That is what this will come down to. Technology in general and artificial intelligence specifically will drive future economies and future successes and failures. In an ideal world, everyone would ride the wave of productivity, reengineering roles jobs and careers in as evolutionary manner as possible and create a new order where most everyone is better off.
Unfortunately, the future will probably be dominated by competition rather than collaboration and result in pillars or silos of AI investment and innovation that will ultimately align along national and political lines. The “Us and Them” of Pink Floyd fame will move from a physical battle field to a virtual one and the fighting will be about who will be with and who will be without.
The most concerning aspect of global AI completion is that the ultimate winner may not be a nation or a people but may be AI itself. Are we smarter than they are, or from AI’s perspective, are you smarter than we?
