#17 The Human Mirror: AI’s Role in the Fourth Industrial Revolution – with Alok Aggarwal

In this episode, we meet Alok Aggarwal, Founder, CEO, and Chief Data Scientist of Scry AI, a software company with technologists and domain experts that develops enterprise applications using proprietary AI algorithms for different domains. In this interview, we discuss his recently published book “The Fourth Industrial Revolution & 100 Years of AI (1950-2050): The Truth About AI and Why It’s Only a Tool.” Alok has been working as an innovator and developer in the field of AI for four decades, and we discuss some of the major topics in his career and book, including similarities and differences across the four scientific revolutions, the capabilities, limitations, and history of AI, and where we are going next. He proposes that AI is a mirror in which humans can see their reflections and that as we create more advanced AI, we will need to understand ourselves better. I hope this conversation can help to clarify some misconceptions about AI and inspire the listeners to reflect on what AI can teach us about humanity!

Thank you to our sponsor Nomono for the amazing podcast kit: https://nomono.co/

Recommended sources:

1. Aggarwal, Alok (2023). The Fourth Industrial Revolution & 100 Years of AI (1950-2050): The Truth About AI & Why It's Only a Tool: https://www.amazon.com/Fourth-Industrial-Revolution-Years-1950-2050/dp/B0CPQLQ7LL

2. Scry AI website: https://scryai.com/about-us/

3. Turing, Alan (1950). Computing Machinery and Intelligence, Mind, Vol LIX (236), 433–460. https://academic.oup.com/mind/article/LIX/236/433/986238?url=http://szyxflb.com&login=false

Timestamps: 01:43:32

[00:00:00] Intro of the episode.

[00:01:22] Sponsor: Nomono Podcasting Kit.

[00:02:16] Alok’s background in the fields of AI, Engineering and Computer Science, from

The IBM research division and Thomas J. Watson Research Center, to setting up an IBM India research lab, and his entrepreneurial journey with EvaluServe and Scry AI.

[00:07:00] Writing his recent book and the help from a book coach.

[00:09:10] The four industrial revolutions, and the inspiration from 2001 A Space Odyssey, the future decrease in the human population, and Alan Turing’s 1950 paper.

[00:17:37] Comparing technological changes with societal changes in perspectives of learning.

[00:20:48] Understanding human and artificial learning.

[00:23:00] Using AI as a tool for good rather than weaponizing it, and the implications of chat bots.

[00:29:30] The eight characteristics of an industrial revolution.

[00:47:39] The huge challenge with a globalized geopolitical discussion of regulations and data ownership.

[00:58:44] AI as a mirror for humanity and pitfalls related to gene editing and inequality of access.

[01:04:15] Opportunities for smaller players to make societal changes faster in education and beyond.

[01:08:01] Dealing with known and unknown biases.

[01:14:38] Diffiusion models

[01:21:37] AI and creativity and understanding the limitations of AI.

[01:28:40] Lost jobs and new jobs, and the future of flying cars.

[01:34:15] The reasons for his work and the meaning of life.

[01:42:36] Outro and concluding remarks.