Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence, has two daughters. One is a fashion designer. The other is a photographer. Instead of following their father into computer science, they followed their heart, passion and skills. Lee encouraged them to do what they love because his work in making a machine more like a human has given him a unique glimpse into what separates humans from machines.
In his new book, AI Superpowers, Dr. Lee examines the race between China and Silicon Valley for the lead in artificial intelligence. I’ll leave it other columnists to dig deeper into the battle of two global superpowers. I chose to spend my conversation with Lee on the other half of his book where he explains how we can all thrive in the age of artificial intelligence.
First, the bad news. Artificial intelligence will take over human jobs. A lot of them. According to Lee, in the next fifteen years, artificial intelligence will be able to “technically” replace 40 to 50% of all jobs in the United States. Lee makes an important caveat: just because AI can replace half of all jobs, doesn’t mean it will. However, “the disruption to job markets will be very real, very large, and coming soon,” Lee writes.
Now, the good news. And there’s plenty of it. First, there will be no robot apocalypse. Lee says we should keep that notion where it belongs—in science fiction movies. Despite all the advances in machine learning, Lee says we are “nowhere near” creating machines that have any emotion—at all. And that’s why AI has its limits.
A computer isn’t proud and jubilant when it beats a human chess or Go champion. It has no capacity to feel love, excitement, compassion, or to dream of doing something other than what it was programmed to do. It has no imagination. It cannot motivate, inspire, or instill a desire to serve others. “It in in this uniquely human potential for growth, compassion, and love where I see hope,” says Lee.
AI Superpowers by Dr. Kai-Fu Lee
The cancer scare that changed Lee’s outlook. In our conversation, Lee told me about a personal health crisis that changed the way he thought about how AI and humans will co-exist. In 2013, Lee was diagnosed with stage IV lymphoma. After treatment, Lee’s cancer went into remission.
As one of the top AI researchers in the world and a venture-capital investor, Lee was a workaholic, leaving little time for family or friends. He was obsessed with building more and more powerful AI algorithms. After his cancer scare, he completely reshuffled his priorities, spending less time on social media, more time with his family, and pursuing the projects he deeply cared about. He spends more time mentoring young Chinese professionals, in addition to running one of China’s most prestigious venture capital firms, Sinovation Ventures. His cancer diagnosis also gave him a fresh perspective on the technology he had pioneered.
Dr. Lee realized that AI will not undercut our value as long as we double-down on what makes us truly human. “AI can handle a growing number of non-personal, non-creative, routine tasks,” Lee told me. But Lee says the skills that make us uniquely human are ones that no machine can replicate. The jobs of the future, says Lee, will require creative, compassionate, and empathetic leaders who know how to create trust, build teams, inspire service, and communicate effectively.