   This next century will bring with it exciting and new technologies that will change the world in more ways than one. Already since the invention of the computer and Internet, the world has come a long way in terms of technological as well as social advances. We are able to share information in ways people a hundred years ago never thought possible and with that, have access to more data than we ever thought useful. This data has allowed us to do incredible things like model the earth and all the buildings on it in 3 dimensions, create machines that we can interact with and they interact with us in return, and know the population of Kazakhstan in 3 seconds. Many of these advances are the result of our efforts to replicate the human thought and learning process in the form of a machine that has magnitudes more throughput ability than the human brain. These efforts are colloquially known as AI and its affects, possibilities, and abilities are in a position to grow exponentially in the next 100 years.
   The article “Artificial Intelligence and Life in 2030” lays out not only the advances that they see AI making in the next 30 years, but the social changes that it will bring along with it. This article makes some interesting points and is quite a realistic look at how AI may advance within the next 10 years and how we must be ready for it. The parts of the article that I find most fascinating is how it tries to explain and warn for the social changes that will take place in a society with AI being a natural presence. This article has a much more positive outlook on the future with AI in it than most of society has. Even men well versed and truly innovators for the subject, such as Elon Musk, have a much more grim view on a society with humans and AI interacting and working with each other. In my opinion, this is where the article fails most. Much of the positives laid out in the article imply, and require, a massive change in the way our society functions. The benefits of AI are at the forefront of the discussion and while it does lay out a compelling argument for how AI can and will improve the lives of millions, it neglects the innate selfishness of human nature and the way that American society perpetuates and encourages it. A prime example of this short coming is when the article talks about the financial benefits reaching all of society as AI is naturally much cheaper for businesses to maintain than human labor. While this is promising, it would require regulations to stop the business owners and CEOs from taking home most of those cost savings in the form of more wages and bonuses for them. This issue is kind of addressed in the last section of the article by laying out the necessary regulations and societal changes that are necessary if we are going to get the most we can out of AI, however, the researchers also argue that too many regulations will stifle the development and reach that AI will have in our society. So while I feel this was an insightful article, I feel that the true benefits of AI will never be seen until we, as a society, gives up on the selfishness that is so ingrained in us.
