Mental strength can ensure our future in an AI economy

I refer to your report, “Hong Kong’s film industry is turning to AI to save time and money. Where do the humans come in?” (May 3) It’s true. Artificial intelligence (AI) has already been replacing humans and will continue to replace humans at an extraordinary speed. There are already many discussions on this issue in mainland China. Globally, roughly 40 per cent of the world’s jobs will be affected by AI, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Some industries will be more affected than others. One is manufacturing in which much of production and quality control may be taken over by AI.

Another industry is financial services. Yet another is the medical industry, where AI can be more effective than humans in diagnosis. IBM’s Watson has been helping doctors in lung cancer diagnosis for more than 10 years. It reportedly has an accuracy rate of 90 per cent, as compared to 50 per cent for human doctors.

Transport is another. Unmanned aviation vehicles have been used for delivery services in Guangdong province and other parts of China. Other vulnerable industries are education and law.

Now the question is: as individuals, what can we do? No one can give an exact answer. But one thing is for sure. We constantly unlearn and relearn things. We need to rediscover ourselves to explore what skills or talents we can develop. We also need to help our children do so because they are going to face a different world with different rules.

Some argue that perhaps the future is not that bleak for humans. New technologies may bring new opportunities, and we should maintain agility and flexibility.

In any case, since AI technology is changing so fast, business models and lifestyles will have to change accordingly. Facing such large-scale change, one needs to be mentally and emotionally strong enough. Therefore, mental balance and resilience should always be a top priority for every one of us.