Expect major transformations in the next two decades or so
Soumitra Dutta Oxford Dean (Former) is the author of books like Knowledge Processing and Applied Artificial Intelligence, which is why his views on this buzzing topic are always a delight to the ears. While others are certain that AI is here to take over humans in some or the other way, in Soumitra’s view, the future for humans is unpredictable. “It’s very exciting and worrying at the same time. But in the next 20 years, there will be a major transformation. But we need to ask: are we creating a better future?” Soumitra questions.
For someone who has spent several years in the field of education management, Dutta is sure that AI as a disruptive technology will not spare any sector. Talking about business schools, he says, “Business schools are going to have to be creative, have bold experiments and think how best we can prepare students and what we are preparing them for. What will their work look like...It’s very exciting and worrying at the same time.”
One widely used example metaphor for technology growth and one which Soumitra Dutta frequently uses is the hockey stick curve․ Imagine a hockey stick lying on the ground․ It runs pretty flat almost all the way to the end; then it turns upward sharply․
Progress takes years, if not decades, with many rounds of experimentation․ Engineers must make small adjustments․ Companies produce early versions that are clunky, inefficient or limited․ Outside the field, progress appears to be moving at a crawl, and people lose interest․ Some even consider it overhyped․
And then something shifts․
Computing power rises, data flows, and infrastructure catches up․ What had looked like a slow crawl suddenly started to pick up․ The curve really started to go up-it's the bend in the hockey stick․ Adoption accelerates․ New applications sprouting everywhere․ Companies scramble to catch up․
AI is a perfect example of this since scientists have been working on this since the mid twentieth century․ Machine learning, cloud computing and enormous volumes of data have brought the technology to a new level, and what not long ago was mostly research laboratory fare now powers recommendation engines and digital assistants, as well as image generation and virtual customer support and more.
