Leadership by Algorithm summary

If you’re a fan of sci-fi movies, the notion of intelligent machines probably worries you. In film after film, we’ve seen humankind develop super-smart robots only for them to rebel against their creators, with disastrous consequences every time.

Surely, you might think, these stories contain a lesson for us. But if they do, it’s not one that’s been heeded; a quick glance at the world of business will tell you that.

Year after year, artificial intelligence has been growing smarter – and industry leaders, eager to maximize their profits, have been paying close attention to these new, intelligent machines.

The key message here is: The AI revolution is coming, whether we like it or not.

So how will artificial intelligence change the world? To answer that question, we first need to look at what exactly the term AI refers to.

Put simply, AI describes a program that swallows data as its raw material and issues conclusions as its finished product. To do this, AI uses algorithms, a system of mathematical calculations that takes the data you enter, runs some computations on it, and produces useful findings as a result.

So far, this all sounds fairly innocuous, right? Well, think again. In 2016, a computer program developed by Google beat the world champion at Go, a Chinese board game even more complex than chess. For many, this was a watershed moment. People used to think that excelling at Go required a human touch – but Google’s AlphaGo program proved them wrong.

After this victory, many businesspeople began to wonder whether AI might outstrip human judgment in their own fields. It didn’t take long to find the answer. Just as AI was able to choose the most strategic moves in a game of Go, it’s also able to indicate the course that businesses should take to achieve optimal results.

That’s why current estimates predict that AI will add $13 trillion to the global economy over the next decade, changing the way businesses are managed for good. 

With money like that on the line, the adoption of AI seems inevitable. But what will its human impact be, besides enriching investors?