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Confronting The March Towards Cyborgization

Science fiction cyborgs are scary. They make me wonder if we would ever co-exist with such beings in real life. Well, if you are looking for cyborgs you might as well start looking at the mirror. Our race to adopt the latest technologies is slowly but surely turning all of us into these fearsome creatures. Cyborgization is upon us whether we like it or not.

It this good, bad? Well, let me describe the trends and then we can discuss it. We’ll never wrestle with a reality that we do not name it first. As the adage goes: “the first step to healing is admitting we have a problem.”

Don’t believe me. Consider the following:

Last week Apple just announced that is making the iWatch less dependent on the iPhone. That means soon you’ll get most of the iPhone functionality in the iWatch. Elon Musk is talking about sending nano transmitters into our blood flow. In Wisconsin, a company is experimenting with just that, paying employees to implant chips in their hands. These are just a few examples of “body hacking”, where people are pushing further the envelope of fusing technology with our bodies. If technology conglomerates have their way, we are moving from buying devices we use to adding them to our bodies. The trend can be depicted as such:

desktop>>laptop>>tablet>>smart phone>>wearable device>>implant

Certainly, not everybody will sign up for implants. Yet, the fact that we now already have people willing to experiment with implants shows how far we have progressed in the spectrum above. Thirty years ago only a few of us owned desktop computers in our homes. Last year, the number of smart phones in the world surpassed 2 billion, just shy of 30% of the world population. The march towards cyborgization is in full-speed.

Cyborgs in Action: Sousveillance

So what would a world with cyborgs look like? What would we do with our extended bodies?

The events of Charlottesville this weekend reminded us of the evil undercurrents of racism that still purveys our culture.

[Here I must stop to make a few comments. Racism is goes against everything Christianity stands for. To say otherwise or to pretend there is equivalency on both sides betrays who we are. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. I also pray that we are able to come together to confront this evil in our midst.]

Curiously, the march and its aftermath also became a notable experiment in Sousveillance. Don’t know what that means, no worries. I just learned about it this week. Sousveillance is the fancy name for the growing phenomenon where people use their phones to record real-life events.

While this has been happening for a while, the novelty was the crowdsourced attempts to identify members of the march through social media. Basically, somebody recorded the faces of white supremacists marchers and posted their faces in twitter asking users to recognize and identify the individuals. As a result, one of the marchers lost his job after being outed in this social media driven act of sousveillance. Such development would not have been possible without the advent of devices that allow us to film and share images at ease.

This is an example of things to come. Ordinary individuals, leveraging their body extension tools to do things that were not possible otherwise. On the one hand this could lead to quicker apprehension of criminals in both identifying as well as providing physical evidence of their crimes. On the other hand this could quickly lead to an augmented version of mob mentality, where people are quickly branded guilty and made to pay for crimes they did not commit.While many are weary of government surveillance, citizen sousveillance can offer a welcome check. This is just one application of how cyborgization can change our world.

Framing the Conversation

So maybe becoming cyborgs is not such a bad thing. However, before dismissing or embracing this trend, it is important to ask a few questions. Here are some that come to mind.

Who is driving the march and who benefits most from it?

How does it help the most vulnerable?

How does it affect human relationships?

How do these devices enhance or diminish our humanity?

My biggest concern is not how fast these technological extensions are being adopted but how is it done. At this point, most of it is driven through marketing by large technology conglomerates telling us that we must adopt the latest gadget or else become irrelevant. The subtle message is not just that our current gadgets are outdated but that we ourselves are becoming useless.

Certainly marketing of artificial needs should not be the main driver for adopting these technologies. Instead, their adoption should undergo a deliberate process in which the questions listed above are at the forefront. Technology should never be an end to itself but a means to life enriching goals. We need to evolve from technology consumers to thoughtful agents that leverage technology for human flourishing.

At a personal level, a simple question would be: does this device improve my quality of life or not? If it does not, then it may be time to re-think its usage.

Wake Up Call: Helping the I-generation Discern Reality from Illusion

While Millennials continue to capture most of the headlines, we are just now starting to understand the next generation. Early reports are worrisome. The Atlantic just published an article about an extensive study on what is now called the Igeneration and how it compares to previous generations. They found that teenagers of this generation (born between 1996 and 2010) are delaying independence and therefore avoiding many of the risks that other generations fell prey to such as alcohol and drug abuse. Yet, they are also experiencing an increase in depression and suicide rates. In short, adolescents are both safer and lonelier. This is a paradigm we will have to grapple with for years to come.

