A few years before OpenAI’s ChatGPT showed the world what generative AI technology could do, venture capitalist Kai-Fu Lee saw the disruptive potential of artificial intelligence in the labor market.
Sinovation Ventures’ chairman and CEO predicted in 2017 that artificial intelligence would be larger than all of humanity’s previous technological revolutions combined, including electricity and the Internet, adding that artificial intelligence’s capabilities far exceed those of humans.
“These are superhuman things that we think will appear in every industry, potentially replace 50% of human jobs, create huge wealth for humanity and eliminate poverty,” Lee told CNBC at the time, later predicting that this would happen in the next 10 years. occurs within.
Fast forward to seven years ago, in March this year, he spoke with wealth Editor-in-chief Alison Shortell.
With just three years to go, she asked him if his prediction still held true, and he responded: “It’s actually pretty accurate. People criticized me for being too aggressive in 2017, 2018, 2019, and I was a little nervous at the time. But when artificial intelligence came out, I think everyone jumped on the bandwagon and believed it was the right pace.
Lee added that artificial intelligence could eliminate white-collar jobs faster than blue-collar jobs, describing it as a very important problem that some countries have begun to realize needs to be addressed.
When asked what parents should tell their children about their future careers, he said the first thing people should do is “stop this nonsense about kids using ChatGPT to cheat.”
He believes that chatbots, which can provide answers to queries on a range of topics in natural language, are another tool, like Microsoft Word or Abode Photoshop.
Lee continued that as children grow up, enter the workforce and have their performance evaluated, bosses will focus on the end result of their work, not whether they used ChatGPT or Google search.
“We need to encourage people to leverage artificial intelligence and use all the tools so they can do their best work,” he said. “Also, it’s a good guide as to what things are worth pursuing and what things are not worth following.”
To be sure, Lee still believes there’s something unique about our humanity, saying people have souls while machines never do. “We have compassion and empathy. We have emotions and the ability to love. We have the ability to connect with other people, build trust and earn trust.
In fact, he explains, more important than any technical or business skills is the ability to earn the trust of others, which comes from sincerity, teamwork, sharing and high emotional intelligence.
“Do I think artificial intelligence can fake it? Yes. Do I think people will accept fake artificial intelligence for at least the next 50 years? No.
