.
Presenters: Patrick Warnking, Country Director of Google Switzerland
Marcus Gross, Professor of Computer Science at ETH and Director of Disney Research, Zurich
Alessandro Curioni, Director of IBM Research, Zurich
James Hodson, CEO of the AI for Good Foundation
Moderator: Susan Kish, Fellow at Connection Science & Engineering, Massachusetts
While there are many who are wary of the soon-upon-us age of technology and artificial intelligence, technology companies such as Google, IBM, Disney Research, and the AI for Good Foundation foresee a beneficial future where technology and humans work together toward progress, rather than competing against each other. In order to harness the power of technology, however, it is imperative that not only tech companies, but all industries begin cultivating the talent necessary to creating and using this continuously evolving technology. The question then, is: how can we foster this talent? Where can we find this talent? And most importantly, how will this talent shape our future?
“Talent” can be defined in many different ways. While it is universally accepted that talent is a crucial component to creating and implementing new ideas, there are many different ways in which this elusive term can be defined:
Talent is: lifelong learning. While inherent aptitude is beneficial, true talent stems from constant and never ending learning. In order to become talented, then, it is vital for companies to promote lifelong learning in their employees to nurture current talents, create new talents, and help them understand new technology.
Talent is: creative qualities and intellectual capacities. Rather than compartmentalizing talent into those who are purely creative or purely intellectual, individuals who demonstrate both traits tend to be more talented. This is due to the fact that people who are both smart and creative are able to adapt to new environments and challenges more than their counterparts, and therefore end up being the most successful.
Talent is: adapting to technology. As technology progress, talent will become increasingly augmented and altered by technology. With artificial assistants, for example, researchers will no longer have to read several papers a week; instead, their artificial counterparts will be able to read a plethora of papers quickly and relay important information back to the researchers, thereby creating a more efficient system of research. However, these workers will have to continuously adapt to not only what they learn, but also how they learn it in order to increase their talent potential.
Talent is: understanding and creativity. Everyone has the potential to be creative. For example, while language is constrained by finite mechanisms, the creation of words, sentences, and meanings is infinite and purely up to the creativity of the speaker. Therefore, it can be said that everyone possesses creative potential.
Talent is innovation. Talent can be defined as the ability to create new things and significantly increase value for other people.
“Talent is something that today we like to describe in very specific verticals. But talent transcends anything that a human can do that brings value to themselves and others in society.” – James Hodson
The future of technology is fast approaching. Within sectors such as health care, entertainment, and R&D, technologies are being developed at unprecedented rates.
Technologies such as IBM’s Watson are being developed to revolutionize healthcare. With terabytes of unstructured data available but unorganized, technologies such as Watson are being developed and implemented to extract important pieces of information from this data and bring this essential knowledge to doctors and researchers. This not only creates a large, organized data pool, but also gives doctors more time to spend with their patients.
Technology is being developed that can enhance storytelling. With better technology comes better storytelling, and Disney Research is currently developing several different platforms that both enhance and create a better storytelling experience. This not only fosters an environment in which consumers become active participants in the story, but also allows them to create their own stories within preexisting complex universes, such as Star Wars.
Technology is being developed that can create its own stories. Not only can technology enhance already existing stories, it has now almost reached the point of creating stories on its own through deep learning and machine learning technologies. This can be accomplished by a bottom-up learning process where computers will be programmed to understand story genome and craft, how characters evolve over time, and have access to large databases of stories.
Smart technology and sensors are revolutionizing healthcare. From sensors to smart devices, physical technology is becoming much less evasive and much more efficient. The decreasing size of sensors, for example, enables doctors to examine patients more thoroughly as the sensor transmits information back to the doctor.
Technology is revolutionizing research and development. While the average researcher can read 1-5 papers per week on a particular field of interest, an average of over 50 papers a day are published in each field. With advancing technology, however, researchers will soon be able to sift through papers much faster as virtual assistants will be able to help them sort through large pools of data and provide them with key information.
“Any industry and any professional will be strongly affected by the smart machine revolution.” – Alessandro Curioni
Education will need to change.
Society will need more than just STEM education. While STEM education is a necessity in today’s economy, we need to think more broadly about what traits and skills we will need as technology progresses. In addition to STEM training, traits such as leadership, creativity, and social skills will also be vital to keeping up with the technological revolution.
Not everyone is built for a university system. While universities have become the staple of today’s higher education, programs such as trade school and coding academies are essential to training those with a skillset different from what is learned in a university setting.
Machine learning can personalize the learning experience. Eventually, machine learning may be able to develop mathematical models of individual brains to show how each individual’s brain takes in information. This way, individuals can learn in a much more personalized manner.
“You need people who are curious, creative, and really want to be innovative. This has always been the case, but today it’s becoming much more important.” – Patrick Warnking
To read or download the rest of the essays from this special report on the Future of Work and Education, download our free app on your favorite device (iStore, Google Play, and Amazon Kindle) or click to view the Digital Edition.
The views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.