According to the article, the single defining trait of this generation is technology. They are the first ones to grow up with smart phones. Many spend hours on their phone and fifty percent say they are addicted to it. This trend has had devastating effects most of which is amplifying the sense of being left. In fact, according to the study, phone usage had an inverse relationship with happiness. That is, the less you use your phone, the happier the teenagers reported they felt.

Leaving the pernicious effects of social media aside, I want to focus on the smart phone itself. Its very existence has fundamentally changed how teenagers perceive the world around them.

The Gap Between Generations

Children are like sponges. They have a unique capacity to absorb the world around them in ways adults no longer can. Their minds are malleable by all the stimuli around them. The biggest tragedy of children growing up in front of a screen is that they start losing the ability to differentiate the virtual world from the real one. Even if they cognitively understand the difference, they may still consider the virtual world as essential to their life. The snapchat profile is no longer an avatar but becomes an integral part of their identify. Their day-to-day experience, good and bad, gets amplified. If now teenagers can attain instant fame, they can also experience the devastating effects of cyber bullying. It is one thing to be teased before a small group of peers in school. It is a whole other matter when the teasing happens at millions of screen worldwide.

Now, it would be unfair to say that only teenagers are struggling to limit their smart phone usage. Many adults, including the one typing, have a tendency to check the phone many times throughout the day. However, adults like myself had the advantage of growing up in an offline world. Call me old-school but there is no online experience that can match the satisfaction I get from reading a book. Because of this perspective, I wonder if we adults are underestimating the effects of introducing these devices so early in our children’s development.

As a parent of 7 and a 5 year-old, controlling their screen time is a constant source of worry if not obsession to both me and my wife. I can’t even imagine how the struggle will be as they get older and their peers start coming to school with smart phones. While I can delay it for a few years, I have to accept that our kids simply live in a different world than the one we grew up in. While limiting screen time is a good step, I think the bigger challenge is teaching them to make good choices when we are not present. Essentially, we need to impress on our children that the analog world is vastly richer than the digital representation they see on screens.

Real Versus Virtual

How do we teach a new generation to discern what is real from what is not? In past blogs, I have talked about preparing the next generation through education. Nevertheless, this is not enough. At the heart of this crisis is changing how we and our children approach technology altogether. If we are to help them discern reality outside of their phone screens we must first help them approach the technology they use wisely. That means helping them understand when it is time to put the screen down on their own.

I am encouraged when I see that my kids drop everything at the invitation to go to the pool. This tells me that while they enjoy their screens, they are still no match to the real experience of chlorine-full water splashing through their bodies. In the same way, my prayer for the Igeneration is that they learn that seeing someone face-to-face will always beat a video-conference interaction and that running in the woods will always be superior to any VR game they play.

The best way to help with that is being conduits of analog experiences that will blow away the digital ones. The gift of undivided attention, the warmth of a hug, the encouragement from words of affirmation are just a few examples of experiences that are best delivered in person than digitally.

If you see someone from the igen today, ask them to put down their phone and give them a hug.

Update on 04/10/2021

Subsequent studies have questioned the findings from the research above. The reality is that it is simply too early to make any conclusions. This does not mean we need to throw caution off the window but it does show that the causes to this worrisome trends are more complex than previously thought. The overall conclusion of this blog remains the same, let’s continue to love on our igen children and walk with them as they grow up in a digital world.

Artificial Immortality: Honoring or Replacing our Parents?

Is there a way to achieve (artificial) immortality? What would that look like?

This month’s Wired featured an article where journalist James Vlahos sought to immortalize his dying father by creating a chatbot that would mimic his dad’s knowledge, expressions and speech mannerisms. His moving account provided rich material for reflection.

For a good portion of the article, the journalist recounts in detail the process of deciding and executing his idea. It took months of preparations, interviews and countless hours of programming. While some machine learning was used, the bulk of the work laid on his own knowledge of his father. He wanted to ensure the bot would respond in a way that would make the user feel like he was talking to the father. He even ensured the grammatical construction of sentences would reflect his father’s speech.

Even more interesting than the process itself were the questions that emerged as his project progressed. How would he and other family members feel about the bot after his father was gone? Would they feel like talking to the bot or would it creep them out? His personal project is a powerful anecdote of this new era where machines are increasingly acquiring human traits.

It is not just about how the machines are changing but even more importantly, how we respond to them. There are those who will interact the bot and be able to compare with the human person the bot was made to emulate. Yet, what about the grandkids who will have a greater exposure to the bot than to their actual grandfather? What type of relationship will they develop with the chatbot? Could the chatbot become its own entity, somewhat independent from the human it was built to emulate?

