AI permeated many aspects of the panel presentation at NACD, and this fifth post pulls together numerous different strands.

First there was the assertion that AI would so drive innovation that in the next decade almost all diseases could be cured, including a serum for cancer.

Second, AI was framed as essential to the US position in world business and in world politics, as it was viewed by all as the most important overall business driver in the future.  In this context, there was almost no discussion of AI risk or the need to control its development or use; it seemed to this observer that the panel just assumed that in fact it was going to be full speed ahead.

Third, the panel viewed the world’s brightest business future as being shared between the only two superpowers and thus the only two countries that entered into this discussion: the United States and China.  And the US was perceived as ahead but in a great trouble for the future.  China is allegedly each your graduating twice as many PhDs in AI than the US, and that if China surpasses the US in AI it will become ascendant in both business and in world power politics.  This risk is compounded by the fact that Taiwan is the key source of chips and China is seen as quite likely invading Taiwan (SH note: press reports that Trump has said the US cannot support a military response in that event).  See the next (sixth) post in this series, discussing international issues, with the panel’s view of what the internal drivers of China have become.

Fourth, at one point the panel agreed that to drive US business there is a need to provide essentials to the international community of emerging and/or growing nations.  Essentials are food, medicine, energy and computational power.  If one accepts the shopping list  and accepts that providing that list to growing Asia, Africa, South America, the Caribbean and India will be key to economic success, then ascendency in AI becomes a major factor in being able to serve these markets.

Last point is about data centers, which took long discussion.  AI is developed and run on data centers which must run 24-7 and burn huge amounts of power.  China has a lead in power given particularly its growth in solar power tech and its physical location stretching across a sunny band of Earth, and its current alleged lead in clean-tech generally. If the US is to compete, it needs power.  We do not have enough, but Canada has almost limitless power.  It was stated that, notwithstanding current tensions with Trudeau, the new administration and its cadre of tech advisers need to woo  Canada to ship the power South to the US, and both countries need to be in the business of building more power transmission lines and capacity.