Artificial intelligence (AI) just might be the most powerful technology ever invented. It will change every facet of life for good or evil. It will cure cancer, create geniuses, multiply productivity, save the environment, and backstop both freedom and democracy.
Or perhaps it will usher in a surveillance state that robs us of our liberty and humanity and well as creating vast inequality. It could be the weapon that enslaves us.
What we do know is that AI is here and coming on strong. Technological progress is not only quick, but it is also speeding up. And AI is what’s next…
For example, Microsoft shocked the medical community when it recently reported that AI is better at reading X-rays than trained radiologists.
Blue Collar Blues
There have been some 30 million people unemployed over the past month in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This number will grow, and many of these jobs will be replaced by thinking robots. A McKinsey & Company report predicts that up to 800 million global workers could be replaced by robots by 2030.
But it’s not just the dirty hand crowd that will get the John Henry treatment, a new study out of Stanford University analyzed the overlap between more than 16,000 AI-related patents and more than 800 job descriptions and found that highly educated, well-paid workers may be crushed by AI.
AI is really good at completing tasks that require planning, learning, reasoning, problem-solving, and predicting –– most of which are skills required for white-collar jobs. It has already come for the lawyers. Middle management will be next.
But there will also be opportunities to profit.
President Trump issued an executive order, directing all federal agencies to help fuel this initiative. And the president’s new budget plan has billions earmarked to accelerate this new tech.
And the world’s biggest companies are also pouring billions of dollars into this.
- Microsoft
- Ford
- IBM
- Intel
- Uber
- Volkswagen
- JPMorgan
- Capital One
- Bank of America
These are just a few of the many firms making huge investments in this tech.
In fact, banks alone have committed to spending $300 billion to accelerate its development and rollout.
On the flip side, there are only a few companies that are pure plays on the AI trend.
I’ve found one company that specializes in voice searches. When you or someone you know searches something on their phone by saying something like, “Where is the closest gas station?” you’re using this company’s technology.
To give you an idea of how often this happens…
- 40% of adults now use voice search once per day.
- 1 billion voice searches happen every month.
- Voice searches are up 3,500% since 2008.
- Sales using voice searches have reached $1.8 billion per year.
- These sales are expected to hit $40 billion in the next four years.
- On top of that, 60% of all people using voice search said they started using it in just the last year.
Now, that’s a long list of numbers.
It now has around 1,200 employees and its staff boasts nearly 200 of the world’s top-trained engineers. It just signed major deals with large clients like Rite Aid, McDonald’s, and Volvo. And the world’s leading tech companies, like Amazon, Google, and Facebook, are all bidding for this company’s knowledge.
As I said, companies all over are cutting costs. Why pay an advertising man and give him a desk and health care when you can run a computer program in his stead? I’ve written a free report where you can learn about the most powerful force of change in the world today. You can profit from it, or you can be blindsided. Click here now.
Christian DeHaemer
Check us out on YouTube!Christian is the founder of Bull and Bust Report and an editor at Energy and Capital. For more on Christian, see his editor’s page.
