Asia’s AI agenda 9 Human capital and AI AI industry professionals echo this positive view of the technology’s ability to enhance, rather than “This is not scary. All our work lives replace, jobs. The notion that robots will soon steal will be complemented, for the jobs at any skill level and decimate entire professions is an exaggerated one, according to Baidu IDL better—we are not going director Lin Yuanqing. “Even the best robotic financial to be replaced. ” analyst is only going to prepare a report at 70% of the capability and insight of its human counterpart,” he Lin Yuanqing, Director, Baidu IDL says, though admitting that it will happen in a fraction of the time. “This is not scary. All our work lives will be complemented, for the better—we are not going to be replaced.” Despite AI’s rapid advances (or perhaps because of them), skepticism remains, and the industry is taking pains to address the doubts. Recently, an industry coalition called the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society was formed by some of the world’s largest technology firms, including Facebook, Google, and Amazon. But while this group’s almost apologetic name suggests that its main function is to stem the rise of job-robbing machines, the initiative’s primary role is to engender collaboration around data gathering and analysis to accelerate cognitive learning and drive further AI insight. © MIT Technology Review, 2016. All Rights Reserved.