Honoring Our Fathers Through Technology

Last week, I received my cousin’s first book in the mail. In it, he recounts his journey to uncover details about the torture his parents suffered by the repressive Brazilian dictatorship in the early 1970’s. Besides having national significance as the country seeks to come to grips with that dark period of their history, the story is very personal to our family. Yet, what impressed me the most was his desire to make his parents story known so his children would not forget. In some ways, it was a book to honor his parents’ story, ensuring their memory would outlive them.

This desire to memorialize our parents is not new. In the Hebrew Scriptures, it is codified in the fifth commandment: “Thou shall honor thy father and thy mother.” Could this honoring now be done through these new technologies? As the Wired article demonstrated, it certainly can. In some ways, it is the next step in our current ways of memorializing our ancestors with pictures, books and videos. What makes this new stage unique is how these objects can now interact with us. When we look at videos and pictures, they are fixed snapshots of a past. Our feelings toward them may change but they themselves are static. Yet, as machine learning advances and AI takes on voice and possibly a physical appearance we now have the possibility to not just recall memories but actually create new ones. In fact, a well trained AI could create new content never spoken by the original human. It is, in one sense, the closest we have to bringing the dead back to life.

Memorializing or Idolizing?

It is at this point that I wonder whether our memorializing can quickly descend into idolizing. Let me explain. I wonder at what point the creation meant to resemble our ancestor becomes an independent entity that we relate to and revere. The warning in Scriptures about idolizing is always about replacing the real for the fake. Venerating the fake god instead of the real God. In the same way, could these artificial creations meant to resemble our real ancestors come to replace them in our memory and in our experience? How ironic that in an effort to memorialize somebody we could actually speed up the process to forget and replace them.

Thankfully, these technologies are still in their rudimentary stage so we can start asking these questions now. As the technology improves, it will become increasingly difficult to separate the real person from their artificial creation. So the question becomes, to what extent do we want to use this technology to honor our parents without fully replacing their memory with an artificial image of their real selves? What do you think?

Debunking AI Myths: Specialized versus General AI

The noise around AI has been deafening lately. From tales of doom, fears of automation to promises of a new humanity, there is no limit for the speculation around this technology. As one tracking the news and articles around this topic, the task has become impossible. Not one day goes by without multiple articles, blogs, podcasts and TV shows come out exploring the topic. Just this week, technology avatars Elon Musk and Mark Zucheberg traded barbs on whether we should fear AI or not.

Hence, it is a good time to take a step back to separate the hype from reality. It is time to expose some AI myths and look at these challenge with a cautious but informed perspective. The biggest challenge in our time where information flows freely is to know what to ignore and what to pay attention to lest we fall into a perpetual sense of confusion. In this blog, I want to hone in the differences between generalized and specialized AI while also briefly reflecting on their impact in our near future.

The Promise and Limitations of Specialized AI

Many readers of this blog may know this already but it is important to reinforce the difference between specialized and general AI. The first, is the driver around the revolution in industry and most of the buzz in the news. It is specialized because it is intelligence optimized around one specific task. That can be predicting who will do an action, whose face is in the picture or what has someone said. In the baseline section, I show a picture that illustrate well the different types of specialized AI that exist. With improving hardware, a lot of data and the right algorithms, specialized AI will most likely disrupt entire industries from banking to healthcare, transportation to entertainment.

Now before we panic, a few caveats are in order. Just because a technology exists does not mean it will actually create disruption. For example, many thought that the advent of the Internet would end book publishing. While the publishing industry had gone through tremendous change, we still buy books today. So, it is fair to say that even with the advent of self-driving cars that does not mean the end of driving.

For a technology to change industry and culture, it must first prove to be commercially viable. It is only when the smart phone becomes the Iphone that change starts happening. Disruption is not just dependent on the technology but also on how it is used. It is wonderful that computers can now learn like humans but if this does not solve real problems, it is useless. Specialized AI is not a trouble-shoot free proposition. It takes a considerable amount of time, testing, investment and many failures to get to successful applications. At this point, only large corporations or savvy entrepreneurs have the time, energy and resources that it takes to transform this technology into viable solutions. It is true that hardware and open-source software have significantly lowered the barriers of entry into this field. However, people with the right skillset and experience in this area are still scarce. Thus, many AI efforts will fail while few will become breakthroughs. This reality leads me to believe that the forecasts of massive job elimination are over-blown.

The Challenges Around General AI

General AI is still the fodder of scientific fiction. That is the idea that machines could be sentient, being able to think, walk and feel. We are still decades off from that reality. Now, certainly we could get there earlier but before we do, we have some formidable obstacles overcome.

A big one is hardware. In spite of the fact that computers processing speed have grown greatly in the last years, they are still no match for the brain. The difference is between millions to billions of connections. Basically, there is no hardware today that could fully mimic the capacity of the brain. Some believe they never will be able to do so while others are spending billions trying to do exactly that. Only time will tell who is right, but until then General AI will remain elusive.

