In previous articles, I argued that for AI to be green, it needs to be trustworthy (which is why Dedoctive exists). But why do we even need AI? Would the world be greener, and perhaps better off altogether, if AI didn’t exist?

Shown below are current estimates of world population growth, showing how it’s slowing down and may soon reverse.

Less people means less value creation, especially as average age is going up globally – by 2030, 1 in 6 people in the world will be aged 60 years or over. With less workers per retiree, we are producing less per person. This puts the 20th century dream of pension-funded retirement under existential threat, so how are we to support long-lived people that eventually become incapable of working? And the pension crisis is only one of several threats to global financial stability, alongside housing, government debt, climate adaptation, and continual conflict.

In previous centuries, new sources of economic value emerged from sources that are no longer acceptable – extracting resources from colonies (e.g., silver mined in South America), gunboat diplomacy (e.g., forcing China to accept the opium trade), and large-scale human exploitation (e.g., Lancashire cotton mills). So where can we now look for the massive injection of value required to support an aging population, rectify a housing market derailed by financialization, and sustain government borrowing?

By augmenting human efficiency and effectiveness, AI can potentially step in. However, this won’t work if AI value-add is swept away by running costs – not just the energy consumption of data centres but the possibly far greater human effort required to check then correct AI outputs.

For AI to save us, it has to be trustworthy. Learn more about Dedoctive here.

Author

Keith Harrison-Broninski is an author, researcher, and keynote speaker specialising in cross-boundary collaboration, community antifragility, and technology for good. Keith’s awards include from Gartner for social enterprise and from the NHS for technology to replicate healthcare innovations.

Keith’s first book “Human Interactions” (2005) was described by Information Age as “the overarching framework for 21st century business technology”. Keith’s other books include two for Springer and three for the Workflow Management coalition. Keith’s most recent book “Supercommunities” (2021) was described by the Chief Executive of the RSA in his foreword as “Ranging from ancient history to economics to psychology to public policy ‘Supercommunities’ is both authoritative and highly readable. It puts our current challenges in context, shows why change is necessary and provides a trove of practical ideas for change makers.”

Vint Cerf, co-inventor of the Internet, in a second foreword, wrote “Supercommunities offers a path away from social and economic meltdown … We will need to replace short-term thinking with long term planning and execution if we are to regain upward motion towards common benefit for everyone on Spaceship Earth. To begin, read this book!”

Keith currently focuses on creating the Internet of Communities via his company’s revolutionary technology “Dedoctive” – a fundamental AI innovation, academically-validated for the MoD as fully trustworthy, that empowers reliable access to complex information for all.

Keith is also a jazz pianist, traditional folk musician, and classical composer. He has released 9 albums and performs regularly with a wide range of other musicians.

More information

Email Keith Harrison-Broninski: khb@dedoctive.ai