Latest / Chief in Tech Deep Dive Shortcast / Chief in Tech S1E4 - 10x Human: AI, Quantum, and the Future of Work (Dr. Kristin M Gilkes, Global Quantum Leader at EY)

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Chief in Tech S1E4 - 10x Human: AI, Quantum, and the Future of Work (Dr. Kristin M Gilkes, Global Quantum Leader at EY) · Chief in Tech Deep Dive Shortcast

• 0:00
  So we're diving into AI and quantum computing today, huh?
• 0:03
  Seems like Dr. Kristin Gilkes's talk
• 0:05
  at that Women in Tech conference
• 0:07
  really got people thinking.
• 0:08
  And yeah, I get it.
• 0:09
  It does feel like we're on the edge
• 0:11
  of something really big, game changing even.
• 0:14
  Oh, definitely.
• 0:15
  The potential, when you bring AI
• 0:17
  and quantum computing together, it's huge.
• 0:20
  I mean, we could be looking at solving problems
• 0:23
  we thought were impossible.
• 0:24
  It's funny, right?
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  Like everyone hears quantum
• 0:26
  and their mind goes straight to spaceships
• 0:28
  and teleportation, you know, the Marvel stuff.
• 0:31
  But Dr. Gilkes, she made it sound like the reality
• 0:34
  is even wilder.
• 0:35
  For sure.
• 0:36
  It's a completely different way of looking at computing.
• 0:38
  Our everyday computers, they're all ones and zeros.
• 0:41
  Predictable stuff.
• 0:42
  Quantum computing, that's not how it works.
• 0:43
  Yeah, the whole qubit thing,
• 0:45
  my brain kind of stalled out there for a sec.
• 0:47
  So it's not a one or a zero,
• 0:48
  it's both at the same time somehow.
• 0:50
  How does that even?
• 0:51
  Okay, okay, think of a regular bit like a coin, right?
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  Heads or tails?
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  Can't be both.
• 0:56
  Now, a qubit, imagine that coin spinning in the air
• 0:59
  before it lands.
• 1:01
  It's both possibilities at once, that superposition,
• 1:04
  that not sure state, that's where things get interesting.
• 1:08
  Okay, I think I'm following.
• 1:09
  Yeah.
• 1:10
  But how do you actually use that to, you know,
• 1:11
  solve problems in the real world?
• 1:13
  Dr. Gilkes said something about two two equaling pink.
• 1:16
  She did.
• 1:17
  Yeah.
• 1:18
  Of course, math still works the same way in our world.
• 1:20
  But that statement,
• 1:21
  it gets at what makes quantum computing special.
• 1:24
  It's not just about speed,
• 1:25
  it's finding solutions we wouldn't even think to look for.
• 1:28
  Imagine asking directions right.
• 1:29
  Regular computer, it'll give you the shortest route
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  using the roads that exist.
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  Quantum computer, it might find a shortcut
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  through like the 10th dimension
• 1:37
  and get you there 10 times faster.
• 1:38
  Whoa, okay, that's a lot.
• 1:42
  But let's bring it back down to earth for a minute.
• 1:44
  What kind of problems are we talking about
• 1:45
  actually solving with this stuff?
• 1:47
  Dr. Gilkes, she's really passionate about healthcare, right?
• 1:49
  Yeah.
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  Imagine predicting diseases before someone even gets sick
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  or treatments tailored to your specific genes.
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  So instead of just treating symptoms,
• 1:57
  we're talking about stopping illness altogether.
• 1:59
  Exactly, and it goes beyond healthcare.
• 2:02
  Climate change, how the financial system works,
• 2:05
  even designing new materials.
• 2:07
  These are all areas where quantum computing's power,
• 2:10
  combined with how AI learns,
• 2:11
  could lead to breakthroughs we can barely imagine.
• 2:14
  It's a lot to take in.
• 2:15
  Before we get into specific examples,
• 2:17
  it's worth remembering,
• 2:18
  this isn't some far off sci-fi future, right?
• 2:20
  Dr. Gilkes made it seem like it's a lot closer
• 2:22
  than people think.
• 2:23
  Yeah, she did.
• 2:24
  And that's what makes this so exciting,
• 2:26
  and maybe a little bit, well, intimidating.
• 2:28
  But it's also why we gotta be talking about this now.
• 2:31
  What's at stake, how we can make this tech work
• 2:33
  for everyone.
• 2:34
  Definitely.
