JACK MA, an icon of China’s Internet era, painted a rosy picture of the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) Thursday, saying smarter machines will allow humans to better enjoy life. Ma, executive chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, held a dialogue with Elon Musk, CEO of U.S. electric carmaker Tesla Inc., at the opening ceremony of the 2019 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in East China’s Shanghai. The two illustrious figures of the tech sector exchanged thoughts on topics from AI and the future of education to Mars space missions. While Ma insisted that computers could never outsmart man, Musk believed humans are doomed to fail in the competition of intelligence. On the looming prospects of AI stealing human jobs and causing massive layoffs, Ma challenged the assumption that there would be a job shortage in the future. The invention of electricity gave humans more spare time to “go to a dance party in the evening,” argued Ma. Likewise, he believes more powerful AI will give humans “more time to enjoy being human beings.” Meanwhile, AI will be needed for many jobs undesired by human workers, according to Ma. Especially as life science advances are set to push life expectancy to over 100, intelligent robots will take up the laborious jobs of caring for the elderly. He recommended the study of engineering, physics and human interaction for the coming era of AI. (Xinhua) |