The Second Renaissance

Embracing AI for the good of profits, planet and people

It's easy to become overawed, and in some cases, fearful of the potential, scale and capabilities of technology and more recently, artificial intelligence (AI). Yet, rather than fear the inevitable change taking place, we are at the same time witnessing a great surge of human creativity and innovative ideas. 

For me, it’s reminiscent of the Renaissance. And just like the Renaissance, we are now experiencing a wave of groundbreaking technological advancements that are reshaping our world.

I call this ‘The Second Renaissance’. 

In this ‘Second Renaissance’, we are beginning to see a mix of human intelligence and artificial intelligence. We’re moving through a period where humans, machines and traditions are coming together to form a new kind of technology revolution.

This means every company should be thinking like and operating as a technology business. Across all industries and sectors, companies from communications and customer service to manufacturing and supply chain management can use technology to enhance their operations. It is revolutionising industries, improving efficiency and creating better experiences. 

The emergence of AI that speaks human

In the past, coding was exclusively accessible to software engineers who possessed the technical expertise to interact with technology at its core. Now, through AI, companies can embrace their role as technology players far quicker to remain competitive and drive innovation. By integrating technology into their core operations, they can enhance their products, services, and overall customer experience - in other words, be more human.

The advent of AI has given us a transformative leap in technological capabilities. And today, given that AI has acquired the ability to understand and communicate in human language, it presents an unprecedented opportunity to create impactful innovations. If you have the ability to speak a language and type, you now have the power to code. It holds immense potential for driving planetary profitability and fostering business innovation. 

Trust, ethical and secure AI 

Critically however, we must build trust in an AI future if it is to deliver on the promise of doing good for the planet, profits and of course, people. We’ve all seen or read about concerns of dystopian AI futures. So how is trust built? 

For me, trust is "a confident relationship with the unknown". And to achieve that, we must also have faith in our own competencies and judgements. This is where human oversight and ethics should be incorporated into AI systems, rather than simply rely on it to make decisions for us. As an example, Apple launched its credit card several years ago. Instead of using traditional credit scores to decide how much money people could borrow, Apple used AI to make these decisions. 

At the launch event, a credit card was given to Steve Wozniak, one of the founders of Apple, and his wife. Later, Steve and his wife discovered his card had 10 times the credit limit of hers. Why? Because AI was largely backward looking and it held that females were more of a credit risk than men. Without human intelligence, artificial intelligence will fail to deliver the promises and experiences we expect.

Embracing change and humanising technology 

While we face many ‘technological unknowns’, the one known is that change is inevitable. We must embrace it and continue to think how we use technology as a force for good and to benefit us all. We stand at the cusp of a remarkable opportunity. One that can harness technology's potential to unlock unprecedented depths of human creativity. In doing so, we can make ethical decisions and safeguard the digital landscape for everyone.

I believe today, courtesy of new technologies, we will be able to do less of the menial and the mundane and increasingly more of the meaningful and the humane. This will help reduce inhuman consequences of human error. More importantly, it will launch us into a period of new humanity, creativity and innovation that's good for people, the planet, and profits.

The question is: what impact or innovation will you now code for?

Anders Sörman-Nilsson (LLB / EMBA) is a global futurist and innovation strategist who helps leaders decode trends, decipher what’s next and turn provocative questions into proactive strategies. He was a guest speaker at Business Connect 2024.