10 TED Talks on AI and machine learning Posted on : Feb 07 - 2019

How will AI reshape your career? Your health? Your ability to tell real from fake video? Recent TED talks explore some fascinating AI questions

Artificial intelligence as a topic has long been a mix of both fascination and fantasy, the realm of both computer science and Hollywood movies. As AI and related sub-disciplines such as machine learning become a reality in our everyday lives, that fascination grows.

Now, though, we’re increasingly focused on how AI will actually impact us, from its applications in enterprise IT to much broader effects on jobs and the global economy, healthcare, government, and more.

A recent string of TED Talks speak to this shift from the speculative to the practical: How will humans and omnipresent AI actually coexist? What benefits will AI bring, now and later? How will AI revamp industries?

We’ve collected 10 recent TED Talks that explore these and similar issues in thought-provoking fashion. (OK, it’s really 9 serious TED Talks, plus a fun imagining of one future AI scenario.) This isn’t the stuff of movies and Netflix shows, but the real AI issues of our present and future.

1. How machine learning can teach us to build more effective teams

Former U.S. Marine Corps officer and current UPS manager Drew Humphreys shares ideas – based on both his experiences on the battlefield and as well in corporate environments – on how executives and managers can better prepare to lead in an increasingly automated, machine-driven future. Modern leadership, Humphreys shares, isn’t about control – it’s about empowering other people. “When I got out of the way, I unlocked human potential that I didn’t know existed,” Humphreys says. He notes that, somewhat ironically, some of the best leadership lessons can be learned from machine learning: For example, ML algorithms are only as good as the data we feed them. A similar principle holds true for how leaders share information with their teams.

2. How to be “Team Human” in the digital future

In an absolutely enthralling talk, media theorist Douglas Rushkoff warns of a world in which people are valued solely for their data rather than their creativity, one in which education is viewed as jobs training rather than, as he says, a reward for a job well done. It’s a contrarian look at the value of some of the key features of the digital landscape, such as social media and other ubiquitous apps, and how this landscape is devaluing humanity. “We have to stop using technology to optimize human beings for the market and start optimizing technology for the human future,” Rushkoff says. “But that’s a really hard argument to make these days because humans are not popular beings.” View More