3/ Supercharging
Tech for Good
While technological development plays a big role, factors such as culture, politics, and economy also have a significant impact on the development of General Artificial Intelligence (GAI). GAI will transform all industries from agriculture to education, energy, finance, healthcare to retail, sports, transport and travel.
As the world moves from an industrial society based on products, consumption and energy to an information society based on control and communication, it is important to consider the social consequences of this shift. The development and implications of GAI will differ in different regions of the world, due to factors such as talent, government, investments, and the tech adaptation rate. China and the US are currently ahead in the development of GAI in terms of academic research and scientific and technological expertise; China is ahead of the US.
The shift to truly intelligent distributed digital systems requires a new generation of architectural capabilities that are designed creatively and collaboratively. Equity, health, well-being and sustainability are the starting points for these systems. Future technological developments need to be under the condition that no one should be left behind. It is time to bring philosophers, architects, lawmakers, the elderly and children from all parts of the world into the creation, not just entrepreneurs, brands, investors, and developers. If we are creating a new world, let’s build it together.
The concept of AI has been around for decades; Google Search, for instance, has leveraged artificial intelligence and machine learning since 2015 to improve search results. Other examples of AI software used in everyday life are voice assistants, image recognition for face unlock in cell phones, and machine learning-based financial fraud detection.
The rapid adoption of AI in mainstream society is a new development. In December 2022, ChatGPT, developed by Open AI, reached over 1 million users in just one week. AI can have tremendous potential for automation, smarter decision-making, and solving complex issues, it can make companies more efficient and customer-friendly, and production can also become more efficient, more flexible, and more reliable.
Banner image: Pulse by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
“General Artificial Intelligence is a rapidly advancing field that has the potential to drastically change the way we live and work. ”
1/ Digitalization of Life
Transversal Technologies
Digital systems have become interwoven into nearly every aspect of our lives. As the world becomes increasingly reliant on data connectivity, it is important that we focus on building sustainable digital infrastructures that can dynamically allocate resources and evolve over time. By raising awareness of digital sustainability, holding all parties accountable, and fostering cross-domain collaborations, we can ensure that these infrastructures support a better future for all. By combining infotech, automation, electrification and a focus on sustainability, we can create a brighter future for all and enhance democracy.
As we build more generalized systems that learn the underlying principles governing complex problems, we will see AI’s impact cut across traditionally isolated disciplines. Thanks to AI-powered protein-structure prediction, what once took biologists thousands of dollars or years of painstaking research is as effortless as a Google search. Holistic technology connects life, creating connections between all technologies. Transversal technologies are more than the sum of their parts; they go beyond the boundaries of traditional sectors. It connects the world, the local, nature and the digital, humans and digital identities.
We could see a second enlightenment driven by AI systems, a new direction for humanity, an age of reason, science and humanism. Reason and emotion are often supposed to be at odds with each other. Emotional Intelligence is a critical skill in the technology revolution, both AI and robotics; creating the emotion of empathy has been crucial to growing the relationships between humans and robots.
Why this matters
Sustainable, safe and trusted digital infrastructures are needed for digital structures to play an essential role in the future. Through automation and algorithms, AI can link together causes and correlations and transforms the scientific process, automating and adding to what people can accomplish using it. Transversal technology will lead to a new era of the scientific revolution.
A New Era on Earth: Transversal Technologies/ Subbu lyer
The seven technologies that are transversal across the seven stations of life. Read more here
A.I.-generated proteins/ Ian C. Haydon, the University of Washington Institute for Protein Design
Using many of the same techniques that underpin DALL-E and other art generators, scientists are generating blueprints for new proteins. Read more here
Robotic Garment/ Ying Gao
Polymorphic garments that simulate the effects of virtual clothing. The twisting and undulating motions were simulated to perfection by robotics specialist Simon Laroche. See more here
Destination Earth (DestinE)/ The European Union
Digital Twins of the Earth system will contribute to revolutionising the European capability to monitor and predict our changing planet. Read more here
2/ The Age of AI
AI- Human Augmentation
AGI, or Artificial General Intelligence, can be used to create new content, such as music or images, which can be used for a variety of purposes. This can provide creatives with more flexibility and imagination, as well as improve machine learning algorithms by generating new training data. The future implications of AGI are optimistic, as it promises an unprecedented level of human-machine collaboration and interactions.
