The Rise of Artificial Intelligence: Predictions for the Future of Business, Government, and Society

What will business, government, and society of the future look like as a result of rapid technological advances?

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This is what I wrote when a Graduate Student at MIT in 2016 taking Professor John D.C. Little's class on Artificial Intelligence and The Singularity. What will business, government, and society of the future look like as a result of rapid technological advances?

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The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) will change the political economy in the United States in a myriad of ways. Already we are seeing business take on large investment and infrastructure projects, government being challenged to keep regulations up to date with new forms of technology, and society being affected by growing inequality and job loss. What will business, government, and society of the future look like as a result of rapid technological advances, and potentially one day, the Singularity?

The Future of Business

As technology advances, business is becoming more able to take on many of the functions of government. Companies such as SpaceX are investing large sums of money in space exploration, and Google is providing R&D funding to prevent aging. Education and knowledge can now be accessed for free and online at websites like Kahn Academy and edX, and technology companies such as Apple are advocating for privacy rights of individuals, confusing whether business or government is truly looking out for individual freedoms and rights. Bitcoin has taken many people by surprise as its currency has spread throughout the world and is handling transactions in the millions of dollars with no central authority. As emerging economies such as China start to complain more about the dollarization of the world, it is possible to see a universal currency take shape, which would limit the role of Central Banks and governments that currently provide monetary and fiscal stimulus.

It also can be expected that companies in the future who make autonomous vehicles and provide Uber-style transportation services will invest in the proper infrastructure to run their profitable and ubiquitous services, rather than relying on government to do so. Even water, electricity, and waste could end up being provided by companies who develop smart home technologies such as solar panels and machines as simple as a dishwasher to treat water and recycle waste. Smart, sustainable homes produced by innovative companies could eliminate many services government now provides. Healthcare will also become more universal and inexpensive as machines make scientific advancements in a fraction of the time that it would take humans, eliminating the need for government to make large healthcare expenditures.

In the short run, living in a world run by companies instead of governments could lead to greater democracy in some ways. Humans would simply vote through payments as customers and labor as employees. We already see indicators of this happening, with companies such as Goldman Sachs changing their internship program to emphasize impact and entrepreneurship because they are seeing the best and brightest flock to Google and Facebook. These popular tech companies have created communities around their companies and emphasize their larger mission of helping the world. Companies such as Chobani are going a step further and choosing to make their employees part owners of the company and reward them for their valued part in making the firm profitable. In addition, some grocery stores are only selling “cage free” eggs now, and popular retail stores like H&M are developing “conscious” lines of clothing that are fairly sourced. In this scenario, society is driving the political economy forward.

However, as companies begin to need fewer employees as machines become more intelligent, the demands of employees will be less crucial to the company’s success. Customers may be so persuaded by advertisements using AI algorithms that so perfectly match their needs that they fail to protest. The Singularity would make employees and customers altogether irrelevant, not to mention government, which would at that point be unable to keep up with the exponential changes in technology. Machines would determine the political economy.

The Future of Government

In the near term, nation-states will remain in their current state, providing law and order and protection in a defined geographic boundary. Public goods such as the fire department and police department will continue to be provided by local governments, although large companies may start offering these services within their own communities. The court system that adjudicates disagreements among people also will likely continue to be a function of government rather than business. However, as already mentioned, with the speed of technological advancement, government’s ability to adjudicate and make laws to protect citizens could become ever more elusive. With the advent of the Singularity, intelligent machines would be in charge and we would have to follow their rules. Machines may find humans, with all of our biological needs to eat, drink, go to the bathroom, sleep and be happy, to be too inefficient and wasteful to keep alive. All of the functions that government has provided for humans would then be unnecessary in the world of machines.

Until that time, government will likely also continue to provide redistribution of wealth. Especially with growing income inequality and job loss, the government will need to increase taxes in order to provide a basic income to every citizen who has been adversely affected by technology and globalization. However, one can imagine companies taking on this role in the future and stepping up to keep the peace to maintain their dominance by figuring out ways to pay workers more or give monetary handouts to community members who do not have a job.

In terms of security and protection, in the near term, government will continue to provide this for citizens and companies. Although businesses increasingly have to protect themselves against cyber attacks, investigating cyber attacks across companies and geographies will likely still be done by one central entity and taxes will be paid for this service in order to increase

efficiency. However, if and when we transform into a world with no borders but only the existence of larger companies that resemble mini governments, then companies will likely take on this cyber security role in entirety.