We often forget that an essential difference between AI and human intelligence is life itself. Artificial Intelligence is not artificial life but only a well-constructed machine made to look, see and think like humans. For all the advances in AI, there are still fundamental differences in how biological functions of our bodies and the processing activity of machines. So, it looks like, at least for the near future, robots will not have a soul even if talking about them as they did can be a helpful exercise in speculative reflection.

What Does This Mean?

Given the points described above, what are we to make of the current fears surrounding AI? Outlining the limits around AI does not mean ignoring its potential dangers nor minimizing its promise. The difference is an informed engagement versus exasperated over-reaction. Specialized AI is bound to eliminate some jobs and there is very little that can change that. Yet, this will not be an overnight smooth transition. It will be filled with advances, setbacks until we reach a new normal. Even as the technology progresses, social-political and economic factors are bound to shape the future of AI. It is not just about the technology but about the people who use it.

Maybe the best advice I can give anyone concerned about AI is “don’t believe everything you read on the Internet.” Check your sources, compare it with others and retain the best. In this case, my hope is that the attention around AI will invite us all to a conversation about how technology is shaping our lives and how it can help us flourish. To dwell on fear will miss the opportunity of discovering how AI can make us better humans. That, to me, is the ultimate question we must be most concerned about.

Christian Transhumanism: A Bridge Between Theology and AI

In the previous blog, I talked about how theology has much to offer to the AI conversation. With that said, one must recognize that the conversation between AI and Theology is rather awkward at the moment. While sharing common points of references, there are still significant divides in values, worldviews and language. At the root of this disconnect is the last century and half ongoing conflict between science and religion. As a consequence, the theologian is mostly disinterested if not intimidated by technology. The technologist finds Theology antiquated and inconsequential to the rise of new technologies. To delve more deeply on this rift would take more than a blog but for now suffice it to say that work must be done to bridge this divide if we are to have a productive and meaningful conversation.

In that front, I am encouraged by the emergence of Christian Transhumanism. This budding movement shows promise in creating the space where Theology and Technology can learn from each other. How? Well, first some definitions are in order.

What is Transhumanism?

According to Nick Bostrum, Transhumanism is an “international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.”

Transhumanism is an optimistic view of the future that sees technology as the conduit for a new and improved humanity. This can translate into efforts to extend lifespan, enhance human abilities and or re-think the social order in light of these new possibilities. It is a movement driven by imagination mostly found in Science Fiction. Many of us may enjoy the thrill of watching or reading a Science Fiction story. The Transhumanist goes a step further and asks: what if those things actually happen? How would we live in these new worlds? What possibilities, conflicts and hopes would we experience? For the purpose of this blog, Transhuamanists are at the forefront of reflecting on the ethical implications of emerging technologies. That makes them an important conversation partner in the dialogue between AI and Theology.

Can Transhumanism be Christian?

In view of the description above, what would Christian Transhumanism look like? First, it is important to point out that Transhumanism in its purest form is a thoroughly secular movement. Most of its members claim no religious affiliation. This makes it for an even more intriguing proposition to espouse a Christian version of it.

The Christian Transhumanist Association (CTA) is probably one for the first attempts to pursue exactly that. At a high level, the movement merges Christian theology with Transhumanism in three meaningful ways. Firstly, it translates Transhumanism search for human evolution into growth. This growth is not limited to spiritual but more akin to what I have been describing in this blog as human flourishing – a holistic view that encompasses spiritual, physical and social dimensions. Secondly, it calibrates Tranhumanist telos towards the renewal of the Earth. That it, the goal is not progress for progress sake but it is replaced by a Christian eschatological aim – the new heaven and the new earth. Thirdly, it sees the use of technology as a way to fulfill our call to Christian discipleship. In a creative move, the group actually sees the pursue of technological advance as part of spiritual formation.

In doing so, CTA embodies a robust theology of technology laying the ground work for a dialogue between AI and Theology. This is not a problem-free path, as inevitably any deep engagement with another philosophy can lead to unbalanced syncretism or shallow proselytizing. That is, on the one hand Christian Transhumanism can alter its Christian base enough to lose its essence. On the other hand, Christian Transhumanism can engage in forceful imposition of Christian ideals into the Transhumanist community without genuine engagement. Walking this thin line is part of the challenge for the next years to come.

Intrigued? I invite you to visit their website for more information

Where do We Go From Here?

