Signals from the future:
Emerging trends that are likely to drive changes to the way we live, work and do business.
- How Singapore is helping 'future-food' companies scale up - Business Insider - Singapore government strengthening position in food-tech innovation and now is a leading destination for alternative protein companies
- Amazon Delivery Drones: How the Sky Could Be the Limit for Market Dominance - Singularity Hub - Amazon plans to launch delivery drones in two new areas—one in the UK and one in Italy. Priced at $484 today and expected to reduce to $63 by 2025.
- Cleveland Clinic to deliver prescription drugs to patients’ homes using drones - Plans to begin using drones to deliver certain medications directly to patients’ homes, starting in 2025.
- In a Warming U.S., Smaller Manufacturers Are Feeling the Heat - Kellogg Insight - The effects of climate change driving concentration in the manufacturing industry, as workers from struggling smaller firms have been absorbed by larger ones.
- There was a heavy dose of the future at the 2023 Japan Mobility Show - Ars Technica - A glimpse into the future. Definitely check this one out.
- Three microreactor designs selected for US test bed experiment - World Nuclear News - 5MWe "battery" that could provide versatile power for remote communities, universities, mining, even the moon.
- Toyota's ammonia engine could compete with EVs - The Pareto Investor - Toyota's alternative to EVs is a modified internal combustion engine consuming ammonia with 90% fewer carbon emissions.
- Underground thermal energy networks are becoming crucial to the US’s energy future. Their advantages extend beyond reducing carbon emissions. - 13 US states now implementing underground thermal energy networks that require skills from maintaining natural gas pipelines.
Focus Issue: AI Regulation
The topic of AI Regulation is once again leading headlines with some recent developments:
- Australia, along with other 28 other countries, have signed the Bletchley Declaration that establishes a shared understanding of the opportunities and risks posed by frontier artificial intelligence. The aim is to establish a common approach to AI regulation.
- US President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order on Safe, Secure and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence
- AI in the C-Suite? Why We’ll Need New Laws to Govern AI Agents in Business - Singularity Hub - Legal experts in AI are now calling for us to adapt laws given the possibility of AI-run companies.
Despite recent calls that Australian AI regulation isn't moving fast enough, this is clearly an area which is attracting a lot of serious attention. And it should - bad faith actors wielding Gen-AI have the potential to cause serious harms to our society and directly to individuals.
But according to a report by Microsoft (June 2023), Gen-AI could deliver between $45B and $115B added-value to the Australian economy by 2030. This rapid evolving technology has the potential to transform several sectors of our economy and society. So, it is important to have a robust and coherent framework for regulating AI in Australia, to ensure that it is used in a responsible, inclusive, and beneficial manner.
One of the main impacts of AI regulation is that it can help foster trust and confidence in AI systems. The Australian Government’s AI Ethics Framework, provides a scaffold for businesses to use to demonstrate that they are committed to designing, developing, and implementing AI systems that respect human rights, diversity, privacy, security, and accountability. But it is voluntary and also from 2019 so might have some gaps that do not cover emerging technology today.
Regulation can provide clarity and consistency on the expectations and standards for AI development and use, and it can reduce uncertainty and ambiguity for businesses and encourage them to invest in AI research and development, which will undoubtedly be a good thing.
The trick, of course, will be how to create the right kind of regulation. Industry luminaries like Yann LeCun have spoken out against fear mongering campaigns by large AI companies that might be directed not for safety but rather for entrenching themselves as AI gatekeepers.
And while the industry heavyweights occupy the news feeds, open source LLMs continue to leap ahead in capability, with some achieving 90% equivalence to OpenAI's GPT4. Good luck regulating models which can run on high-end consumer machines.
Strategic insights
For organisations to better equip themselves for the acceleration of AI, consider these actions:
- Build capacity and expertise in AI - invest in developing AI capabilities, such as hiring or training AI specialists, acquiring or creating AI solutions and participating in AI research and innovation.
- Create a suitable AI strategy - align your AI objectives with your overall vision, mission and values, and then identify the opportunities and challenges of AI for your sector, market and customers.
- Implement AI governance - establish clear and consistent policies, procedures and standards for the design, development, deployment and evaluation of AI systems, to ensure compliance with ethical and legal principles and obligations.
- Support a human-centered culture for AI - foster a culture of trust, transparency, accountability and collaboration among stakeholders and ensure that human rights, dignity and agency are respected and protected by AI systems.
- Engage with the AI ecosystem - actively participate in the dialogue and consultation on the regulation of AI in Australia. Seek collaboration with other actors in the ecosystem such as government, industry associations, and research institutions.
Deep strategy:
Longer-form articles rich with insights:
- Should We Focus on Work-Life Balance or Work-Life Wellbeing? - CEPRO - Shifting employee attitude towards the concept of juggling two separate lives is causing many to view the traditional approach to ‘work-life balance’ as archaic today.
- How Corporate Purpose Leads to Innovation - Harvard Business Review - The best innovations reinforce the company's purpose and create mutual value for its customers, employees, communities and investors. Four tips to improve the success rate of innovation at your organisation.
- Artificial Intelligence May Be Humanity’s Most Ingenious Invention-And Its Last? - Vanity Fair - Though provoking article looking at the existential "risk" of AI.
- Predictions 2024: An EX Recession And An AI Revolution Reshape The Future Of Work - Featured Blogs - Key predictions: DEI investments will fall, EX and culture energy will decline, and AI will cause mischief in recruiting. Has a registration link to get the full report.
Business at the point of impact:
Emerging issues and technology trends can change the way we work and do business.
- How CEOs can lead the ‘revolutionary transition’ to generative AI - Fortune - CEOs discuss how to lead implementation of AI.
- Gen AI Adoption? Focus On The Customer - ChiefExecutive.net - an interesting discussion of how to deal with "the ultimate declaration of customer independence".
- How Data And AI Are Reshaping Contemporary HR Practices - Forbes - Data-driven and AI-enabled HR improves efficiency and accuracy in internal processes and also helps human resources professionals create more personalised and engaging experiences for their organisations.
- 10 Ways to Prove You’re a Strategic Thinker - Harvard Business Review - some ways to help elevate how you communicate and think about strategy.
- Eyes on the future: interview with Ian Kahn - DC Velocity - Futurist Ian Kahn provides some insights into the future of supply chains.
- Navigating The Future: 10 Global Trends That Will Define 2024 - Forbes - A short roundup of key trends that might shape the future of 2024.
- Sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch - could generative AI soon be added to our list of senses? - Business Insider - Interesting concept that AI acts as a seventh sense that creates frictionless experiences.
- There’s an oncoming renaissance in cybersecurity as AI shifts the balance of power - Fast Company - AI might provide more advantages for defenders in cybersecurity.
