Former Governor Michael Dukakis wrote in his letter calling for contributions to the AI World Society (AIWS) Summit, “The real-world applications of AI will bring revolutionary changes and will have profound effects on the future of humanity. The changes will bring challenges to societal norms and economic models that we have relied on for decades. And we would be wise to prepare for all that will mean…” But, “our national governments have been slow to act. And international bodies such as the United Nations have yet to effectively address the problem.”
The AIWS Summit is filling in this void, serving as a place where the brightest minds on the planet can work together, to find the innovative solutions that will help us build a brighter future. This week, we introduce a talk by Professor Hiroshi Esaki of the University of Tokyo about his vision for the new Internet.
He highlighted several key challenges and opportunities for the Internet: trust, de-silo, edge-heavy computing, transition from the Internet of Things to the Internet of Functions, global versus local national policies, and the Internet-by-Design.
On the issue of de-siloing, instead of having verticals working independently, he calls for horizontal cooperation, for example, by a platform for sharing of data between the verticals. When it comes to IoT, the Internet of Things, we currently focus on making the “physical things”, whereas we should grow the Internet by introducing “digital functions” instead. The latter will make the cooperation and integration of different things to work together much more easily. He gave examples about physical things such as money and lock key as the obstacle for digital innovation, inconvenient for sharing economy.
Professor’s Esaki full talk for the AIWS Summit is here.