In a groundbreaking blend of science and imagination, the former president of Google China and a leading writer of speculative fiction join forces to answer an urgent question: How will artificial intelligence change our world over the next twenty years?AI will be the defining issue of the twenty-first century, but many people know little about it apart from visions of dystopian robots or flying cars. Though the term has been around for half a century, it is only now, Kai-Fu Lee argues, that AI is poised to upend our society, just as the arrival of technologies like electricity and smart phones did before it. In the past five years, AI has shown it can learn games like chess in mere hours--and beat humans every time. AI has surpassed humans in speech and object recognition, even outperforming radiologists in diagnosing lung cancer. AI is at a tipping point. What comes next?Within two decades, aspects of daily life may be unrecognizable. Humankind needs to wake up to AI, both its pathways and perils. In this provocative work that juxtaposes speculative storytelling and science, Lee, one of the world's leading AI experts, has teamed up with celebrated novelist Chen Qiufan to reveal how AI will trickle down into every aspect of our world by 2041. In ten gripping narratives that crisscross the globe, coupled with incisive analysis, Lee and Chen explore AI's challenges and its potential:- Ubiquitous AI that knows you better than you know yourself- Genetic fortune-telling that predicts risk of disease or even IQ- AI sensors that creates a fully contactless society in a future pandemic- Immersive personalized entertainment to challenge our notion of celebrity- Quantum computing and other leaps that both eliminate and increase riskBy gazing toward a not-so-distant horizon, AI 2041 offers powerful insights and compelling storytelling for everyone interested in our collective future.
From the time he was little, Chamal loved observing cars: standing on his porch, he watched them speed past, imagining himself behind the wheel. Occasionally, rare vintage cars that still ran on gasoline drove by. He loved the sweet and pungent smell, and the roar of the engine. But Chamal had never taken the wheel himself. Not even the wheel of a toy car. Everything about driving a car happened only in his dreams and daydreamsand on his smartstream apps and the VR Cafs racing games.
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Chamal was the best gamer among his group of friends. He was almost unbeatable, setting record after record. He loved seeing his name displayed next to a new all-time record on the screen at the VR Caf. Sometimes he felt like driving talent ran through his veins like blood: shifting gears, cutting, braking, driftingthose tactics were ingrained in him, like a primal instinct. He also knew how to navigate a given course in the most efficient way, making micro-adjustments to his movements to eke out tiny advantages, racking up game points all the way. Thanks to his stealthy driving, other gamers called him the ghost. Whenever someone brought up this nickname, Chamal would stick his chin out and grin. To him, the nickname felt like the greatest honor in the world. So when Uncle Junius explained to Chamal that he would be driving for the Chinese, Chamal imagined something like those caf games. Only this time, he would make money.
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CHAMAL AND UNCLE JUNIUS took the elevator to Basement Level 3 of the ReelX Center, a gleaming new four-story building in downtown Colombo. As soon as the doors opened, a uniformed young Sri Lankan woman greeted them with an amiable smile. Then Uncle Junius spoke. Chamal, Im going to hand you over to Miss Alice here. She will be very nice to you. Show them what a great driver you are, okay? Junius winked at Alice, who ignored him. Say goodbye to your uncle, Chamal, said Alice. Follow me. Chamal trotted after Alice down a wide hallway. The walls and floors of the officeor was it a laboratory?were pristine, glistening with the reflection of the overhead lights. White-coated staff hurried about. They carried digital tablets displaying flashing numbers, graphs, and charts. When someone needed free hands, they pressed the soft, smooth, almost leathery tablet to their uniform, and the tablet would contour itself to their body like clothing.
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Despite all the workers, it was oddly quiet, thought Chamal. He could hear nothing but some soft whispers. In contrast to the VR Caf, or the roads outside, there was no engine roar, no screeching tires, not even the click and bang of opening and closing doors. Alice led Chamal to a small room the size of a doctors examination room, and told him to get changed. A black haptic suit was hanging on the door, alongside a matching helmet. Chamal frowned. He wasnt particularly fond of the color black. Mother used to say that the color white represented holiness, while black meant bad luck. Sri Lankans rarely dressed themselves in black. Usually they preferred bright colors, and they wore white only for holidays and religious rituals.
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