In terms of physical warfare, the future of humanity rests on our ability to come together as a human species and collaborate to solve world challenges together, rather than break into divergent groups that seek to destroy each other. It is possible with increased technology and globalization, with the rise of women as leaders, and with machines that increase our knowledge and challenge our traditions, that humans will start to understand each other better and we will evolve into a collaborative species with no borders and no need for large armies. However, if humans continue down the path of ego, fear, greed, ignorance, and jingoism, then we will put ourselves on a path to destruction. We have the opportunity to collaborate and tackle world problems together, or compete and destroy each other.

Thus, in the not so distant future, as the world becomes even more interconnected due to the rise of technology and globalization, and the environment becomes more of a concern, one global central authority will increasingly need to manage the rule of law. A global central authority will be necessary in the future for the following reasons:

1. Externalities: Externalities involved with new technologies and pollution mean that a global authority is needed to determine and enforce universal regulations. Controlling gene editing in the United States does hardly any good if other countries have no controls. Cutting back on pollution in China is ineffective if other countries are not doing the same. In our interconnected world, we can no longer act as independent nations that have no effect on the entire ecosystem, or assume that the ecosystem has no effect on us.

2. Technical Knowledge: The immense technical knowledge needed to understand and enforce regulations means it would be highly inefficient, not to mention impossible, for hundreds of countries to do so on their own. Comprehending the implications of new technologies, and being able to decipher technical aspects is a task that the United States has barely been able to keep up with. Combining the wealth and resources of the world to create laws and enforce them will be crucial to control the rise of AI.

3. Competition: As companies become more global with the aid of technology, regulations and taxation in some countries but not others would lead to a very unstable and competitive world that would be harmful for humanity. We are already seeing this in the United States as companies and individuals are increasingly holding money in offshore accounts. Without universal regulations, countries such as the US and China could compete to edit their citizens’ genes leading to unforeseeable, possibly disastrous outcomes. Having universally-acknowledged laws and a central authority to enforce them is a way to create more peace than competition in the world.

Likelihood of Business Taking over the Role of Government by Function (what do you feel is more or less likely?)

Law and Order

Public Goods

Security

Welfare

Economics

Infrastructure

Education

The Future of Society

As jobs become scarcer and the gap between the rich and poor widens, the meaning of life will come into question. The meaning of life in the past was very much about having a job, making money, providing for one’s family, and going to church. However, that has been changing, especially as Millennials now seek meaning beyond money and religion. Society is slowly waking up to the realization that happiness does not come from physical things or fear of God, but rather inner peace. Although it is likely that there will be a transition period, where humans without jobs turn to vices such as videogames, pornography, and drugs to numb their sadness, the rise of AI will eventually wake humans up to new realities. When AI is able to comb through millenniums of books on philosophy, religion, and science, it will come up with patterns and realizations about the universe and ourselves that could bring us enlightenment and fulfillment beyond our wildest expectations. Machines also could be more moral than humans are, since they will be able to see the whole of society rather than the individual. Their ability to transcend emotions, physical limitations, and manmade illusions could navigate humans towards a better world.

AI will also likely make life better for all. Instead of inequality and desperation being the norm, products and services could become so cheap, accessible, and sustainable with technological advances that every single human on the planet is able to live a life of dignity. If the amount of money being spent on one Western aid worker going to Africa and doing marginal good was spent on R&D for technological advances that would benefit the whole world, we would get there much more quickly. We will get to a point where one day every person will have easy access to education, health, a smart home, the arts, and spiritual enlightenment.

With the arrival of the Singularity, our very own existence would be put into question. However, this process of evolution from man to machine will hopefully create a more moral world, as we are able to transcend our physical and cognitive limitations.

Conclusion

Technology is changing the way we live and work in remarkable ways. Although the Singularity is not yet here, technology is an integral part of our daily experience and will continue to have a greater impact not only on our personal lives, but also on the political economy.

My predictions for the future of business, government, and society are:

1. Business, through technological advances, will increasingly provide products and services that government once did, becoming more powerful and ubiquitous than ever before.

2. Government will increasingly turn to a central global authority to manage externalities, technicalities, and competition that will result from the rise of AI and the need for environmental protection.

3. Humans, aided by knowledge and wisdom gained through AI and by the capacity of machines to work for them, will evolve into spiritual beings who seek happiness through enlightenment rather than wealth.

Written by

Ashley Heacock, Researcher, Writer, Mentor, Healer, Guide
MIT Sloan School of Management, MBA
Harvard Kennedy School of Government, MPA
The George Washington University, BA Economics, BA International Affairs
Contact: ashleyheacock@gmail.com
Website: awakeningconsciousness.community