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The Future of Work: The Technological Dimension
machine learning: ideas & knowledge being dropped into a robot's mind from a factory production line concept of artificial intelligence
May 2, 2017
Presenters: Patrick Warnking, Country Director of Google Switzerland
Marcus Gross, Professor of Computer Science at ETH and Director of Disney Research, Zurich
Alessandro Curioni, Director of IBM Research, Zurich
James Hodson, CEO of the AI for Good Foundation
Moderator: Susan Kish, Fellow at Connection Science & Engineering, Massachusetts
While there are many who are wary of the soon-upon-us age of technology and artificial intelligence, technology companies such as Google, IBM, Disney Research, and the AI for Good Foundation foresee a beneficial future where technology and humans work together toward progress, rather than competing against each other. In order to harness the power of technology, however, it is imperative that not only tech companies, but all industries begin cultivating the talent necessary to creating and using this continuously evolving technology. The question then, is: how can we foster this talent? Where can we find this talent? And most importantly, how will this talent shape our future?
“Talent” can be defined in many different ways. While it is universally accepted that talent is a crucial component to creating and implementing new ideas, there are many different ways in which this elusive term can be defined:
Talent is: lifelong learning. While inherent aptitude is beneficial, true talent stems from constant and never ending learning. In order to become talented, then, it is vital for companies to promote lifelong learning in their employees to nurture current talents, create new talents, and help them understand new technology.
Talent is: creative qualities and intellectual capacities. Rather than compartmentalizing talent into those who are purely creative or purely intellectual, individuals who demonstrate both traits tend to be more talented. This is due to the fact that people who are both smart and creative are able to adapt to new environments and challenges more than their counterparts, and therefore end up being the most successful.
Talent is: adapting to technology. As technology progress, talent will become increasingly augmented and altered by technology. With artificial assistants, for example, researchers will no longer have to read several papers a week; instead, their artificial counterparts will be able to read a plethora of papers quickly and relay important information back to the researchers, thereby creating a more efficient system of research. However, these workers will have to continuously adapt to not only what they learn, but also how they learn it in order to increase their talent potential.
Talent is: understanding and creativity. Everyone has the potential to be creative. For example, while language is constrained by finite mechanisms, the creation of words, sentences, and meanings is infinite and purely up to the creativity of the speaker. Therefore, it can be said that everyone possesses creative potential.
Talent is innovation. Talent can be defined as the ability to create new things and significantly increase value for other people.
“Talent is something that today we like to describe in very specific verticals. But talent transcends anything that a human can do that brings value to themselves and others in society.” – James Hodson
The future of technology is fast approaching. Within sectors such as health care, entertainment, and R&D, technologies are being developed at unprecedented rates.
Technologies such as IBM’s Watson are being developed to revolutionize healthcare. With terabytes of unstructured data available but unorganized, technologies such as Watson are being developed and implemented to extract important pieces of information from this data and bring this essential knowledge to doctors and researchers. This not only creates a large, organized data pool, but also gives doctors more time to spend with their patients.
Technology is being developed that can enhance storytelling. With better technology comes better storytelling, and Disney Research is currently developing several different platforms that both enhance and create a better storytelling experience. This not only fosters an environment in which consumers become active participants in the story, but also allows them to create their own stories within preexisting complex universes, such as Star Wars.
Technology is being developed that can create its own stories. Not only can technology enhance already existing stories, it has now almost reached the point of creating stories on its own through deep learning and machine learning technologies. This can be accomplished by a bottom-up learning process where computers will be programmed to understand story genome and craft, how characters evolve over time, and have access to large databases of stories.
Smart technology and sensors are revolutionizing healthcare. From sensors to smart devices, physical technology is becoming much less evasive and much more efficient. The decreasing size of sensors, for example, enables doctors to examine patients more thoroughly as the sensor transmits information back to the doctor.
Technology is revolutionizing research and development. While the average researcher can read 1-5 papers per week on a particular field of interest, an average of over 50 papers a day are published in each field. With advancing technology, however, researchers will soon be able to sift through papers much faster as virtual assistants will be able to help them sort through large pools of data and provide them with key information.
“Any industry and any professional will be strongly affected by the smart machine revolution.” – Alessandro Curioni
Education will need to change.
Society will need more than just STEM education. While STEM education is a necessity in today’s economy, we need to think more broadly about what traits and skills we will need as technology progresses. In addition to STEM training, traits such as leadership, creativity, and social skills will also be vital to keeping up with the technological revolution.
Not everyone is built for a university system. While universities have become the staple of today’s higher education, programs such as trade school and coding academies are essential to training those with a skillset different from what is learned in a university setting.
Machine learning can personalize the learning experience. Eventually, machine learning may be able to develop mathematical models of individual brains to show how each individual’s brain takes in information. This way, individuals can learn in a much more personalized manner.
“You need people who are curious, creative, and really want to be innovative. This has always been the case, but today it’s becoming much more important.” – Patrick Warnking
To read or download the rest of the essays from this special report on the Future of Work and Education, download our free app on your favorite device (iStore, Google Play, and Amazon Kindle) or click to view the Digital Edition.
The views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.
