, actually means for humans, we need to ask philosophers to place things in their perspective, reach out to antiquity and lessons learned over millennia, and slowly stake out a path towards a desirable future with all the caveats in place – all-caps, underlined, and in bold.

Prof Schwab is, of course, no philosopher; he is an economist and an engineer. As such, Prof Schwab proposes valuable and eminently sensible technical and rational solutions to any given problem – be that climate change, sustainability, governance, or technological progress. Creativity is, however, missing from this picture. Prof Schwab’s book, whilst interesting and touching on a crucially important topic, should have been written by someone grounded in the humanities, for life is not about nuts and bold (or digits); it is about human emotions.

Cover photo: WEF Chairperson Klaus Schwab makes a point.