AI#03: How will AI impact society and our lives in the next decade?
I spent numerous hours reading articles and books and listening to podcasts about the future of AI. In this article, I elaborate on how AI may change several areas of our lives.
This is the third article in my AI series (see parts one and two). Over the last few months, I spent numerous hours reading articles and books and listening to podcasts. There is a consensus that the AI revolution will change our world forever. Yet, many experts disagree on what our future with AI will look like: doom, gloom, or a bit of both.
Bringing memes
To make this article fun, I inserted memes created with Meme Creator, a ChatGPT plugin. Here’s the prompt I used in ChatGPT-4 :
Create a meme for [article] where article = [ <paste article content>]
For headings, I used the following prompt:
Create a meme for heading “<paste heading>“
All images were created in a few minutes, a testament to the power of AI.
“C’est pas mal”
My wife and kids like to make fun of me when I say “c’est pas mal.”. This French expression means “It’s not bad”. When an English speaker says “amazing” or “it’s awesome”, the French like to say “it’s not bad”. To French people, “c’est pas mal” conveys a positive message. Another one is “Il ne pleut pas”, which means “it does not rain”. It is a common way to describe good weather. I know we need to fix the French language, but that’s for another day.
After living in several countries, I see clearly how our personal backgrounds and cultural biases influence the way we think. My predictions are neither optimistic nor pessimistic, at least I hope, and are the result of an on-going reflection.
Why did I choose to write about the future of AI? Because it forces us to think deeper about the practical implications of AI in our daily lives. By no means am I pretending to know the future, and neither should you take those predictions at face value. This article is a personal exploration of possible outcomes, good or bad, that will hopefully help you think about how AI might impact your life in the future.
AI in Personal and Family Life
The use of AI personal assistant becomes ubiquitous; voice prompts is the norm
No more apps on our phone, tablet or desktop; our AI personal assistant becomes the central operating system that connects us with the outside world
The family movie night is replaced with hyper-personalized entertainment content
Kids grow up with AI buddies embedded in toys until one day they receive a personal AI assistant for Christmas
Kids with AI assistants at a young age develop an over-reliance that limits their social interactions with family members and friends
Parents rent AI-based personal tutors to offer their kids the best possible education; the AI tutoring market flourishes and dethrones private schools
We see the rise of productivity assistants in every corner of our life: menu planning, personal finance, health, love, food and groceries shopping, etc
Teenagers and adults turn to AI companions to find friendships and virtual relationships
The elderly have access to new AI assistance services for self-care and day-to-day tasks
“After life” AI help individuals mourn their loss by impersonating the person they lost
We rely 100% on AI personal assistant for buying products or services; in this new world, AI agents talk to each other and orchestrate the full process, from item selection, ordering, delivery, and support
It becomes nearly impossible to detect human and bots on social media and in life
Next generation houses come with a Home Assistant; this AI acts as a control center for water, gas, electricity, lightning, heating and cooling, etc
All home services are metered by providers, e.g. gas, electricity, water, and prone to real-time consumption adjustment to comply with local regulations in local areas, e.g. no plant watering diring droughts
AI in Education and Learning
Universities and schools are slow to adopt AI; they eventually develop their own AI system (teacher assistant, school tutoring) with numerous “safeguards” to ensure the official curriculum is being taught with the uttermost equality and equity
The average level of graduates keeps decreasing because of reduced critical thinking skills such as reasoning, researching, writing, and problem resolving
New AI-led online courses compete with traditional universities; they offer virtual tutors and personalized learning adapted to the needs of the child.
