For many of us, artificial intelligence (AI) started out as something to play with. We asked it to write poems and arrange our calendars; we shared its more entertaining mistakes. Then it became something to believe in: an escape from drudgery, an assistant to every profession, even perhaps the start of a new industrial revolution. Now it is something to fear.
The progression has been astonishing. Governments are scrambling to draw up AI strategies, companies are reorganising operations and investors are financing the infrastructure. The world seems to be mobilising at warp speed to join the AI rush, although there is rather less agreement about where we are going.
Hong Kong’s sensitivity to this race was illuminated by a recent report that the Monetary Authority had questioned a major bank about its decision to establish its AI centre in Singapore and hire over 100 AI specialists there. The competitive anxiety is understandable. Attracting the investment, however, is not the same as preparing for the risks that accompany it.