By Gregg Wartgow, Special to AEM —
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in recent years is undeniable, and the advances made are poised to revolutionize businesses, economies and societies in the years to come.
“We are now building machines that have human intellectual equivalence,” said Zack Kass, a prominent AI futurist with more than a decade leading artificial intelligence, including a stint as head of commercialization in an artificial intelligence research company. OpenAI. According to Kass, the “AI revolution” started with tools like text-to-image and text-to-video, and it has now evolved into things like text-to-vector (i.e. CAD ) and even the text in smell. “Technology is constantly evolving and we truly envision a multi-modal future,” Kass said.
In his current advisory role, Kass has advised leading organizations like Coca-Cola, Boeing, and even the White House on AI strategy. He spoke about the future of AI at the AEM annual conference in November. What the future looks like will largely depend on how companies choose to leverage AI.
Save the Date: AEM Annual Conference 2025 – Join AEM November 19-21, 2025 at the JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa in Aventura, Florida. For more information, visit aem.org/annual.
As Kass explains, some elements of society have reservations about how the proliferation of AI could displace workers and, perhaps, even result in a more dehumanized world where people are more interested in virtual reality than by physical reality. Some also wonder whether AI could lead to intellectual devolution in humans.
Perhaps the biggest concern is what could happen if the AI goes wrong. The unintended consequences of machine learning, resulting from a machine not being trained on what not do, are real. “The good news is that the smartest people in AI are focusing on this alignment problem,” Kass pointed out.
More good news is that the cost of implementing AI has decreased significantly as the technology has advanced. Development the next iteration, such as evolving from ChatGPT 3.5 to ChatGPT 4.0, requires significant investment. But for everyday organizations to start taking advantage of the latest tools, the cost has fallen exponentially.
“The cost of running ChatGPT 4 was $60 per million tokens (units of data processed by an AI model),” Kass explained as an example. “Today it’s about $4. This is important because any time the price of a critical resource drops this much and this quickly, there is an economic explosion. Very good things happen when very important things become cheap. »
Kass envisions three phases of integration in what he calls the AI revolution. Phase 1, the enhanced application phase, is already well underway. This is where organizations and individuals begin to leverage AI as standalone applications and tools integrated into everyday software.
Phase 2, expected to begin in 2027, ushers in an era of autonomous agents where goals and tasks are assigned to machines. These machines then perform these tasks in different applications. “It’s like Siri that actually works,” Kass said with a laugh.
Phase 3, expected to begin around 2035, is where AI will move more toward a natural language operating system, where communication with AI will be very similar to human-to-human communication. Kass is particularly excited about this phase because it opens the door to mainstream adoption of AI, even by those who are not tech-savvy.
“One of the biggest problems with the digital divide today is that machines are not second nature and many people are left behind because they don’t know how to use technology,” he said. Kass said. “Phase 3 will change that. The accessibility of this technology will improve considerably.
In this perspective, the world will soon have access to fully integrated and unlimited intelligence.
“We are entering our next renaissance,” Kass said. “We are on the verge of a massive expansion of human potential. So one of the questions we need to ask ourselves is how to harness machines in this next renaissance.
“We are now building machines that have human intellectual equivalence. The technology is constantly developing and we truly envision a multimodal future.” – Zack Kass, AI futurist
The pace at which the AI revolution unfolds depends on two things. The first is to cross the technological threshold in terms of what a machine can be called upon to do. Brilliant minds are already working on it and making significant progress. Second, and more importantly, there is the societal threshold at which society decides what it wants a machine to do.
“It’s actually the societal thresholds that will most determine our future,” Kass said.
Throughout history, technological and societal thresholds have been very aligned. But as society has evolved and technology has become more advanced, society has put more safeguards in place to mitigate the perceived risk of adopting new technologies. Today, in the 21st century, it can be difficult to move this societal threshold.
“That’s why the future depends not on what machines can do, but on what our tolerance will be for their points of failure,” Kass said. “Risk adjustment can be difficult. The problem will not be whether AI can do something good, but whether we will be penalized if it fails.”
It is important to think about how AI can enrich a society by improving productivity, increasing joy and reducing suffering. Focusing on benefits can help shift societal thresholds. All of this is linked to the massive expansion of human potential.
Kass said there is already evidence of this expansion. Data shows that what a person in the United States can make today based on GDP is 70% higher than it was in 1995. “In the next five years, I think it will be 100%,” Kass speculates. “In 10 years it might be 1,000%. I’m not exaggerating. »
The potential for scientific breakthroughs is just as promising as productivity gains. As Kass pointed out, AI has already contributed to the discovery of new antibiotics, among other celebrations. “I believe AI will ultimately be able to solve problems like quantum computing and fusion energy, as well as biological and life sciences like cancer,” Kass said. “This will probably happen within the next 30 years.”
The prevalence of AI in everyday life could also lead to huge amounts of time being reclaimed by people, time that they could start spending on things that make their lives more enjoyable. It could also be seen as a risk, especially for those who consider their work to be the most important thing they do. Kass said it’s important to keep things in perspective.
“When most people think about the idea of AI taking their jobs, their next thought turns to the economics of how they’re going to make a living,” Kass said. “It’s a mistake. Each industrial revolution has had profoundly positive economic consequences. Wages, productivity and safety are increasing. Unemployment is decreasing. But that still doesn’t equate to happiness. Some people cannot overcome the emotional damage of losing their job and therefore cannot see the economic benefits.
As individuals, Kass said it is vital to “learn how to learn” in an AI-powered future. “Don’t assume that what you learn today will be what you will be tomorrow, and don’t assume that the skills you have today will be enough,” Kass said.
As a business, it is equally important to recognize that tomorrow will likely be different from today. This type of environment favors businesses willing to adapt.
Finally, it’s worth considering the things AI can’t do and leveraging them to establish your own sustainable brand. Kass calls this “the optimization of the most humanistic qualities.”
“AI is good at computational tasks, but not good at emotional tasks,” Kass said. He shared a personal story about how his father, an oncologist, was recently celebrated not only for his medical expertise, but also for the impact he had on patients on a personal level.
“The best thing people can do is demonstrate courage, curiosity, wisdom and empathy,” Kass advised.
These incredibly powerful human traits, combined with revolutionary technology like AI, represent a future that looks very promising.
Subscribe to AEM Industry Advisor for more industry insights.