Artificial Intelligence is a major technological achievement today. However, whether it will be beneficial or destructive is still debatable.
At the recent 2018 Artificial Intelligence Conference held in San Francisco, Kai-Fu Lee, a former Microsoft and Google executive, said that AI will widen the gap between the rich and the poor. According to him, the rapid pace at which AI is developing will pose a threat to the jobs of those working at lower levels.
Kai-Fu Lee is an active investor and has chaired the business operations of Google and Microsoft. He also worked at Apple for a long time. Lee is an expert on artificial intelligence and has published a book titled “AI Superpowers, China, Silicon Valley and The New World Order,” discussing the pros and cons of AI.
He predicted the future by saying that advances in artificial intelligence require money, data and research, which only a few companies can afford at the moment. His comments are in line with the words of Meredith Whittaker, an AI expert. Meredith said that there are only 7 companies in the world that can develop AI on a large scale.
Lee stressed that it is the monopoly of the big tech industry "players" in the field of AI that will lead to job losses for the poor and companies will save a lot of money by not using human resources, according to The Business Insider.
The conference was held to celebrate AI and promote the changes it can bring to people's lives. Of course, Lee's comments pointed out the disadvantages of artificial intelligence, and the audience did not seem to be enthusiastic about this development. Tim O'Reilly, who is the owner of O'Reilly Media, the company that organized the conference, opposed Lee and said that he believes that the technology will help the poor.
Following Lee's comments, the audience attending the conference asked him about possible solutions to avoid the problem.
His response was: “A lot of us would hate to see something like that, but Bill Gates talked about a robot tax. I think what he meant is a very high tax on very profitable companies. Some people talk about a universal basic income. I really think it’s a very wrong idea, but it’s a very good start.”
