AI Boom 2.0

The market has been through an enormous shake over the past few years. When the first wave of automation swept the technology sector, many companies gave in to the impulse and went for mass layoffs. The first attempt turned out to be ambiguous: it became clear that models cannot yet fully replace human context, flexibility and critical thinking.

A natural correction followed. The labour market rearranged itself, companies started bringing specialists back, but on new terms and with different expectations. It began to feel as if the first rush had passed and a quiet spell had arrived. Is that really what is happening?

It is worth being clear: this is not one more temporary spike in technology, or an amusing hype wave that will soon recede and leave everything as it was. In scale, what is happening is comparable to the arrival of the internet, with one key difference. The current change is moving incomparably faster.

The world has already changed and there is no way back. The point where the system settles into something predictable is far ahead of us. Right now not a single expert on the planet can say with any precision what our reality will look like in a couple of years. We are inside a transformation that has no cancel button.

Fundamental shifts never move in a straight line. Neither business, nor science, nor nature itself stops after the first mistakes.

In the scientific method a mistake is simply a valuable dataset. In business it is a lesson that lets you correct the model. An attempt to optimise through technology will not be abandoned just because the first step was rough. On the contrary, having taken the experience on board, the economy will make its next step, far more considered, far deeper and on a much larger scale.

Behind every breakthrough, and behind this headlong speed, there are specific people: researchers, engineers, the leaders of technology giants and of startups.

They command deep respect not merely for having built complicated mathematical models. Their stature lies in the courage to take on the grand role of architect of an entirely new world.

What rests on the shoulders of these leaders today is an immense responsibility:

• Geopolitical and economic balance. Their decisions change the structure of the global labour market, create new industries and devalue old ones within months.
• Social adaptation. The leaders of the industry themselves speak openly about a hypothetical future with universal basic income, and they are the first to raise the question of how society will function in an age of large scale automation.
• Ethical weight. Standing at the leading edge of change and making decisions under complete uncertainty is a daily challenge.

These people have already changed our world. Which direction the further development of humanity takes now depends in large part on their wisdom and their composure.

Perhaps the main question today is no longer whether the next AI boom will arrive. It is probably already forming. The question is a different one: how much will the world change before we manage to notice that the old one is gone?

What do you think this new world will look like?