Sophia the Robot on stage talking about destroying the human race. ;)
Totally kidding.
For those of you not in the know, Sophia is a robot created by Hanson Robotics. She has taken the world by storm with her life-like attributes and conversational wizardry. She's also the first robot to gain citizenship in a country. There is a lot of fear-based dialogue surrounding A.I, ethics, regulation, and it's role in our world.
Will robots and humans be able to live alongside each other peacefully? Will they follow Asimov's 3 Laws of Robotics? Or will they be the end of the entire human race as we know it?
I'm still on the fence about it. I see the freedom that A.I could provide us by having them supplant menial tasks/chores. That would allow humans more time to pursue creative, entrepreneurial endeavors, but I'm not sure machines of this sophistication will be content living a life of monotonous deeds. There is not to say A.I has to be relegated to such a level. Finance institutions are already embracing the technology and using it to their advantage. In 2000, Goldman Sachs had over 600 traders on payroll. Now there are only 2 traders left. Goldman Sachs has traded in human productivity for machine productivity and have realized that 4 traders is the equivalent of 1 computer engineer. This goes down the rabbit hole of a plethora of jobs being displaced by A.I.
There are many different directions the A.I conversation can go, but it is without a doubt an important conversation to have. I am excited and also a little anxious to see how the future will unfold. It's exciting times we live in. :)