Artificial Intelligence Leadership
How Artificial Intelligence Vision of Elon Musk Integrates with Intelligence of Ali Baba [Jack Ma]
How two different intelligence methods serve the society
I wrote about my concerns related to artificial super-intelligence in a post recently. This article is a continuation of the idea by leveraging the perspectives two global business leaders looking at intelligence from different angles.
This post reflects my observations and thoughts about a debate between Jack Ma and Elon Musk presented at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China, in 2019.
Since then, we have shown some progress on the ideas discussed, such as Elon’s vision on cognitive intelligence and interplanetary plans. Pandemic also expedited the speed of AI. I’d like to elaborate on some key points discussed between these two leaders by adding my personal perspectives.
Even though these two leaders look, act, and live entirely different, they also have common attributes at a fundamental level. I have total respect for both leaders and agree with some of their points of view for various reasons.
These two leaders inspire millions of people for various reasons. They both have a proven success record in creating, implementing, and running innovative solutions. Their contributions make substantial impact at a global scale.
They have different backgrounds and personalities. At the highest level, one represents Asian culture and the other Western culture. However, despite many differences in their perspectives and approaches to business and life, they also have a lot in common, especially about artificial intelligence.
In this debate, they focused on the future of AI for humanity. The key difference from observation was one leader focused on the inner world and the other outer world of humans.
They both come from underprivileged backgrounds. However, with their vision and passion, they created remarkable business ventures at the global level. Jack built his business in China and Elon in the US.
Another common point between the two is displaying outside the box thinking. Seeing two conflicting yet complementary viewpoints were inspiring for the audience, at least for me.
They both are ardent supporters and opponents of artificial super-intelligence from different angles. My technology advocacy makes Elon a champion in my eyes, and my spirituality perspective makes Jack a winner. They look at different aspects of life from different sets of eyes.
According to Jack, we shouldn’t worry about AI. He sees it as a toy and tool. In comparison, Elon sees AI as an integrated part of our intelligence and essential component for our growth. Elon believes that we must have a sense of urgency to address world problems using AI. Our current intelligence cannot cope with world problems and that causes suffering.
A common point both Jack and Elon agreed on was the issues of the education system globally. Both believe that education must be revolutionized to serve humanity. However, according to Jack, our education system is still based on the principles of the industrial area and does not support the requirements of the AI area.
So Jack believes that we should delegate tedious tasks like calculations and memorization to computers. Elon also agreed with this idea and expanded that we can use AI even for more critical tasks such as enhancing our capabilities.
Jack focuses only on the earth. He does not care about other planets. In contrast, Elon has a strong desire to explore new planets such as Mars. Both believe that the world population, unlike traditional views, will decline, and human beings might get extinct with this gradual decline.
Elon believes in the superiority of AI by giving success stories such as in chess games, cognitive learning, and scientific breakthroughs through technology. These points did not resonate with Jack.
According to Jack, intelligent people should not attempt to race with cars as we know we cannot beat them in speed. He says the same thing for AI. He thinks we shouldn’t care to play chess with AI machines as we cannot beat them. So his point is a car can go faster than a human being, or an AI machine can play better than a human being, but these tools are not better than human beings.
Jack’s main argument is we can create machines, but machines cannot create human beings. So he has no fear of AI. I agree with Jack from this angle. However, I tend to agree with Elon on the effects of wrongly programmed super AI systems. Those systems cannot create humans, but they can generate new entities in the virtual space and destroy humans.
Jack has an interesting sense of humor. He wants to call AI “Alibaba Intelligence” instead of Artificial Intelligence. However, he is also serious how AI professionals can learn from the approach of his organization.
Jack’s focus is on physical, emotional, and spiritual life on earth. He wants people to work less and enjoy their life more. He believes we should work only three days and four hours a day. So, he believes that AI will open a new chapter and will help us to understand ourselves better. In addition, AI will make our lives easier as a tool and a toy. However, he thinks that all our predictions for the future were wrong in the past, and this prediction could go wrong too.
One thing I disagreed with Jack with due respect was he underestimated the power of artificial intelligence and did not see any concerns. He compares college smarts with street smarts asserting that AI would not affect the street smart, but it worries educated people a lot.
This point sounded naive to me. And a viewer of the video commented with a quote from Charles Bukowski saying, “The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.”
Elon made an eye-opening comment asserting that the biggest mistake AI professionals make is they think intelligent. As a result, we overrate our intelligence which is just a tiny part of human capability. I agree with this sentiment, as pointed out in this article.
The analogy of a computer talking to humans would feel like talking to a tree in terms of speed. We already know how fast machines can learn, process data, and execute comments. This speed issue between AI machines and humans can be a serious problem when moving towards autonomous systems.
As Elon mentioned with a few interesting examples, technology grows at an alarming rate. If it continues with this speed — even it slows down a bit — we might still face serious challenges. He humbly pointed out he was not sure whether this speed was good or bad. But he thinks we might not understand the technology growing with this speed.
As you might know, Elon created a project called Neuralink, which offers many compelling use cases for humanity. One interesting use case is downloading information directly to the human brain instantly. If we have this kind of learning capability, then it could be easier for us to cope with this alarming speed.
Jack and Elon provide valuable perspectives from different angles. Even though some points sound conflicting at the superficial level, their ideas complement at a fundamental level. Like Jack, I am optimistic about the value AI adds to society. However, autonomous AI systems look extremely risky, as I understand from Elon. Therefore, undermining the harmful effects and not taking speedy precautions can bring severe ramifications to humanity.
Thank you for reading my perspectives.
Sample Health Improvement Articles for New Readers
Why 442 Million People Live Diabetic and What We Can Do About it
Defeat Metabolic Syndrome and Slim Down Waistline with Three Tips
Six Tips to Prevent Brain Atrophy and Lower the Risks of Mental Disorders
What Can We Do About NCDs Killing 41 Million People Yearly?.
Reduce the Risks of Neonatal Disorders to Prevent Infant Mortality.
Reduce the Risks of Major Diseases with Healthy Lifestyle Habits
I also write about valuable nutrients. Here are the links for easy access:
Urolithin, taurine, citrulline malate, biotin, lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, NADH, TMG, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, and other nutrients that might help to improve metabolism and mental health.
About the Author
I am a technologist, postdoctoral researcher, author of several books, editor, and digital marketing strategist with four decades of industry experience.
I write articles on Medium, NewsBreak, and Vocal Media. On Medium, I established ILLUMINATION, ILLUMINATION-Curated, ILLUMINATION’ S MIRROR, ILLUMINATION Book Chapters, Technology Hits, SYNERGY, and Readers Hope publications supporting 15,500+ writers on Medium. You can join my publications requesting access here. You may subscribe to my account to be notified when I post on Medium. I share my health and well-being stories in my publication, Euphoria.
If you are new to Medium, you may join by following this link.
I publish my lifestyle, health, and well-being stories on EUPHORIA. I wrote several articles on major diseases and valuable nutrients for health. My focus is on metabolic, cellular, mitochondrial, and mental health.
You might join my seven publications on Medium as a writer by sending a request via this link. You might find more information about my professional background.