Ray Kurzweil on The Transformational Trends in Technology

Ray Kurzweil

Ray Kurzweil was featured in a one-on-one interview at the New York Times Global Leaders Collective, recently, discussing global accelerating change, artificial intelligence and other factors that are dramatically changing our world.

Recently renowned inventor Ray Kurzweil was featured in a one-on-one interview at the New York Times Global Leaders Collective, with host and top journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin. They discussed Kurzweil’s theories on global accelerating change including examining his insights on how computing and information technologies can advance markets and lead to progress.

"If you look at the impact on employment, the perception is entirely opposite the reality."

When asked about the future of the economy in light of artificial intelligence and other accelerating technology Kurzweil responds, "economic growth statistics completely ignore the increasing value of a dollar. I spent a few hundred dollars for this device on my belt [referring to his mobile phone] and it counts as a few hundred dollars of economic activity. This, despite that it is a billion dollars circa 1980, or a trillion dollars circa 1965 of computation and communication."

"Manufacturing is going to be transformed," continues Kurzweil. "If you look at the impact on employment, the perception is entirely opposite the reality." He also describes how polls continuously show that people perceive things are getting worse, when they are actually getting much better for many more people.

"People are actually better off, but their perception of their economic security is infused with more knowledge of the change in the world," he says in reference to the recent US election results.

Responding to Bill Gates and Elon Musk's latest descriptions of the threats of artificial intelligence, Kurzweil states that people go through three phases when examining the potential of new technology. One is inspiration, then fear at the potential dangers of the technologies, and finally, a balanced view that the technologies offer both risks and rewards.

The New York Times hosted the first meeting of the Global Leaders’ Collective, a select group of influential C.E.O.s, executives and innovators who lead companies in the luxury space around the world.

The purpose of this inaugural summit was to bring the best minds from diverse industries together to assess and navigate the dramatic new challenges in a key global market. In the wake of Brexit, President-Elect Trump's administration on the horizon, innovative technologies impacting strategic decisions, volatile demand in emerging markets, geopolitical risk and shifting trends in consumer behavior, companies require stronger leadership than ever before.

Kurzweil has written five national best-selling books, including New York Times best sellers The Singularity Is Near and How to Create a Mind. He is co-founder and chancellor of Singularity University and a director of engineering at Google, heading up a team developing machine intelligence and natural language understanding.