Just as the steam engine revolutionized muscle power, digital innovation is now enhancing our brain power. AI is being developed to enhance human ability, but it requires a lot of data to map human behaviours and decision-making. As the interaction between humans and AI grows, the refinement of the interfaces will increase. Eventually, we will move beyond interfaces towards seamless connections.
Speech recognition enables computers to “understand” what people are saying, which allows them to process information faster and more accurately. Speech AI is the use of AI for voice-based technologies; at the moment, the datasets are heavily English-centric. New models developed in this area focus specifically on under-represented languages.
By programming our environments, we shape our behaviour and social interactions. This often leads to a loss of serendipity and ambiguity in human interactions as individuals become more standardized. Uncertainty and complexity are what is the essence of being human, which is not so easy to make sense of.
The impact of AI on humanity will redefine what it means to be human, how productivity is measured, and the extent to which individuals can act on free will. AI will change the way we work and what work is through increased automation, personalization, new forms of content creation, enhanced decision-making, intelligent assistance and smart environments. The effectiveness of data is dependent on the level of human intelligence and reasoning used to pose relevant questions and tackle the most pressing issues facing the world.
Why this matters
Generative AI platforms have the potential to support and enhance our daily lives in ways we can’t even imagine yet.
AI-Generated Fashion Campaign/ Newfacet
Stable Diffusion, an open-source text-to-image application powered by artificial intelligence, creates images through descriptive prompts. The program can be an asset for fashion designers to quickly and easily try out and visualize different looks and styles. See more here
Ebo Pro/ Enabot
Ebo Pro is a tiny robot that is a full house mobile monitoring robot. It can recognize the faces of people, cats, and dogs and follow the selected subject for intelligent interaction. See more here
Growth of Artificial Intelligence Market/ Grand View Research, Inc.
The global artificial intelligence market is expected to reach USD 35,870.0 million by 2025 from its direct revenue sources. The two major factors enabling market growth are emerging AI technologies and growth in big data espousal. Read more here
The Meta City Hall/ the CAA LAB
A metaverse city of a digital imaginary world. The city hall building as a whole is a vigorously growing “tree of life” respecting human nature. See more here
3/ Algorithm Regulation
Digital Rights
As social media companies come under increasing pressure to prioritize users’ data privacy and safety, we see the emergence of new platforms that do not rely on surveillance capitalism and targeted advertising. These platforms focus on civic and social innovation, as well as tools to combat disinformation. The future of social media is one where regulation holds companies accountable that prioritizes the needs and rights of users.
We are algorithms; the human brain operates through complex neural networks that have inspired developments in machine-learning algorithms. Human capacities like critical thinking, empathy, creativity and understanding are needed for building a more humane future. People are not data but emotions and circumstances.
China has become a laboratory for the latest technological developments but also regulations. The revised regulations give citizens more protection against corporations. However, they also result in a loss of privacy and increased government control. These updated algorithm guidelines signify a shift in Chinese technology laws that surpass those in Europe, with only California having comparable rules in the United States.
Transparency and user-controlled systems are going to be crucial features if we’re to trust autonomous systems being further embedded in our lives. While we cannot stop technological development, we can direct its course according to our most fundamental values. This means an urgency for implementing a proactive and anticipatory regulatory framework and making significant changes to our political economy and data governance to ensure that AI does not create greater economic inequalities and aids humanity in general. It would be best that new AI advances would be intensively tested on their contribution to humanity before they become available.
