This week’s main blog discussions include …
The challenge is how to deliver freedom, security, control and privacy
A really interesting conversation popped up during a meeting with a fintech yesterday. The core of the discussion was around trust and identity – my favourite themes of the moment – and we got into a debate about the fact that most people want freedom and control of their lives. They want privacy and security…
Is the coolest job in Tech in a Bank?
This was an interesting headline in The Wall Street Journal which made me open my eyes: Why the Coolest Job in Tech Might Actually Be in a Bank For tech and AI talent, jobs at financial services companies are more desirable than they have ever been. Banks have been working hard to make it happen….
Europe’s regulation strangulation
There’s a lot of debate about the big axis of power today: America and China (ed: what about India?). Both have massive tech giants and both have super economies. Where does this leave Europe? It’s interesting for me in that most of the discussion is that Europe and Eurocrats strangle all innovation with regulation or,…
Bitcoin breaks $100,000 – so what?
As someone involved in cryptocurrencies early in the game, you would speculate that I’m now a billionaire. Yes, I did invest in bitcoin in 2013 when it was just $60. Now, it’s hovering around the $100,000 per bitcoin mark (and ETH just broke $4,000). Congrats if you made the investment ten years ago. Nevertheless, during…
The AI arms race is on … but don’t just look to America
I talked a bit about Amazon and Apple teaming up to develop AI strategies to compete and beat Alphabet/Google and Microsoft the other day. It got me thinking: why are we talking the American Big Tech giants when there are several Big Tech Asian giants namely Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent and NVIDIA themselves. What are their AI…
As well as a series focused upon the jobs of the future …
Jobs of the Future, Part One: Guardians of Reality
This is the first in a series about Jobs of the Future. I believed for a while that there would be no way AI could create music, poetry, stories, art and ideas, but have now been proved wrong. AI can do all that and more. But can it create relationships and feel like a human?…
Jobs of the future, Part Two: the Counsellor
I wonder whether, tomorrow, we will find machines that advise us on our life decisions, our relationships and our thinking. It is obvious that AI machines will manage our health and deploy robotic healthcare services to ensure that we live our lives better, but what about what is inside our heart and mind? I used…
Jobs of the future, Part Three: the Life Coach
What is the meaning of life? A question asked many times from Monty Python to Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. This will become an even more important question in the future as robots and AI control our world. Why are we here? What is the function of a human? Is there any meaning to our lives?…
Jobs of the future, Part Four: the Curator
Continuing Sophie Deen’s series around jobs of the future, we come to the Curator. I’ve talked about the Curator before – seven years ago in fact – and it’s a role that replaces the CIO. It is all about curating the multiverse of providers, platforms and possibilities in the ecosystem of the network we live…
Jobs of the future, Part Five: Identity Guard
There are two things that came up recently which made me stop and think. The first is the recreation of Elvis Presley through AI who will now perform every night in London in 2025, dead and on stage looking live; the second is a new podcast series created around Michael Parkinson, the legendary chat show…
Jobs of the future, Part Six: the Environmental Defender
I’ve talked about how the financial system can either aid or abet the challenge of climate change – so much so that I even wrote a book about it called Digital for Good. This means that there is a future where someone has to work to protect our environment who I call the Environmental Defender….
Jobs of the future, Part Seven: DNA Designer
We are all happy to use an interior designer, but would you be happy using a DNA designer? What we mean by this is the obvious evolution of fertility treatments, such as IVF, evolving into specific DNA structures of change and even babies born out of womb through artificial gestation. It is probable that, by…
Jobs of the future, Part Eight: Multiplanetary Agent
We are looking at a possible million humans or more living on Mars by 2050. How will they live? What will they be doing? Is it going to be easy to travel between Earth and Mars? Are the communication systems going to work to keep connected with families on both planets? Why would you want…
Jobs of the future, Part Nine: Air Traffic Commander
With drones, self-driving vehicles and supersonic flights rising day after day, we are very likely to see a massively congested sky by 2050. Some would say the Jetsons has arrived and, if you look at what is happening today, they are not far wrong. Most of our flying and automated vehicle structure will run autonomously…
Jobs of the future, Part Ten: the Intermediator
It is easy to believe in these futuristic scenarios that we won’t need human advisors. In the words of Vivian Ward, the escort in Pretty Woman: Vivian: You work on commission, right? Saleswoman: Ah, yes. Vivian: Big mistake. Big. If you believe that the future will no longer involve financial advisors, you are making a…