• 2:35
  And one thing Dr. Gilkes brought up
• 2:36
  that stuck with me,
• 2:37
  what happens when AI gets as smart as humans,
• 2:40
  this NGI, artificial general intelligence,
• 2:44
  kind of both cool and freaky, right?
• 2:47
  Are we talking helpful robot buddies,
• 2:49
  or are we talking robots taking over the world?
• 2:53
  Dr. Gilkes seemed pretty optimistic about it all, though.
• 2:55
  Yeah, she did.
• 2:56
  And I think a lot of that comes from her focusing
• 2:57
  on the practical stuff,
• 2:58
  how this tech can actually help people not replace them.
• 3:00
  Okay, so less robot apocalypse,
• 3:02
  more like robots solving all the really hard problems.
• 3:05
  Exactly.
• 3:06
  She used this example of a doctor's office, right?
• 3:09
  But the AI has already looked at your charts.
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  All your data basically has a diagnosis ready
• 3:14
  before you even walk in the door.
• 3:16
  Think of all the time and energy that would save,
• 3:18
  not to mention catching things early.
• 3:20
  That's kind of wild.
• 3:22
  It'd be like having a whole team of super doctors
• 3:24
  working in the background crunching numbers
• 3:26
  so the human doctor can actually, you know,
• 3:28
  talk to you, figure out the best way to help.
• 3:30
  Right, and it's not just healthcare.
• 3:32
  Think about education.
• 3:34
  Dr. Gilkes was talking about AI creating custom lesson plans,
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  adapting to how each student learns best.
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  No more one size fits all classrooms.
• 3:42
  Everyone gets a personalized education.
• 3:44
  That would be huge,
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  especially for kids who don't learn well in the,
• 3:48
  you know, the typical classroom setup.
• 3:50
  It'd be like having a personal tutor with you all the time.
• 3:52
  And it gets even wilder, right?
• 3:54
  Because you talked about this recursive learning thing.
• 3:57
  So this AI tutor, it's not just adapting to you,
• 4:00
  it's learning from how you learn.
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  It's constantly getting better, smarter,
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  based on your progress.
• 4:06
  Okay, now that is some next level stuff AI
• 4:08
  that doesn't just know stuff,
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  but it actually gets smarter the more it interacts with us.
• 4:12
  Kind of amazing, kind of spooky all at once.
• 4:14
  Definitely brings up some big questions about,
• 4:16
  like what does intelligence even mean anymore, right?
• 4:20
  But Dr. Gilkes point is, this isn't some fixed destiny.
• 4:24
  We get to decide how this goes,
• 4:26
  how to use this tech to make things better for everyone.
• 4:28
  And that brings us to the big question, doesn't it?
• 4:31
  What's our part in all this?
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  Because it's easy to get caught up in the,
• 4:34
  whoa, cool gadgets part,
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  but these are powerful tools, right?
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  Like any tool, they can be used for good,
• 4:39
  or well, not so good.
• 4:41
  Exactly.
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  And I think Dr. Gilkes would say,
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  the most important thing right now is to learn.
• 4:45
  Stay informed, what's happening with AI, with quantum,
• 4:49
  and to actually talk about it, the ethical stuff.
• 4:52
  It's about understanding how amazing it could be,
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  but also the risks,
• 4:56
  making sure we're paying attention as it all develops.
• 4:58
  Very sure.
• 4:59
  And it's not just up to the governments, the big companies.
• 5:01
  It's about having these conversations everywhere,
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  in our communities, schools, even at the dinner table.
• 5:06
  This AI quantum future, it's not happening to us.
• 5:10
  It's something we're all gonna be part of.
• 5:12
  That's a good point to,
• 5:14
  I think to wrap up this part of the discussion,
• 5:16
  we've gone from quantum, what is it,
• 5:18
  to AI in the doctor's office, to personalized education.
• 5:22
  It's a lot.
• 5:23
  Barely scratched the surface, really.
• 5:24
  Yeah.
• 5:25
  But hopefully it's given everyone something to think about,
• 5:27
  maybe sparked some curiosity
• 5:28
  to learn more about all this.
• 5:29
  Before we move on though,
• 5:31
  what's stuck with you from all this?
• 5:33
  What about Dr. Gilkes vision of the future got you excited,
• 5:36
  or maybe a little worried, we wanna know.
• 5:38
  It really is amazing to think about, right?
