Future Technologies

Disrupting Technology
Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Automation

Everything is about to change. In today’s modern world, technology is accelerating at an unprecedented pace. What many of us considered science fiction as children will become part of our reality sooner than you may think. Big data, artificial intelligence, and automation, together, will soon reshape our day to day lives. Between contrarian opinions and a decent amount of misinformation, these technologies are causing a serious amount of paranoia for many. In my previous venture capital internship, I discovered a long list of fears shared by many that include, but are not limited to:

  • Job loss
  • The death of the combustion engine
  • Privacy invasion
  • A market crash
  • Even an A.I. apocalypse


However, today’s entrepreneurs are not evil scientists that are out to get you — they’re simply people that want to build incredible things for the world. I hope to share some insight on how our world is changing, and convince you to be excited about it.

Synergy in markets
Together, the three-way powerhouse of big data, artificial intelligence, and automation are reshaping society. Artificial intelligence softwares rely on massive amounts of data sets to truly become what we call intelligent. Through a process popularly called machine learning, these softwares digest this data in massive quantities and master the information beyond human capability. This is fortunate for us, as in recent years corporations have harvested a massive amount of data. IBM estimated that about 43 trillion gigabytes of data will be made by 2020. That's the equivalent to watching Shrek 2 in high definition 8 trillion times.

However, IBM also shares that only around 0.5% of available data has been analyzed. AI softwares aim to help us with that. Leveraging this data, AI softwares are able to do countless incredible things that have lead to many great products in the recent years.

Automation, the third and final player in this relationship, now serves as a medium for this AI to interact with the physical world.

Privatizing Space
Given the recent progress of SpaceX, the privatization of space exploration has become a very popular topic of discussion. For example, this past week SpaceX test launched the Falcon Heavy, the strongest rocket launched from the earth by a factor of two. Two of the three thrusters landed back on earth autonomously and intact. Elon Musk's cherry red Tesla Roadster is now in a Mars-Earth trans orbit, serving as a hallmark for this event. 

 One of the largest and most obvious hurdles for launching a rocket into outer space is financial — not everyone is a billionaire like Elon Musk. However, Relativity Space, an LA-based startup consisting of many USC alumni, has begun to 3D print rocket parts. Relativity space can produce rocket parts at a third of the price at twelve to eighteen times the speed.


Lowering manufacturing costs and production speed will enable private companies to enter the space exploration markets. Hopefully, the competition of the free market will expedite advancements in technology. Projects such as asteroid mining could be an extremely profitable market that will provide much-needed resources for our planet. 

Faster Food
The food industry forever changed when Ray Kroc commercialized the McDonald brothers streamlined burger joint. These fast food restaurants are often described as QSRs, quick service restaurants. QSRs are about to become disrupted themselves as robots begin entering the food space.


A California robotics company, Miso Robotics, aims to put their robotic burger flipper, Flippy, in burger joints across the United States. This means dramatically lower chance of kitchen contamination and higher profit margins for companies to hopefully be reinvested in food quality. Other projects include San Francisco's Eatsa. Easta is taking a completely autonomous approach, where the entire restaurant is serviced robotically. 

AI Faster and More Accurate than Doctors
According to the CDC, around 610,000 Americans die every year to heart disease — claiming about a fourth of all deaths in the United States. Often the issue lies in our healthcare system. It’s too expensive and it’s too slow. However, entrepreneurs are aiming to solve this issue with AI as well. Ultromics, an Oxford hospital born AI software, has proven to be more accurate than doctors in diagnosing heart disease. This is resulting in both less false positives and false negatives. Additionally, a startup by the name of Optellum is looking to commercialize an AI software that identifies lung cancer.


The softwares are not positioned to replace doctors but to aid them. The AI software would simply help doctors diagnose much more cases a year for a fraction of the price. The money saved would free up more cash for medical research.

A to B Handsfree
Autonomous driving powered by AI will soon change the structure of transportation. Uber and Lyft are racing to get these vehicles on the market first. Many car manufacturers claim to begin production as early as 2020, however, there are many — mainly legal — hurdles to jump before they can hit the road.


However, the application of this technology reaches beyond the ride-sharing service. Pizza Hut recently announced they are testing autonomous trucks to cook and deliver pizzas. Their hope is to dramatically reduce the number of stores they have in a metropolitan area, and instead have a few on the outskirts of the city where real estate is cheap. These locations would simply hold the trucks. There is not much need for physical Pizza Hut locations as the brand is popularly known. With the help of these autonomous vehicles, you can order pizza online with no delivery fee and it will be fresh out of the oven when it arrives.

 A Better World
While the future of technology frightens many, these three synergistic markets will truly change our lives for the better. Autonomous driving will dramatically decrease deaths caused by car accidents by eliminating human error. Our food will be prepared in a healthier way and will be more affordable. Doctors will be able to use AI to diagnose more patients in need of attention. Cost savings from AI may help to lower health insurance. And most importantly, we will all be able to get on demand Pizza Hut fresh out the oven whenever and wherever we want.

 The future is truly bright.