Students learning in the mainstream education system keep piling on debt
We see a stark increase in student debt because of job displacement in many sectors. White collar jobs are the most at risk
AI accelerates the pace of transformation from decades to years; jobs that paid well and looked attractive in high school disappear by graduation time four years later
Yet, AI offers everyone instant, affordable, and personalized access to high quality education
AI in Employment and Work
White collar workers are the most affected by the AI revolution, especially those with knowledge and skills easily replaced by AI
The professions most at risk include: low-skilled consultants, niche services (e.g. resume writers, freelance designers), writers, designers, accountants, support functions (legal, HR, finance, accounting, etc), sales people, marketers
The first “job replacement” wave takes place in the next three to five years and impacts 30% to 60% of jobs in those sectors
Large corporations adopt AI in every function leading to substantial reduction of well paid corporate jobs
Manufacturers invest in AI-robotics to reinvent their process and supply chain
Low-cost AI-robots disrupt job markets in sectors like warehousing; 60% to 80% of those middle-class jobs disappear
The next generation worker is AI-trained and AI-enabled in every function of his job; this means higher productivity with less people
This creates a shift in the job market as companies redesign their operations with AI and rely on fewer key strategic AI-led functions (high paying jobs)
Blue-collar jobs (plumber, electrician, butcher, baker) surge in popularity because they pay a middle class income level
Skilled trades trainings and certifications become popular again leading to a new middle-class characterized by low-debt and high earning power
A new generation of small businesses and entrepreneurs use AI to create new businesses and better compete.
AI in Personal Health and Healthcare
Consumer health is transformed with the rise of personal health assistants that capture real-time biological data and monitor our health 24/7
Access to our personal health data becomes a battlefield for insurances and healthcare providers; do they get our data through incentives or submission?
The AI of insurance and healthcare providers can assess in real-time each individual’s risk profile with an amazing accuracy; this drives dynamic pricing (monthly adjustment) based on your (lack of) health
AI disrupts healthcare innovation in gene editing and gene therapy, drastically reducing the cost and time it takes to test new genome sequences and launch new drugs
There is a tripling of FDA approved drugs thanks to AI-supported innovation
If Nvidia is the big beneficiary of AI revolution, the top healthcare companies grow tremendously and generate profits never seen before
Despite the abundance of new drugs to treat people, an increasing number of people get treated for the four common diseases: metabolic dysfunctions, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases
Medicine 3.0, a.k.a. preventive medicine becomes a reality with MedTech disruptors with Health Assistants that focus on healthier lifestyle through prevention and long-term healthy habits
AI in Finance and Economics
Professional traders and financial institutions leverage a new generation of investment and trading tools on AI steroids.
Retail investors get the cheap equivalent of these tools and are left at a disadvantage
Large institutions such as Fidelity, Vanguard, and Schwab move away from 60/40 stock to bond portfolio and offer “hyper-personalized” investment portfolio to retail investors; all it takes is a few clicks to set your investment style and preferences
All players taut their AI-driven investment style to institutional and individual investors
Financial institutions and insurance use AI to automate the entire loan and insurance applications, minimize credit risk, and optimize profit
A new generation of AI apps and services are sold on dynamic pay-per-use model for those who want full privacy
Price sensitive consumers can opt for a cheaper or free alternative by giving away their AI personal data profile
AI and Privacy and Security
Developed countries observe a substantial rise of sophisticated spammer attacks
Attackers leverage AI to create deep fake (voice, video, avatars) at low-cost
Sophisticated attacks can be executed by a single person with AI agents in charge of planning, identifying targets, and executing the attacks
Privacy is not more just about the data, it is about protecting what defines who we are, information captured by personal AI assistants
Deep fakes become the norm across all news and social media channels
Deep fake detection tools arise catching most common threats; as those AI tools improve, so do the deep fakes
Identity and tracking methods appear to differentiate humans from machines (blockchain?)
AI in Media, Arts, and Politics
The volume of news and content auto-generated by AI bots explodes
Original content and art creators are few and in high-demand
All major news site have their own AI content generators; the content editor tells the AI what is the news of the day
Movies and TV shows are created without actors; only the top actors can lend their brand and receive royalties
New government regulations appear to protect citizens and defend liberty of speech, including strict regulations on how an AI has to behave in a specific scenario
Conclusion
The potential of AI in our lives and at work seems limitless, with winners and losers along the way. ChatGPT took us by storm and introduced a frenetic pace of innovation in Silicon Valley and other parts of the world. In my next article, I will discuss how AI may transform the software industry.
I hope we make some strides in the AI/voice assistant space. Maybe then Alexa will catch on to my 8 year old asking it, "What is another name for a female dog?" and then giggling up a storm after she gets the response.