Luis Almeida

In a recent television interview, Vladimir Putin said, “Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere (Artificial Intelligence) will become the ruler of the world.”

I am afraid he is right about that. We are not taking any chances. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) currently has 137 pilot projects directly related to artificial intelligence underway.

It seems evident to me that we have reached a point of no return in regard to fully investing in the development of intelligent systems. The former gives me goosebumps and chills.

The United States has always been an empire of ideas, a country that premiums talent and human ingenuity. You got a great idea? Awesome! Let’s develop that idea and take you away from the competitive proletariat ball field.

The great business geniuses of the 20th century, e.g., Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, and of course, the great Henry Ford — all had two things in common. They were very talented and human, but none of them were able to be omnipresent in their economy.

Modern applied technology changes that. Artificial intelligence reinforces that! You can now be cloned and “work” in more than one industry at the same time by either using or developing intelligent systems.

Historically, our capitalist society worked this way. People who had a brilliant idea and were able to make that idea work got to the top and remained at the top, freeing up positions at the bottom for the remaining of the population.

The development of intelligent systems changes this dynamic by introducing “cyber-cloning” into this midst. These days, we can clone your thoughts and actions and advance other areas of the economy, literally making many compete against your e-persona for a place under the sun.

Let me say it this way. Your biggest competitor might actually be an intelligent robot hosted somewhere in Utah. This is probably what the CIA is doing right now. It is humanly impossible to be working 24/7, yet defense isn’t a 9 to 5 job. Think about it. It gives me chills to think about the number of unqualified workers who will be out of the job market due to advances in technology. Ladies and gents, we’re going to see this sooner than later.

How would you feel about that? There are intelligent systems today that can organize warehouses better than you and your friends. In many parts of the U.S.A., trash is now taken by a robot. Intelligent systems are now doing some of the work which were historically done by lawyers.

A number of the videos that you see on television were done by an automated system. What if I told you that I have an intelligent system promoting my wife’s start-up right now, as I am writing this column?

In the past, Dr. A was only able to be a college professor, opening up opportunities for others to sell their services to us as social media professionals. Today, Dr. A is both a college professor and social media manager at the same time. Part of me is now digital! The former is a huge shift in how our capitalist system operates these days because of technology.

I am going to make a prediction. In the near future, true wealth is going to aggregate among a few big-business conglomerates, offering little opportunity for others less fortunate within the system. We are going to be able to clone our thoughts and ideas and maximize our professional talents in ways that we have never seen in the history of mankind.

Capital, not labor, is going to be the fuel of production. The world that our sons and daughters are going to see when they grow old will be nothing like what we see today.

Artificial intelligence is here to stay and with time, it will only get more intelligent.

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(About the writer: Dr. Luis C. Almeida is an associate professor of communication at Lee University and TEDx speaker. He is the author of the book “Becoming a Brand: The Rise of Technomoderation,” and a devoted Christian. He can be reached via his website at luiscalmeida.info.)