Start-up course- Deep Thought

There is a lot out there that we don’t know; deep in the oceans, deep in outer space and there is technology that is perhaps more advanced than ourselves. AI– artificial intelligence and computer science has developed to such an extent that it can outperform humans more efficiently, dramatically changing the way we live. Are we ready for this?

At this week’s startup course we were fortunate to be joined by Mark Gazit, CEO, President and Board Member in Fast Growing Global Companies (Cisco, Skyvision, Deltathree Inc) and Professor Amir Averbuch of Computer Sciences from Tel Aviv University. Both explained how robots can detect certain patterns of behaviour that humans cannot such as fraud and other crimes.

Mark, explained how if and when we are hacked we often have no idea as the ‘who and the why’ unlike conventional crimes where there are ransoms and clear motives. The cyberspace has become more and more complex and therefore AI answers and solutions are required to solve this. But what does this mean for us?

If robots replaced humans where would that leave millions of people working in manufacturing. Who wants to crush the working class, thus potentially having catastrophic economic consequences. Robots may seem practical on a micro scale but on a macro scale maybe they are not? There are some advances in technology that we are simply not ready for.

Despite this there is no doubt we are moving into a programmable world, where our lives are becoming more determined by machines and technology rather than human beings. The prices of food at a supermarket can be ‘live prices’ adjusting every second depending upon the day’s supply and demand and currency rates. Even though we are rightfully nervous to replace human behaviour with machines, they are certain practices that we follow that are outdated and potentially holding us back.

Neuroscientist Henry Markham set out his vision in 2009 to build a complete model of a human brain-from synapses to hemispheres- and simulate it on a supercomputer. What will be the consequences of this? His mantra on innovation though is applicable to all of us budding entrepreneurs, ‘my mantra is diversity. I clone my mentors. I copy everything they do, and then I innovate on top of it.’ I suppose this is one of the central themes of having a startup course here at eToro. We want our employees to embrace the ideas of the founders of the company, learn from their vision but also identify as to where we can build the company and be more creative.

AI is innovative and creative, but whether it will benefit the world on a macro scale in the near future remains to be seen.