• 5:40
  AI and quantum, changing everything,
• 5:42
  healthcare, education, like you said.
• 5:44
  But I gotta admit, part of me still goes back to,
• 5:47
  well, what about jobs?
• 5:48
  If this stuff can do everything better and faster,
• 5:51
  where does that leave everyone else?
• 5:53
  Million dollar question, right.
• 5:54
  And to her credit, Dr. Gilkes,
• 5:56
  she went right there in her talk.
• 5:58
  But her take on it was interesting.
• 6:00
  She doesn't see AI as a job destroyer,
• 6:03
  more like a job creator.
• 6:04
  Even a multiplier, she said.
• 6:06
  Multiplier, I'm not sure I follow that one.
• 6:08
  So her point was AI, especially with quantum in the mix,
• 6:12
  it'll free us up from all the boring stuff,
• 6:14
  the repetitive tasks that take up so much of our workday.
• 6:17
  Imagine, right, your AI assistant handles scheduling,
• 6:21
  emails, even crunching data for you.
• 6:24
  What does that free you up to do?
• 6:26
  I guess that leaves what, the creative stuff,
• 6:28
  the strategy, the big picture thinking,
• 6:30
  the things humans are still better at, right?
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  Algorithms haven't quite figured that out yet.
• 6:33
  Exactly.
• 6:34
  And Dr. Gilkes, she thinks that shift,
• 6:37
  that's where all these new jobs come in, new industries,
• 6:40
  whole new ways of working that we haven't even thought of.
• 6:42
  It's not replacing us, it's like augmenting us,
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  helping us do more than we ever could alone.
• 6:47
  So less humans versus machines,
• 6:49
  more like humans with machines working together.
• 6:53
  Exactly.
• 6:53
  And this is where Dr. Gilkes got real,
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  that teamwork, it needs trust.
• 6:58
  And that's a whole other can of worms, right?
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  How do we, like as a society, learn to trust AI,
• 7:04
  especially as it gets more complicated, more powerful,
• 7:07
  even when we don't get how it makes decisions?
• 7:09
  Right, the big ethical question.
• 7:11
  What happens if AI does something good, gets a good result,
• 7:14
  but we don't understand why?
• 7:15
  How does that work with, you know,
• 7:17
  wanting things to be transparent, accountable?
• 7:20
  Exactly the conversation we need to be having.
• 7:22
  Like right now, Dr. Gilkes was saying AI ethics,
• 7:25
  that can't be an afterthought.
• 7:26
  It needs to be built in from the start,
• 7:28
  part of the foundation of this whole technology.
• 7:30
  So it's not just about teaching AI to be smart,
• 7:32
  it's teaching it to be ethical, to match our values,
• 7:35
  even as those values change and grow.
• 7:38
  100%.
• 7:39
  And that's a conversation everyone needs to be in on.
• 7:41
  Not just the tech people, but philosophers, ethicists,
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  artists, even writers.
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  We're talking about the moral compass
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  of some seriously powerful tools here.
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  That's a big responsibility, but it's also, you know,
• 7:53
  a chance to really think about what matters.
• 7:55
  What does it mean to be human?
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  What kind of future are we trying to build?
• 7:58
  And that future, like Dr. Gilkes said,
• 8:00
  it's not set in stone, right?
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  We've got this chance to get it right,
• 8:04
  to use all this AI, quantum, everything,
• 8:07
  to make things fairer, make the world better, more just.
• 8:10
  But that won't just happen, it takes work.
• 8:12
  We have to pay attention, be involved,
• 8:14
  ask the hard questions.
• 8:15
  And I think that's the perfect place for us to wrap up.
• 8:17
  This has been, well, a lot.
• 8:19
  Mind-blowing stuff, things to really think about.
• 8:22
  If you're anything like me, you're walking away from this,
• 8:25
  both totally pumped about the future,
• 8:27
  but maybe a little overwhelmed by how big it all is.
• 8:30
  It's a lot to process, definitely.
• 8:32
  But that's kind of the exciting part, right?
• 8:34
  We're at this edge,
• 8:35
  about to see some really incredible things,
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  and we all get to be part of figuring out what comes next.
• 8:41
  So yeah, keep learning, keep asking those questions,
• 8:43
  keep talking to each other,
• 8:45
  because the future of, well, intelligence,
• 8:48
  whatever that even means anymore,
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  it depends on us figuring this out.
• 8:51
  Thanks for being along for the ride, everyone.