Smart chairs? Yes, that's a thing now.

I recently published a commentary about claims of artificial intelligence (AI) driven chairs. There is clear hype in the innovation and technology domain. I've attended a number of events in recent months and the claims are getting absurd. Peak AI anyone?

Likely not. Whether we like it or not, society has not choice. Technological change is a constant. Breakthroughs in quantum computing, 5G, and other deep tech will profoundly change not only the technological landscape, but also how society functions. Progress will not be linear, social change rarely takes the neat linear lines in financial and economic projections. The abundance of liquidity and search for yield continues, ten years and counting.

The sheer amount of capital chasing after the next breakthrough is bound to either systemically or accidentally uncover more innovation. Maybe there is some wealth distributive effect of the plethora of start-ups and amount of investments made into them, perhaps a silver lining.

I am no Luddite, I do firmly believe that we are upon a technological revolution of sorts due to advances in computing power, cloud computing, 5G as well as quantum computing. These changes are upon us, whether we like it or not.

There is a certain path dependency to how we envision a future and build towards it.

However, for those of us who lived through the hype of the 2000s and the dot com mania, there are similar echos to today’s AI “mania”. 

Pet.com and grocery.com of 2000 were ahead of their times.

Similarly, some AI technologies will be ahead of their times, especially for mass adoption. However, while online grocery delivery took about 15 years to mature (from 2000), the adoption of AI will be faster. 

Read more at https://www.todayonline.com/commentary/my-chair-not-optimised-ai-are-you-sure-yours