Guest:  David Vivancos;  Topics: David's new book "Automate or be Automated" plus a thorough artificial intelligence for now and the future discussion.

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We welcomed David Vivancos back to the program to discuss his new book, "Automate or be Automated," plus artificial intelligence now and in the future.  We started our one segment 93 minute discussion by asking our guest to give a brief report on Covid-19 in Spain, then we asked for an introduction to his new artificial intelligence themed book.  Our guest provided a short introduction to both the book and the subject of artificial intelligence, touching on a few things that would be discussion topics later in the interview.  For example, our guest mentioned upsetting labor through automation around the world, even at one point suggesting that nations may be compelled to start issuing a type of universal basic income (UBI).  As David got deeper into the subject and his book, he said that AI was already more than just a tool, he did a simple comparison with The Overview Effect that you will want to hear, and then he talked specifics that were emerging today as a result of Covid-19.

Our guest talked about using global AI doctors plus working on a global front to join together to prevent or at least better handle future pandemics and other problems.  At the same time, he said that as a result of the virus attack, there would also be a push for a more local handling of problems.  While this may sound like a bit of a contradiction, be sure to listen to all of what our guest said on this subject as he was not, in my opinion, contradicting himself.

We took our first call from Robert in Houston.  Robert zeroed in on AI and medicine as well as AI interactions with humans. Robert and David had much to say on these and related topics, plus they both talked about the dark side to AI.  David brought up the coding and using of special algorithms, governmental regulations that could prove damaging or beneficial to AI development and usage plus the subject of art and AI created "masterpieces."  Don't miss this most interesting discussion.  Before Robert finished his call, he brought up AI and space.  Our guest said AI would have an increasing presence in space.  The two of them had a short but comprehensive discussion on artificial intelligence applications applicable to all aspects of the space industry.  Finally,  I asked David about his talking point suggesting that AI could end democracy as we know it.  Both our guest and Robert had a few things to say about that.  One of the takeaways was that at some point we would need to trust the AI.

Our next caller was Kim from Mexico.  Kim wanted to talk about AI tasks as compared to human intelligence tasks.  Our guest said we were not there yet in terms of the AI doing the human intelligent tasks but we were moving in that direction.   David talked about needing new approaches and the need for different AI's to be able to talk to one another.   He also talked about the rules compelling robots and AI devices to obey.  Don't miss the full discussion between Kim and David, including David's mention then description of the three levels of automation.  Also in this discussion, Kim asked about the AI costs and if they were declining.  Our guest said yes with some reservations.  Don't miss all of what David said regarding AI costs, including the cost of gather data.  He stressed that the cost and problems associated with gathering quality and accurate data must not be overlooked or dismissed. 

After Kim's call, Todd from San Diego sent in an email asking if there were cultural differences in AI.  For example since our guest was from Spain talking from Spain, would there be significant cultural or other differences in artificial intelligence in Spain as compared to the U.S.  Our guest said yes and repeated comments made earlier that the different AIs would need to be able to talk to one another.  As we were nearing the end of our program, I brought up another of David's AI talking points which was determining the value of  the work being done by someone.  David talked about what might constitute meaningful work for a person but as you will hear black and white clarity was not easy to ascertain on this topic.

Please post your comments/questions for David Vivancos on our blog for this show.  You can reach our guest through me or his website, www.vivancos.com.