Expectations from AI in 2023

Artificial Intelligence

LEADERS INSIGHT

Dr. Michael Wu

Who did we interview?

Dr. Michael Wu is one of the world’s premier authorities on artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), data science, and behavioral economics. He’s been appointed as a Senior Research Fellow at the Ecole des Ponts Business School for his work in Data Science, and he serves as an advisor and a lecturer for UC Berkeley Extension’s AI programs. His R&D won him recognition as an Influential Leader by CRM Magazine along with Mark Zuckerberg, Marc Benioff and other industry giants.

Dr. Michael Wu

To stay in the loop, we have put together the viewpoint of Dr. Michael Wu that you could follow to know the progress brought by Artificial Intelligence in the tech industry.

Let us quickly get to our expert's point of view.

• Ques 1 : If you can share some of the AI work you are optimistic about and you think that can bring a great impact in future

  Ans : The development of ChatGPT shows that AI is now capable of understanding human language (regardless of which countries). It can speak or chat with anyone in any language, and it can even write simple codes. Yet, occasionally, you will find that ChatGPT has no common sense from the response it provides. There are way too many examples out there that I won’t bother to describe here.

  So the next step is for these AI to acquire these common senses and understand the meanings and cause-and-effect relationships in our world that are described by the languages we used.

  Understanding images and videos is also the natural next step that will enable AI to understand how our world operates. For example, everything from physical laws to social norms that govern how people and things behave in our world. Achieving this common sense in AI will be a significant step toward artificial general intelligence (AGI).

• Ques 2 : How can we leverage AI in 2023?

  Ans : Since ChatGPT has reached a critical mass of awareness, generative AI (e.g. ChatGPT, Dalle2, etc.) will become more and more common in our daily life as well as work this year. And one of the best ways to leverage these generative AI is in computer-aided creative processes. Whether it’s writing an article, drafting an email, illustrating an advertisement, or designing a new product, generative AI can augment our own creative processes by creating the scaffolding or the framework for us to build toward the final output.

• Ques 3 : What is the best event that you attended recently? What were your key takeaways?

  Ans : Since 2023 has just begun, I have only had the opportunity to speak at one event, and that is TechInnov Day: AI for Africa.

  Since many of the speakers speak French, and I don’t speak any French. I was trying to use the live translation function on my phone to understand what was discussed. Although it gave me a general understanding of the general topic and direction of the conversation. But the translation was not good enough for me to understand what was discussed precisely. Definitely not good enough for me to interject and join the conversation. So one of the biggest takeaways for me is that despite all the hype around ChatGPT, language translation (especially in live situations), is still not good enough and has plenty of room for improvement.

• Ques 4 : What is the potential for AI in the USA?

  Ans : In the free-thinking and capitalistic society of the USA, the potential for AI is limitless. The key really comes down to the following 2 criteria.

  1. How to make AI solutions and tools economically viable so they create extraordinary value for those who use it.

  2. How to make these AI user-friendly, trust-worthy, and helpful, so they can be easily adopted without fear.

  As long as we can build AI solutions that have these 2 criteria, the potential of AI in the US is up to your imagination.

  For example, one of these AI solutions is AI-based real-time dynamic pricing. Since pricing has the most significant impact on monetization, using it properly will drive tremendous value by improving margins. If these tools are designed with trust and explainability, they will transform the way businesses operate and bring greater value to our society.

• Ques 5 : How artificial intelligence will redefine business and work?

  Ans : Since the industrial revolution, mechanical machines have largely redefined work by either augmenting or completely replacing physical labor for the most part. Therefore most skilled workers today often require some sort of human decisions within certain domains of expertise.

  AI will again redefine work and business by augmenting or replacing our decisions. In the near term, we will shift more and more of our work to the digital domain, so this work can be digitized and captured as data. We will then use these data to train the machine learning algorithm in AI to mimic how we work and automate them. Essentially we will be exchanging data for automation.

  This will eventually lead to the complete displacement of repetitive tasks and decisions that can be digitized and therefore automated. So further in the future, our work will focus on answering questions and solving problems that were never seen before. So critical thinking and problem-solving skills will be crucial as these are the tasks that are not easily automated being totally unprecedented.

• Ques 6 : What’s your success mantra?

  Ans : “Follow your passion and good things will follow.” Because if what you are doing is something that you are truly passionate about, you will spend a lot more brain cycle on your work. Even when you are not working, your brain may still be subconsciously solving the problems you face at work. If you are truly passionate about something, you might even use your off-work hours to study and acquire the knowledge and skills to address the challenges at work. When this persists over a long time, you will be more likely to be successful in what you do.

  The key is finding something that you are truly passionate about. It must be something you are so passionate about that you would do it purely for the joy of doing it (even without compensation).