Christian Transhumanism is in its infancy stages and so it is too early to assess its role in bridging the divide between AI and Theology. It is an important line of thinking but not the only one. An alternative view would be a bioconservative Christian movement emerging as a counter-point to Christian Transhumanism. Bioconservatives are those who would advocate limiting or rejecting the use of technology in extending life or enhancing human abilities. Yet, this position will become more precarious as some of these technological advances are all but inevitable. Just think about taking a stance against automobiles in the beginning of the 20th century. I guess the Amish are a witness to this position and their legacy will live on in other movements in the coming future.

At the moment, I am leaning towards the Christian Transhumanist side. Christian history is filled with examples where the church has resisted change rather than shaping it towards desirable aims. At its best, I see Christian Transhumanism doing the latter, welcoming technological change with enthusiasm while also holding a theologically lens to expose its dangers. My hope is that CTA can live out its mission as both a reforming voice in the church and a beacon of hope in a fast-changing world.

Is Theology Relevant to Artificial Intelligence?

What does Theology have to do with Artificial Intelligence? What does Jerusalem have to do with Silicon Valley? In this blog, I want to address this question head-on to show that theology is not just relevant but much needed in the current debates about AI.

If social media is any indication, not everyone sees the connection between AI and Theology. Consider a recent discussion I had in Facebook where a contributor expressed the following view:

“The more I read [your blog, the more] I feel like you have to justify to us the introduction of the subject of theology in discussions about AI because I don’t see the relevance.”

Challenge accepted! Simply put, if I can’t answer this question satisfactorily, I have no business keeping this blog.

I acknowledge that readers come to this blog from diverse backgrounds. While a good number are Christians, there are also some that are not affiliated with Christianity or any faith at all. I want to respond having the second group in mind. The question that may arise is whether Theology (especially the Christian type, which is mostly associated with the discipline) is relevant to the topic of Artificial Intelligence. Furthermore, if it is relevant, does it have anything meaningful to say that warrants a place at the table of AI debates?

The Human Connection

For starters, I would define theology (and religion) and the development of Artificial Intelligence as human endeavors. Why point that out? I want to point to the fact that both disciplines emanate from our shared human experience. What differentiates AI from other technologies is its perennial connection with human intelligence. While human intelligence is not the only intelligence as one could argue that other animals have their own unique intelligence, it is inevitably our starting point. Technology, like all other human endeavors, is a creative expression of who we are, whether we acknowledge it or not. The primary focus of AI is to mimic human intelligence, therefore establishing humanity at the center of it.

Theology, while focused on the divine, is greatly interested in humanity. The study of the divine is incomplete without a starting point that emanates from humanity. In that sense, it is similar to AI, because it uses humanity as a primary point of reference. We cannot define or speak of the divine without bringing it analogically to a human dimension. Christian theology does not speak of an abstract idea about God but one that is deeply personal.

AI as Playing God

While the human connection is important, this is not enough to explain the relevance of theology. For that we must turn to the god connection that links these two subjects. Consider the provocative statement Kevin Kelly (one of the founders of Wired magazine) made in the turn of the century:

As we attempt to create from scratch life, and other minds, and perhaps someday other universes, we need a better catalog of god-ness, and a more exact notion of what species of god is best for what kind of creation. As we become better gods we must become better theologians. It is sort of like how the Web forces everybody to be a librarian; what once was left to esoteric professionals is now everybody’s business.

When we step in the business of creating intelligent machines, we are stepping into the realm of divine. This is new territory for humanity where we must thread with caution. If AI is playing God, can Theology offer a playbook? Yet, what if developing intelligence is a step in becoming more like God? If so, we might have something to learn from a discipline that has attempted to explain the divine for centuries.

Regardless of whether you see the divine as a human construct or a real being, theology can still be relevant. If you are in the first camp, wouldn’t it be interesting to learn how our ancestors imagined God? Wouldn’t their reflection, their cautionary tales and utopias, be instructive in helping us navigate the road to an AI future?

Hope and Imagination

In a recent article, Beth Singler explored the striking similarity between the language of techno-enthusiast and religious people. She shows how the conversation around AI today connects her to concepts she had heard in Sunday School as a child. What could be the connecting thread? Hope and imagination. To talk about an AI future, forces us to imagine what we cannot see. Faith is defined as believing in things we hope for but cannot see. In the same way, Science Fiction literature express a hope for a better future or a warning to keep what is most dear to us. They may express different values, but their method is surprisingly similar.

It is hard to do justice in a 900 word blog to a topic that deserves volumes of books. Yet, I hope this writing can challenge some established mental models and crack open new horizons. I firmly believe that the conversation around AI has much to benefit from a theological perspective. I don’t claim it should be the only or even the dominant voice. Consequently, Theology has much to learn from AI as well. The challenge is whether we’ll move forward in courageous dialogue or let fear and misunderstanding keep these disciplines apart.

I certainly hope for the first option. Do you?

