The AI revolution: we’re either in it together or we’re in for it

AI can guide the next drone or missile to hit you with faster accuracy than imagined. It can also develop the next miracle drug. We do not know if AI is ultimately good or bad, only that the bandwidth of risk and opportunity is widening at frightening speed.

The digital divide means those ahead in AI will be richer, faster, smarter and more powerful, whereas those who don’t implement AI are being marginalised.

Clearly, rich and advanced economies stand to gain more, whereas emerging and developing economies are still struggling to use AI to help them develop or simply tackle their myriad problems of people and planetary injustices.

01:45

Chinese AI-generated cartoon series broadcast on state television

The potential for turning around development in multi-directions using AI looks huge. How can this be achieved?

When it comes to building tech ecosystems, case studies suggest that learning is really about copying or imitating global knowledge, and adapting these to local needs.

In short, human learning is about copying others and then personalising or internalising such knowledge to create new ideas and actions. This “copy-learn-adapt-innovate-scale” approach is exactly the path AI use is following.

08:15

How a Hong Kong school embraces ChatGPT in the classroom

When we face something new, we have four essential choices. The first is to deny or reject because we fear the unknown. The second, for the curious, is to learn and experiment. The third is to do nothing or simply follow the crowd, because that appears the safest way out of disruptive change. The brave and the risk-takers are those who decide to leap into the unknown and become innovators or entrepreneurs. These become the change agents.

Faced with the existential threats of