Works Cited

"Asteroid Mining." Deep Space Industries. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2018. <http://deepspaceindustries.com/mining/>.

Carman, Tim. "This Automated Restaurant Was Supposed to Be the Future of Dining." The Washington Post. WP Company, 24 Oct. 2017. Web. 09 Feb. 2018. <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/food/wp/2017/10/24/this-robot-restaurant-was-supposed-to-be-the-future-of-dining-until-humanity-struck-back/?utm_term=.f743603205d9>.

Etherington, Darrell. "Uber CEO Hopes to Have Self-driving Cars in Service in 18 months." TechCrunch. TechCrunch, 23 Jan. 2018. Web. 09 Feb. 2018. <https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/23/uber-ceo-hopes-to-have-self-driving-cars-in-service-in-18-months/>.

"The Four V's of Big Data." IBM Big Data & Analytics Hub. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2018.
Foust, Jeff. "Relativity Space Aims to 3D Print Entire Launch Vehicles." SpaceNews.com. N.p., 05 Dec. 2017. Web. 09 Feb. 2018.

Grush, Loren. "Elon Musk's Tesla Overshot Mars' Orbit and Is Headed to the Asteroid Belt." The Verge. The Verge, 06 Feb. 2018. Web. 09 Feb. 2018.

Hart, Matthew. "Pizza Hut's Self-Driving Delivery Trucks Are Something Out of BLACK MIRROR." Nerdist. N.p., 11 Jan. 2018. Web. 09 Feb. 2018. <https://nerdist.com/pizza-hut-self-driving-delivery-truck-black-mirror/>.

Kolodny, Lora. "Meet Flippy, a Burger-grilling Robot ..." TechCrunch. TechCrunch, 07 Mar. 2017. Web. 09 Feb. 2018. <https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/07/meet-flippy-a-burger-grilling-robot-from-miso-robotics-and-caliburger/>.

Quora. "The Pros And Cons Of Privatizing Space Exploration." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 04 Apr. 2017. Web. 09 Feb. 2018. <https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/04/04/the-pros-and-cons-of-privatizing-space-exploration/#249784083319>.

"Self-Driving Cars — Where Are We, Really?" Audio blog post. A16z Podcast, n.d. Web.

Snow, Jackie. "A New Algorithm Can Spot Pneumonia Better Than a Radiologist." MIT Technology Review. MIT Technology Review, 16 Nov. 2017. Web. 09 Feb. 2018. <https://www.technologyreview.com/the-download/609510/a-new-algorithm-can-spot-pneumonia-better-than-a-radiologist/>.

Comments

  1. Jeff LeeFebruary 6, 2018 at 3:11 PM

    Hey Carter,
    I think if you specifically focus on a certain field of AI/Big Data, it would be more interesting since we can learn a more profound amount of information of future technologies' impact on society. Also, I think you can improve your first paragraph to grab readers' attention a little bit more

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amirteymour MoazamiFebruary 6, 2018 at 5:55 PM

    Hi Carter:

    I think you had an effective opening strategy to capture the audience's attention. You do introduce the report's topic and focus early-on. However, I would put the following as your second sentence so the reader can find your main point quicker: "Big data, artificial intelligence, and automation, together, will soon reshape our day to day lives." Also, I believe you do a fairly well job in explaining what the purpose of your article is. You mention how big-data, AI and automation will change our lives quite a few times before explaining how they will change our lives. 43 billion gigabytes of data is quite massive, which demonstrates how you used evidence to show the growth of big-data in the age of information! How does AI and ML lead to synergy markets? I really like your privatizing space paragraph. It is concise and informative. In your paragraph AI Faster and More Accurate than Doctors, what do you mean by CDC? I recommend you narrow down your focus and explain it in-depth. Over all, great expert article!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Brett EmershadFebruary 6, 2018 at 10:19 PM

    Hey carter, this is extremely informative and well written. The report shows great depth of knowledge and communicates that you are well researched. Your article contains many examples which help strengthen your argument that big data, ai, and automation will change the future. I don't have much to critique besides using Plain English when appropriate since thats what we have been learning about.

    ReplyDelete
  4. ekosasihFebruary 6, 2018 at 11:51 PM

    Hey Carter,

    I really enjoyed this article, and how in-depth you explore the various topics. Overall the essay is very well written, with appropriate data backing up all the main points you pointed out. The headings are also clear and the first paragraph grabs the situation very well. However, a point of improvement would be to change your last sentence of your second paragraph. With the sentence being rather vague, a more detailed explanation of what you wish to share with the audience would help guide the readers more. Furthermore, the paragraph "faster food" seems to have a unfinished sentence at the end. Overall, only minor improvements and I really enjoyed the article!

    ReplyDelete
  5. thanidaSeptember 14, 2018 at 2:48 AM

    I’m a testament to the fact that commenting on other blogs helps a lot.Great post.
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    ReplyDelete
  6. thanidaDecember 16, 2018 at 5:33 PM

    I wish you would continue to have valuable articles like this or more to share with everyone!
    gclub

    ReplyDelete

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