Ultimate Narratives and Why Trump Is Irrelevant

I have intentionally steered clear from political topics in this blog. Yet, just like many in this season, I found myself needing to say something given the unique political moment the US is undergoing at this point. For starters, as an immigrant and strong believer in international cooperation, it is not too difficult to know where I stand on the current administration. Moreover, as an evangelical Christian, I lament our group’s support for Trump’s person and agenda. Simply put, the gospel that saved me is not compatible with political ideologies that foment fear, division and scapegoating of minorities.

Yet, this blog is NOT another rant against Trump. In fact quite the opposite. My main point here is to demonstrate how, regardless of his bombast and noise, he does not define the future of our nation and the global community. This became clear two weeks ago, when the president decided to leave the Paris Accord. Soon after, large corporations, states and city governments defied the administration’s stance by re-affirming their commitment to the goals put forth in the international agreement. While the president holds remarkable power and influence, his reach has limits.

Centers of Power

Reflecting on this brings me back to my undergraduate studies in Political Science. Then, I remember studying about the dynamic interplay of centers of powers. In this framework, even in the most authoritarian regimes, power is never fully centralized. Instead it is distributed in societies through many centers of power. These are institutions like foundations, think tanks, political parties, business associations and other interest groups. Any political leader, whether they like it or not, depend on these actors to govern. When a politician loses key support, he or she cannot effectively govern. President Trump is no exception to this rule and to understand his actions, one must also understand the interests groups that brought him to power.

While this is true, the limits of this view is that it focuses only in powers that manifest themselves politically. Yet, there are many other actors that may not hold overt political power yet still can exert tremendous influence in a society. Examples of this would be business conglomerates in sectors like communication, energy, technology and education. Our future may very well be decided in boardroom meetings of these companies where new products and services are being discussed.

The Power of Narrative

In our time, an even more formidable power is narrative itself. That is, the ability to control how to explain our world. In 2017, more than ever before, there is a collusion between communication (media) and political powers that are selling the narrative that “the political is the ultimate.” This narrative wants to convince us that the defining events of history are coming from the halls of Washington, DC. The president makes a policy announcement (or send a ridiculous tweet) and the media is all over it either defending it or expressing disgust over it. Either way, the narrative is reinforced that the political takes precedence over all other narratives.

This blog has focused on an alternative narrative. Frankly, in a time where politics offers little hope, it is refreshing to follow the narrative of technological progress. Here you hear stories about possibilities, positive change and improvement. There are also aspects that cause fear, distress and anxiety. Yet, the dominant sentiment (at least to me) is of hope. We are living in a time of unprecedented technological breakthroughs many of which could change life as we know it for the better.

Ultimate Narratives

The train has left the station for technological innovation. This train will not stop unless we experience another “Black Swan” event (a rare catastrophic event that changes everything i.e.: 9/11 Attack on the Twin Towers). For now, the party or person that sits in power will have little effect in the march towards an AI-saturated world. Thus, understanding how to bend this trend towards the good of humanity is to me more consequential than fighting for political change. This does not diminish the work of political activism, just displaces it from a place of ultimate importance.

Finally, for those who pledge allegiance to Christ, there is no ultimate narrative other than the gospel itself. The Christ follower will understand the world through the lens that believes that new life is possible even after death. That is the hope that has driven the faithful for centuries and continues to drive them today. We are certainly living in times of great political uncertainty and unprecedented technological change. Yet, ultimately, for the Christian, none of that is more important than the death and resurrection of Christ. It is on this narrative of hope that we stand and understand everything else. Our job is to uncover how this narrative of death and resurrection is playing out within the current trends we live today. Not an easy task for sure, but one that promises eternal rewards.

What Would Open AI Look Like?

In a previous blog I talked about how big government and big business were racing to get a piece of the AI revolution. In this blog, I want to explore the parallel grass-roots movement of open AI and its possibilities.

Open-Source Movement: The Democratization of Technology

There was a time in which to compete with technology required a hefty upfront investment. This is no longer the case. For one, consumers and businesses have now the ability to buy hardware as a service which greatly diminishes initial costs. Along with that, most expensive softwares have now an open-source version available for free. So today, open source solutions and hardware services like the cloud allows for even small players to compete alongside Fortune 500 companies.

I can speak from experience. When I entered the field of data science eight years ago, I remember wondering what would it take for me to do the things I did in my corporate job at home. First, I would have to purchase a server to get computing power. Then I would have to buy very expensive software to run the algorithms. At that point, open-source options were emerging in academic circles but service like the cloud did not exist. Today, the scenario could not be different. I can now perform the same tasks by downloading open-source software to my laptop and if necessary rent some space in the cloud for more computing power. Needless to say, the environment is ripe for start-ups to flourish as the barriers of entry are low. The main barrier of entry now is not technology but humans with the know-how to run these widely available tools.

