Computer scientist and venture capitalist, Kai-Fu Lee, has reaffirmed his belief that artificial intelligence (AI) technology will replace at least half of the global human workforce by 2027.
Back in 2017, Kai-Fu Lee initially predicted that AI would take over a significant portion of human jobs. He has consistently held this stance ever since. In a 2018 interview with IEEE Spectrum, he acknowledged that while humans possess unique talents and skills that AI is unlikely to achieve, AI would still displace approximately half of the workforce. He specifically mentioned jobs such as truck-driving, telemarketing, dishwashing, fruit picking, and assembly-line work as being at risk.
Furthermore, Kai-Fu Lee stated that he believes AI will eventually become a foundational technology even more important than electricity and the internet combined.
In a recent interview with Fortune, when asked if his prediction still held weight in 2024, Kai-Fu Lee confidently asserted that it remains accurate. Despite facing criticism for being too aggressive with his predictions, he noted that the emergence of general AI has convinced many people to believe in the inevitability of AI’s dominance.
Kai-Fu Lee possesses an impressive background in the tech industry, having worked as an executive at Apple and later becoming the founder and director of Microsoft Research Asia. He then served as the vice president of Google and the head of Google China. Currently, he is the founder and chairman of Sinovation Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on developing global tech products and services. Additionally, he is the founder of 01.AI, an AI startup focused on creating products and services for the Chinese market.
Kai-Fu Lee’s predictions about the future of AI are shaped by his belief that China will ultimately surpass the rest of the world in AI technology.
Related:
How to control AI and incentivize humans with crypto