Blockchain/AI/IoT | December 13, 2017

Keeping track of artificial intelligence

ImpactAlpha
The team at

ImpactAlpha

Even experts can’t agree on what the future of artificial intelligence holds.

Will it liberate or destroy us? In an effort to ground this speculative discussion in real data, Stanford University’s One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence has developed an AI Index to track, distill and visualize what is known about AI.

Among the indicators: attendance at AI conferences, investments in AI startups and AI milestones such as wins at checkers, chess, Jeopardy!, Go, poker, Pac-man and other games (sorry, AI is already better than humans in all of these).

Worth watching: how the project incorporates data about diversity and inclusion among those shaping AI; the societal impact of AI on healthcare, automotive, finance, education and more; and the potential ethical and fairness considerations associated with the widespread use of AI.

The project says it will incorporate all of those measures. As ImpactAlpha reported last week, a McKinsey study found that AI could eliminate as many as 800 million jobs globally by 2030.

By then, one AI chore will surely be to keep the AI Index updated. The full report is worth a read.