Artificial Intelligence & the Future of Work

It is natural for humans to mystify and mythologize things they do not fully comprehend. Storytelling makes up a great part of our cultures, and enables transferring knowledge in simplified ways. However, in the quest to understand the variety of technologies described as Artificial Intelligence, it is necessary to avoid stereotypes.
As its artificial counterpart, “intelligence” is a metaphor for a complex set of skills formed by neural structure, experience and memory. We will take a look beyond metaphors and stereotypes to understand the kinds of tasks machines can and cannot do for humans, and how it may shape the future of work.
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Presentation for European Freelancers Week (#EFWeek) meetup in Zagreb, Croatia.

Transcript

1. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
   & THE FUTURE OF WORK
   Auli Kütt
   Oct 12, 2018 @ BIZkoshnica, Zagreb
   BEYOND THE MYTH
   

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3. TODAY'S TALKING POINTS
   Our outline for discussion
   What is AI?
   Technology & myths
   Possible worries & issues
   Humans & technology: task-based approach
   New Skills Now (Accenture toolkit)
   (Modeling the mind)
   @KIRILIND | AI & FUTURE OF WORK
   

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4. MY POSITION
   SKI LLS & MOTI VATI ON
   @KIRILIND | AI & FUTURE OF WORK
   Auli Kütt
   @kirilind
   kirilind.me
   canva.com/kirilind
   Studies
   BA in semiotics (2004)
   upcoming : 2019
   MA in semiotics
   (organization culture,
   phatic technologies,
   self-description / identity)
   future: PhD
   meaning of AI in society
   Work
   Front-end webdev (HTML,
   CSS)
   Digital collaboration tools
   International networks,
   communities
   #EFWeek
   Ouishare
   

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5. "THE SCIENCE AND
   ENGINEERING OF MAKING
   INTELLIGENT MACHINES"
   what is ai?
   JOHN MCGARTHY 1956
   @KIRILIND | AI & FUTURE OF WORK
   

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6. AI KNOWLEDGE MAP
   BY FRANCESCO
   COREA
   

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7. AI TECHNOLOGY
   EXAMPLES
   machine learning
   neural networks
   recommendation algorithms
   (behaviour) pattern analysers
   security algorithms
   natural language processing
   image & speech recognition
   handwriting recognition
   customer recommendations
   smart home
   automatic security alerts
   machine translation
   chatbots, online customer support
   virtual PAs (Siri, Alexa)
   @KIRILIND | AI & FUTURE OF WORK
   

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8. AI MYTHS
   CC 4.0 BY-NC
   

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9. AI MYTHS
   

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10. GIVEN THIS INFORMATION,
    WHAT KIND OF PROBLEMS
    DO YOU THINK THIS COULD
    CREATE?
    #1 Think about this
    W R I T E D O W N A F E W I D E A S &
    DI SCUSS WI TH A PARTNER
    @KIRILIND | AI & FUTURE OF WORK
    

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11. WORRIES ABOUT AI
    BRIAN CANTWELL SMITH
    - overestimating the capacity of AI
    - reductionist approach to tasks (lowering the
    barrier for machines)
    - people start acting like machines
    @KIRILIND | AI & FUTURE OF WORK
    

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12. NEED TO UNDERSTAND
    human condition
    +
    technology & its power
    QUESTIONS TO ASK
    - what is happening?
    - who are we?
    - how do we want to live in this new age?
    B R I A N C A N T W E L L S M I T H
    @KIRILIND | AI & FUTURE OF WORK
    

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13. TASK-BASED APPROACH
    B.C. Smith
    Forget about people vs AI. Instead, we should ask:
    What does it take to do a task? (If we should be
    doing it at all)
    Would this task be better for a human or a machine
    to fill?
    Or both?
    @KIRILIND | AI & FUTURE OF WORK
    

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14. WHAT KIND OF SKILLS WILL
    MATTER MORE FOR
    HUMANS?
    #2 Think about this
    W R I T E D O W N A F E W I D E A S &
    DI SCUSS WI TH A PARTNER / I N A GROUP
    @KIRILIND | AI & FUTURE OF WORK
    

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15. WWW.ACCENTURE.COM
    

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16. WWW.ACCENTURE.COM
    

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17. WWW.ACCENTURE.COM
    

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18. WWW.ACCENTURE.COM
    

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19. we, humans build models
    (machines) to understand
    ourselves better
    Think about this
    : )
    @KIRILIND | AI & FUTURE OF WORK
    

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20. CTM
    Computational theory of mind
    ...holds that mind is a "cumputing system".
    Not a metaphor! (not probrammable/computer)
    https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/computational-
    mind/
    example: human vision & machine vision
    @KIRILIND | AI & FUTURE OF WORK
    

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21. HUMAN COMMUNICATION:
    A MESSAGE IS NOT
    A MESSAGE
    .
    @KIRILIND | AI & FUTURE OF WORK
    

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22. WHAT IS ONE THING
    YOU'RE GOING TO DO,
    AFTER HAVING HAD THIS
    INFORMATION?
    #3 Think about this
    : )
    

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23. SOURCES
    to read further
    https://cognitiveworld.com/article/ai-knowledge-map
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2018/08/22
    /ai-knowledge-map-how-to-classify-ai-technologies/
    https://www.utoronto.ca/news/brian-cantwell-smith-what-
    alarms-him-and-what-doesn-t-about-ai
    https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/PDF-
    63/Accenture-New-Skills-Now-Inclusion-in-the-digital.pdf
    https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/computational-mind/
    https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/ai-and-
    work/
    http://ethicstoolkit.ai/
    @KIRILIND | AI & FUTURE OF WORK
    

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24. SOURCES
    images
    The Giant Talos armed with a stone. Silver didrachm from Phaistos,
    Crete (ca. 300/280-270 BC), obverse. Wikimedia Commons, Public
    Domain.
    Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster from The Bride of Frankenstein,
    1935, Wikimedia Commons / Universal Studios, Public Domain.
    @KIRILIND | AI & FUTURE OF WORK
    

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