The gods of tech

The technology that powers AI comes with two faces, one that opens the door to a future utopia and another that lets in dystopia

Artificial intelligence, or AI, has long transitioned from being the geeky upstart in a tech lab to a brash member of boardrooms across the world. And, despite the long Orwellian shadow that it casts on all that it surveys, AI is no longer an unwelcome gate-crasher. It is being feted as the god of future businesses.

Most recently, Google restated its faith in AI and rebranded its entire research division as Google AI. At a town hall event in San Francisco in January this year, its CEO Sundar Pichai said, “AI is one of the most important things humanity is