Why this matters
In a shift to a new world, it is time to reflect on the system, if it serves us and if it creates progress.
The Next 100 Years of Gucci/ Gucci & Superrare
Gucci’s first online exhibit and auction in the Metaverse. The exhibition shows a range of visual artists displaying NFT artworks that encapsulate a telescopic vision of the House. See more here
Mapping Twitter Topic Networks From Polarized Crowds to Community Clusters
Researchers showed in a study how the political debate on Twitter boils down to “two separate, polarized crowds”, “two distinct discussion groups that mostly do not interact with each other”. They are “recognizably liberal or conservative groups”. Read more here
The Feminine Urge/ Max Oosterholt
The project investigates TikTok’s role in the dissemination of conventional beauty standards, especially the feminine beauty ideal.. See more here
4/ Alternate Identities
Redefining the Self
Throughout our entire history as homo sapiens, virtuality has been present and has expanded over the centuries and millennia. As gaming becomes more immersive and realistic, and as community and interaction become more important, users are increasingly looking for ways to feel connected to each other within a game. AI can build those connections, deepen engagement, make in-game dialogue feel more human and generate new content and interactive stories.
The limits between the virtual and physical will become increasingly confusing for the user. Immersive mirror-world environments lead to multiple selves that can be used for endless creativity but also put people further out of touch with their true selves. The virtual can increase connection but also lead to a further breakdown of social cohesion as it offers an easy alternative to the hard task of learning to live with each other. It can enhance the effect of isolation from the real world and lead to more loneliness.
As AI becomes more advanced, humans may start to feel less smart by comparison, lose authority and control. If AI works reliably and predictably, we will trust AI the way we trust humans. The next stage in AI is to integrate human psychology to better understand and interpret human emotions, thoughts and expressions. This creates a closer bond between humans and AI, as the technology can communicate and interact with humans more effectively. AI will be better able to anticipate and respond to human needs and emotions. This will lead to more natural and intuitive interactions between humans and AI.
Why this matters
Symbiosis technology will merge the physical and digital worlds, both enhancing and changing our experiences and capabilities in both realms.
The Human Cell Atlas
The Human Cell Atlas Project is a project that aims to create a broad map of all human cells through single-cell data analysis. With the use of technologies such as single-cell genomics, the ambitious goal is cataloguing all the cell types. A complete Human Cell Atlas would give us a unique ID card for each cell type. See more here
Concert From Bangladesh/ Shezad Dawood
A mixed reality music concert taking audiences on an audio-visual journey through the history of Bangladesh. See more here
Characteristics of AI, human, and both / Monica Huang
Thoughts on the poetic language between humans and artificial intelligence. How do humans consult AI for the human to human social interaction? How can AI assist and practice with a human on their social skills; to provoke, play, and adjust human emotions. Read more here
Further reading
Escape from Model Land/ Elke Mertens
Mathematical models are at the centre of everything we do. We need to properly understand how models are constructed – and how some of the assumptions that underlie the models we use can have significant unintended consequences.
The Equality Machine/ Orly Lobel
While we cannot stop technological development, we can direct its course according to our most fundamental values. Digital technology frequently has a comparative advantage over humans in detecting discrimination, correcting historical exclusions, subverting long-standing stereotypes, and addressing the world’s thorniest problems: climate, poverty, injustice, literacy, accessibility, speech, health, and safety.
Klara and the Sun/ Kazuo Ishiguro
Klara is an artificial friend, from her place in the store, Klara watches carefully the behaviour of those who come in to browse and of those who pass on the street outside.
A human Algorithm/ Flynn Coleman
Intelligent machines, while challenging our personal beliefs and our socioeconomic world order, also have the potential to transform our health and well–being, alleviate poverty and suffering, and reveal the mysteries of intelligence and consciousness. It is critical that we instill values, ethics, and morals into our robots, algorithms, and other forms of AI.