This democratization trend is not limited to technology-related fields but is disrupting other industries like web development, education and the non-profit sector. Web development can now be accomplished through open-source web services like “WordPress” (which I use for this blog). Large Universities are offering online open courses to students all-over the world promising the same level of quality of their on-campus classes. Social entrepreneurs can now raise funds through crowdsourcing, greatly expanding their donor base. The “open” phenomenon is obliterating set up costs empowering individuals and small organizations to do more with less.

What About Open AI?

Because the barriers of entry are low for data science, I don’t see why we should not see a vigorous grass-roots movement to democratize AI. The hardware and software is available and affordable. The biggest challenge is one of skills and know-how. The skills required for running and understanding AI algorithms are very scarce at the moment. Only a small group of professionals and academics have experience working with the advanced algorithms needed to develop AI applications.

Yet, even this current bottleneck is not bound to last long. Numerous coding schools start-ups are offering data science camps enabling data veterans and even new entrants to learn how these algorithms work. Moreover, soon enough entrepreneurs will develop solutions that enable AI development without having to code. Of course, AI is not limited just to machine learning but encompasses robotics and engineering among other technical fields. While I cannot speak from experience in these areas, the rise in high-school robotics competitions and engineering camps for kids tells me that efforts already exist to democratize these skills as well.

Clearly the seeds are in place for an open AI movement to flourish. It is in this context that I plan to invest my time and creative energies in the next few years. As I mentioned in the previous blog, preparing the next generation for an AI future is not about training them for jobs but empowering with tools that can harness their creativity. What would happen if at-risk children today could have a place to learn and “do” AI? What if the unemployed and young adults could become part of learning communities that are experimenting with the latest machine learning technologies?

What kind of problems would they solve and what kind of world would they build?

How Do We Prepare the Next Generation For An AI Future?

In a previous blog, I described the trends that led to the current AI renaissance. In this blog, I want to talk about where AI is going and how we can prepare children and young adults to seize on the opportunities emerging from it.

The Global Race For AI Innovation

AI startups are popping up everywhere, not only in the United States but in many places in the world. Canada just announced an investment of $93 Million for AI hubs in its largest cities. China may now be surpassing the US in government funding of AI initiatives as it leads deep learning (a subset AI technology) research along with its booming tech sector led by Baidu. Japan is also investing heavily on the area as a way to foster economic growth with an ageing population. Developing countries are also entering the race as African AI startups emerge and as Brazil hosts the first AI startup battle in Latin American soil. Everybody wants a piece of the AI revolution.

Even so, AI innovation is most likely to come from leading tech giants: Google, Amazon and Facebook. Google, through bold mergers and research investment, is aiming to become an AI-driven company. Amazon, who already leads the digital assistant market and the cloud business, is set to incorporate AI into all its core operations. Facebook is investing heavily in AI to better manage and customize content for 1.4 Billion users. These are just a few examples of how AI is shaping the future of the Tech industry. The company who can turn AI into viable commercial solutions will become the market leader of the future. The company that lags behind will most likely face obsolescence.

What Can We Do To Prepare?

How will this current race impact our future? AI will certainly eliminate jobs, but also create new opportunities. I want to focus on the latter part for now. Complete new industries will emerge as these technologies become widespread in business and government all over the world. Therefore, we need to prepare our kids and young adults so they can fill these new jobs. Hear me out, not every kid will grow up to become a data scientist, robotics engineer or software developer. Yet, as AI permeates different systems, there are some basic skills that the future worker and entrepreneur must be proficient at.

Math is a good example. Developing a strong foundation on math concepts will be crucial. That does not mean every kid must master Calculus by High School. However, we need to debunk the myth that math is only suitable for a minority of very intelligent people. There is no such thing, math is a language that all can learn. For that to happen, we must also change how we teach math. Common Core is an encouraging step in the right direction but much more needs to be done. Math needs to become more visual and more relevant to day-to-day problems.

Another skill is programming. Learning to code should become as important as learning to read. Not all kids turn into voracious readers as adults most know enough to be functional and informed citizens in their communities. Similarly, not all kids that learn coding will become developers but they should have sufficient knowledge to navigate the technological change that is ahead of us.

While technical skills are important, we cannot neglect critical thinking skills. Here is where I believe disciplines like theology and philosophy have a place. Because these technologies will become more and more interwoven with our humanity, we cannot afford to overemphasize the “how” at the cost of asking the “why” and the “what for”. In other words, we need to be constantly asking: “What does it mean to be human in an AI world?”. This will not come naturally in math and coding classes that focus only on skills.

