AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future

I don’t read much sci-fi, so I didn’t know what to expect. However, when I finally dug in, I couldn’t put the book down. I have to say, if anyone out there is looking for the best sci-fi of 2021, this is exactly the kind of book you should be considering. (In fact I am not sure if you can even call this book sci-fi. Something more like a futurist approach to technorealism? Or an intriguingly fictionalized speculation of AI technology?)I have a background in artificial intelligence research (I majored in CS and philosophy back in college, and I currently work for a tech thinktank), and I am an avid lover of stories that take place in urban settings. This book pretty much encompasses all I want to read about the way AI interacts with our human society, and the writers did a GREAT job.The book comes in ten stories. Each story, happening exactly 20 years from now, takes place in a different city in the world (aka ten versions of the future in the year 2041). AI technology is at the heart of every story: deep learning, image recognition, GAN, deepfake…each story is paired with an essay explaining the central technology. My favorite stories are the one set in Africa and the one set in Korea. Though I would have liked to read about what becomes of globalization in 2041 and see more country-to-country interactions (climate change is one of the big topics the book tackles, what is the UN doing, for example?), but the writer Chen generally maintains a one-place-per-story approach, trying to include as many aspects of everyday life as possible. The themes include job seeking, COVID, data privacy, bitcoin—even virtual idols, can you believe it?Throughout the read, I am repeatedly reminded of The Age of Em by Robin Hanson — another work that imagines a historicized version of the future where robots roam the Earth that I picked up a few years ago. Hanson attempts to describe what a society would look like after “emulated minds” take over Earth, tackling the topic mostly through economics and psychology. However, I have to say, though AI2041 depicts a similar futuristic/robotcentric setting, it is flat-out better. Better in every aspect. And I think what made the crucial difference is the writing itself. The writer Chen Qiufan’s storytelling skills are superb. Although it says in the cover page that the book is a translation, I honestly don’t think any of the nuances had been lost in translation (the praise should also go to the translators). The stories read as fresh as new. The narrative flows smoothly. Chen seamlessly weaves together the technology and the stories and characters, and it does not seem forced at all. He gracefully engages his readers in each of the little “versions of the futures” taking place in different cities in the world. In love with Chen’s writing style, I looked up his name and found out that he has written another long form sci-fi, Waste Tide. Just ordered a copy, too!Then, the essays. To be honest, I was more excited about what it has to offer about AI, but the technology depicted in the book does not deviate so much from mainstream research and predictions. However, I can imagine that someone who wants to educate themselves on AI and its implications getting a lot out of their read. Lee’s essays are well-written and cuts straight to the point. He achieves clarity and precision without relying too much on the regular jargon, and I think this is another point of strength. I can even imagine this book being used in college as a kind of interdisciplinary, introductory textbook to artificial intelligence or science & literature.In general, I highly recommend this book. If you are someone like me, read it for the sake of the stories, at least!

I took up this book as a friend of one of the authors and were impressed by both. With an unusual format of paired short stories (by Chen) and commentaries (by Lee), they introduced readers to AI technologies and their likely further developments in two decades, and more intriguingly, imagined how people would be living in such a profoundly AI-transformed world. Chen’s fictions are intricate, tender, and always with reassuring happy endings. His outlook is worldly although all stories show a touch of other-worldly almost fairy tale-like quality. Lee’s writing is excellent and authentic, imbued with authority, confidence, forward-looking and optimism, although the last of which is oddly (unintended, I’m sure) contrasted or undercut by an unmitigated melancholy tone of Chen’s tales despite happy endings. Overall, a very fun and interesting book. Congrats!However, I did get away with the impression that “the more it changes the more it remains the same”. As transformative and profound as the Authors believe AI technologies really are, in their imagined brave new world, we see racism, terrorism, social injustice, and human loneliness, desperation and deception – very much the same world we are living in right now. Can technology elevate a society at all? From this perspective, the book has provided but a limited vision.

To say that AI 2041 is enlightening and valuable, is to understate its significance. It’s organized around ten short stories - vignettes of future life transformed by advances in AI and data science that cover how we will learn, amuse ourselves, live in cities, deal with pandemics and more. Each story is sandwiched between a non-fiction introduction and an epilogue that enable the reader to relate the likely trajectory of technology’s evolution to its impact on our social fabric. In so doing, the authors have created a new genre of “scientific fiction” that is sure to enlighten anyone who wonders where the heck this is all heading.Underneath its stories, AI2041 poses a more fundamental question that can be summed up as “so what for the humans?” Specific ponder-worthy topics include: “What is a career?” “How is our sense of what it means to be human likely to evolve?” “What will being ‘educated’ mean in the future?” “How will humans and machines come together in new forms of hybrid intelligence and what will be the new rules of engagement?”Much has been made of how AI will encroach on the “trade space” for human labor. As AI devours jobs involving routine thinking and pattern recognition, we will begin to bid farewell to countless professional activities such as reading x-rays, legal research and basic accounting. We can be certain that the pace of innovation will continue to accelerate as capital continues to pour into “AI everywhere” business models and their associated ventures. It is also inevitable that we will need to continuously ‘negotiate’ our relationship with AI as it becomes ever more capable. It’s worth noting that back in the 1990’s, author Dan Simmons described a future in which AI would not only coexist with humans but would eventually declare its independence and develop multiple competing embodiments and relationships with humanity while it pursued its own creative project of developing an “ultimate intelligence.” So stay tuned.One of the key contributions of AI2041 is to show us how to thrive in a world increasingly shaped by technology. In a recent interview with me, Lee Kai-fu referred to the secret sauce of humans in the AI era as “warm skills.” I think this is a fundamental insight that calls out for more clarity about which proficiencies are inherently human and can never be replaced by technology. These include empathy, compassion, collaboration, a growth mindset, agility, trust building, and creativity among others – what some refer to as “21st century skills.”In the vintage short story Virtuoso by Herbert Goldstone, a robot asks an eminent pianist for permission to learn the piano. By day’s end, it plays Beethoven's Appassionata sonata with such feeling that it brings tears to the maestro’s eyes. The story concludes with the robot refusing further involvement music, saying that “some things were not meant for machines.” The point here is that while a robot may be able to perform music perfectly, at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter. Music is an inherently human activity, requiring human empathy and aesthetic sense to make a meaningful connection between performer and listener. What does matter is when humans create the work, perform it, appreciate it and are moved by it. And when we pay attention to the humanity in a performance – including its imperfections and idiosyncrasies – we express the kind of warm skills that will forever define our human ‘trade space.’Science fiction has historically opened our eyes to far horizons. AI2041’s scientific fiction gives us a way to open our eyes to what is actually going on all around us and where things are heading.