The Future, Redux
Los Angeles, November 2019 is the setting for the 1982 film Blade Runner, based on Philip K. Dick’s Sci-Fi novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and online forums are buzzing with comparing the past’s future to now.
The air is heavily polluted and constant rain suggests climate change has taken hold. Replicants, bioengineered humanoids, are enslaved labor for off-world colonies advertised by giant digital billboards as paradises to escape the less than habitable conditions of life on earth. Flying cars, spinners, dodge each other in the smoky neon-filled skies of Los Angeles.
While online commentaries deliberate the accuracy of the film’s predictions of our technologically driven future, ironically, they all agree on the film’s own pre-CGI technological feats and visual effects.
What fascinated us about the film back in the 80s and continues to resonate decades later is how we grapple with our ethical relation to Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Blade Runner is a dystopian film. But not because it imagined flying cars and sentient machines. It’s dystopian because unchecked greed gave rise to technologies that devastated the environment and turned humanity into an overpopulated herd of conspicuous consumers.
Our non-fictional future doesn’t have to be dystopian. Actually, technology and AI in particular, can be powerful catalysts to a utopian future instead.
Last month at Mobile World Congress Los Angeles, I spoke about “Progressive Leadership in the Digital Age.” I explored how to be a leader in today’s complex world and to survive and thrive in these challenging times. Throughout, I stressed the need to accept the new responsibilities that come with digital transformation of our lives.
Being a progressive leader in the digital age means recognizing we no longer live in a transactional model — we live in an ecosystem of stakeholders. We have to be mindful of the consequences of our decisions and recognize the impact of our choices across that ecosystem. We can’t be one-dimensional. In addition to profitability, we need to own the betterment of people and our planet as well. Check out the list of CEOs who agree and signed the Business Roundtable’s updated Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation, which moves from a focus on shareholders alone to what benefits all stakeholders.
The intoxicating power of AI has lead digital leaders to use automation purely as a way to save money — faster, more efficient productivity that leads to the elimination of jobs. The allure of cutting costs frequently fuels a short-sighted system of rewarding investors at the expense of others. We are thus facing the dilemma of enormous wealth concentrated in relatively few hands while simultaneously displacing jobs.
That doesn’t have to be.
Some companies like PwC are taking a more sustainable view. They’re investing savings from automation to upskill their workforce for higher level work, to allocate more funds to R&D, and to opt for capital investments that actually create new jobs and happier employees who will participate in the companies’ growth and can afford to be loyal customers.
Additionally, today’s employees and customers are acutely aware of and concerned about the condition of our planet — climate-related disasters, mass extinction of species, rapid spread of disease, hunger, poverty, and dwindling access to clean water. And they are demanding that business leaders participate in reversing damages to our planet and its inhabitants and actively participate in its healing.
Fortunately, such efforts are already on the horizon. Last year’s report on Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for the Earth maps out our most challenging environmental issues and suggests how AI can be mobilized for specific actions. From modeling and predictive tools to real-time disaster risk mapping and response coordination, there are many examples of how AI can be used to help with disaster relief and developing resilient urban infrastructure and buildings.
The report details many other examples of how our technological efforts can be directed toward building a better world. You should take a look!
The point is that technology didn’t drop from the sky into our laps to transform our lives — for good or bad. The trajectory of technological progress is not preordained destiny. It depends on the choices we make about which technologies get researched, how they are used and commercialized, and the impact they make on all stakeholders.
Personally, as an engineer, I’ve had a history of leading innovation initiatives that basically get machines to do as much work as possible, captivated by the lure of increasing productivity and solving problems too difficult for humans to tackle. Who knew my good intentions could be considered one-dimensional and myopic. In re-examining my role as a leader/contributor, I’ve shifted my focus to technological innovations that increase the happiness and employability of workers, and help create diverse and inclusive communities that thrive in a sustainable manner. I’m supported by a CEO with similar values and colleagues who are committed to the same goals.
It’s November 2019. The past’s future is here and fortunately, I see a very different LA than what was depicted in Blade Runner. I’m energized by the call to action to create an even better future by making ethical choices about our present.
Full Stack Technical Product Professional
5yGreat article. The potential of what AI, Machine Learning, and Natural Language Processing can already do is beyond impressive. And it will only pick up speed as we've entered into an era where code can learn on its own now. At the same time, it seems to me that most companies aren't even beginning to scratch the surface of what's possible, let alone envision the possibilities ahead. As a software engineer, it's an amazing time to be working because all of this raw power is exposed via simple-to-access APIs. Yet as you point out, it takes leadership at all levels to know how to focus, prioritize, and to execute according to a positive vision.