The goal is not only to prepare future workers but empower them to become AI social entrepreneurs, ready to address problems untouched by big business or big government.

I propose an inter-disciplinary approach that teaches both technical skills along with critical thinking. Students should ask the questions of “why” and “what for” right when they learn the “how”.The goal is not only to prepare future workers but empower them to become AI social entrepreneurs, ready to address problems untouched by big business or big government. In the next blog, I’ll be discussing how a grassroots open-source AI movement could work parallel to the one already happening in the business and government sector.

That is when things get interesting.

Why Is Artificial Intelligence All Over The News Lately?

AI hype has come and gone in the past. Why is back on the spotlight now? I will answer this question by describing the three main trends that are driving the AI revolution.

Artificial Intelligence has been around since the 1950’s. Yet after much promise and fanfare, AI entered a winter period in the 80’s where investment, attention and enthusiasm greatly diminished. Why has this technology re-emerged in the last few years? What has changed? In this blog, I will answer this question by describing the three main trends that are driving the AI revolution: breakthroughs in computing power, the emergence of big data and advances in machine learning algorithms. These three trends converged to catapult AI to the spotlight.

Computing Power Multiplies

When neural networks (the first algorithm to be considered Artificial Intelligence) were theorized and developed, the computers of the time did not have the processing power to effectively run them. The science was far ahead of the technology, therefore delaying its testing and improvement for later years.

Thanks to Moore’s law, we are now in a place where computing power is affordable, available and effective enough for some of these algorithms to be tested. My first computer in the early 90’s had 128K of RAM memory. Today, we have thumb drives with 100,000 the size of this memory! Even so, there are still ways to go as these algorithms can still be resource-expensive with existing hardware. Yet, as system architects leverage distributed computing and chip manufacturers experiment with quantum computing, AI will become even more viable. The main point is that some of these algorithms can now be tested even if it takes hours or days when before that was inconceivable.

Data Gets Big

With smartphones, tablets and digital sensors becoming common in our lives, the amount of data available has grown exponentially. Just think about how much data you generate in one day anytime you use your phone, computer and/or enter retail stores. This is just a few examples of data being collected on an individual. For another example, consider the amount of data collected and stored by large corporations on customers’ transactions on a daily basis.

Why is this relevant? The AI is only as good as the data fed into it for learning. A great example is the data available for Google in searches and catalogued websites. That is why Google can use Artificial Intelligence to translate texts. It does that by simply comparing translation of large bodies of texts. This way, it can transcend a word-by-word translation rules to understand colloquialism and probable meaning of words based on context. It is not as good as human translation but fast becoming comparable with it.

There is more. Big data is about to get bigger because of the Internet of Things (IoT). This new technology expands data capture beyond phones and tablets to all types of appliances. Think about a fridge that tells you when the milk is about to expire. As sensors and processors spread to all electronics, the amount of data available for AI applications will grow exponentially.

Machine Learning Comes of Age

The third trend comes from recent breakthroughs proving the effectiveness of Machine Learning algorithms. This is the very foundation of AI Technology because it enables computers to detect patterns from data without being programmed to do so. Even as computing power improved and data became abundant, the technology was mostly untested in real-life examples breeding skepticism from scientists and investors. In 2012, a computer was able to identify cats accurately from watching YouTube videos using deep learning algorithms. The experiment was hailed as a major breakthrough for computer vision. Success stories like this and others like it brought machine learning to the spotlight. These algorithms started getting attention not just from the academic community but also from investors and CEO’s. Investment in Artificial Intelligence has significantly increased since then and is now projected to reach $47 Billion by 2020. Now there was both abundance of data and enough computing power to process it, machine learning could finally be effectively used. These trends paved the way for Artificial Intelligence to become a viable possibility again.

Pulling All Together

These trends have turned Artificial Intelligence from a fixture of science fiction to a present reality we must contend with. This has not happened overnight but emerged through a convergence of technological advances that created a ripe environment for AI to flourish. As they came together, the media, politicians and industry titans started to notice. Hence, that’s why your Twitter feed is exploding with AI-related articles.

Because the trends leading the emergence of AI show no sign of slowing down, this is probably only the beginning of an AI springtime. While there are events that could derail this virtuous cycle, the forecast is for continuous advancement in the years and possibly decades to come. So, for now, the attention and enthusiasm is bound to stay steady for the foreseeable future.

As AI applications are being tested by large companies and start-ups alike, this is the time to start asking the right questions about how it will impact our future. The good news is that there is still time to steer the advance of AI towards human flourishing. Hence, let the conversation around it continue. I hope the attention engendered by the media will keep us engaged, active and curious on this topic.