Global Futurist to Deliver Keynote on the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Large-Scale Industry Transformation

Global Futurist to Deliver Keynote on the Impact of
Artificial Intelligence on Large-Scale Industry Transformation

SINGAPORE – Rohit Talwar,
Futurist and CEO of Fast Future Research,
will deliver this year’s CommunicAsia2017 Summit Visionary Address titled “Artificial
Intelligence vs. Genuine Stupidity – Navigating Exponential Technologies to
Create a Very Human Future”, on 24 May at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.

“AI coupled with the other
rapidly accelerating fields of science and technology will drive large-scale
change and transformation of existing businesses and industries while also
enabling the creation of entirely new sectors”, says Talwar.

He also predicts that the pace
of development and potential of AI means that it is perhaps the most important
area of decision making that business leaders will face over the next few
years, and the effective implementation of AI will be a crucial differentiator
between success and failure of firms in a fast-changing world.

Artificial intelligence coupled
with other key science and technology developments will help transform the
US$78 trillion global economy1. Fast Future estimates that by 2025, the economy
could grow to US$120 Trillion – with over half coming from AI-enabled
industries that either do not exist today or are in their infancy, such as
autonomous vehicles, self-replicating machines, and adaptive, personal health
management systems.

1
An economy for the 1%, Oxfam

“The core challenge is to help
organisations embrace and adapt to accelerating change and prepare for a world
that we can’t yet see but is just around the corner,” adds Talwar. “We will see
AI being used for product design, pricing decisions, marketing strategies,
training and recruitment. We are already witnessing the emergence of entirely
automated ‘employee-less’ AI-based decentralised autonomous organisations
(DAOs).”

Offering a preview to the highly-anticipated
session, Talwar explores the key questions CEOs should be asking as they assess
and invest in AI’s transformative potential:

1. What’s the fuss about?

and robotics. As a result, AI
is beginning to fulfil its true potential of transforming businesses and even
replacing senior management and leadership roles. CEOs have to make sure they
are investing the time and attention to understand what AI is, why so much is
being invested, and where the opportunities are.

2. What is its potential?

The place to start is to
undertake internal analysis of where it could be deployed and what competitors
are doing. Medium to large enterprises in particular are bringing in AI experts
and creative future thinkers to take a broader perspective of the potential
roles AI could play, from smarter production management, to customer targeting
and broad-based decision making.

3. Who should lead?

The temptation is to see this
as just another IT project and hand responsibility to the CIO (Chief
Information Officer. However, some see it having a much broader role and are
making it the responsibility of the CEO, COO or business transformation head to
drive the identification, piloting and application of AI solutions across all
aspects of the business.

4. What would success look
like?

With AI, there are likely to be
unsuccessful experiments – up to 90 per cent might go under as promising ideas
fail to yield viable solutions. The mantra should be to “fail fast and
cheap” – bringing in suppliers, customers and other value chain partners
early on to see if there is commercial merit in an idea. There can be as much
learning from a failed project as a successful one.

5. How do we address social
impact?

There is a growing concern that
if every firm replaces a large part of its human workforce with smart software
and robots, unemployment levels could rise on a permanent basis. Estimates vary
from 30 to 80 per cent of all current jobs that could be automated out of
existence in the next five to 20 years. As a CEO, how should we address this
and the potential criticism that we are creating a two-tier society? Should we
support the idea of a guaranteed basic income for all, as is being explored by
Canada, Finland and the Netherlands?

An award winning global
futurist, entrepreneur and specialist advisor on business transformation,
disruptive strategies and radical innovation, Talwar’s interests include the
evolving role of technology in business and society, emerging markets, the
future of education, sustainability and embedding foresight in organisations.
He is also the founder of Fast Future Publishing where he is putting these
ideas into practice and bringing exponential thinking to every aspect of
publishing – including profitability and revenue growth.

For more insights, catch Rohit
Talwar, Futurist and CEO of Fast Future Research, at the CommunicAsia2017
Summit to find out how your organisation can leverage AI and other
disruptive technologies to secure a positive future for the connected consumer.