Milan Jevtić, Executive Director for Technology of AIGO: AI is a new industrial revolution, not an apocalypse

- Both in professional and lay circles, artificial intelligence is becoming a topic on which everyone has their own opinion and attitude. The less people know about it, the more people see it as something mystical and invisible. AI is seen as metaphysical and uncontrollable. Western civilization, the one we belong to, cannot separate religious and metaphysical principles from apocalyptic scenarios, so, analogously and by inertia, it also places artificial intelligence in the context of something that threatens humanity. Given that the apocalypses envisioned by religions have not come true either, I would not even look at AI as a force for the beginning of the end of humanity, but would interpret it only as one of the tools and components of the industrial revolution that is inevitably following us. Like any industrial revolution, it will eat some of its children, but I believe the vast majority will survive and come out victorious.

- We have mentioned the victims, and among them will be those companies and individuals who do not want to change and who enjoy long-acquired skills, in which they feel safe. Now robots are also learning and progressing, so what should people expect? I believe that software engineers will be freed from the jobs they have always dreaded; repetition, slowness and determinism. They will be able to take their abstract thinking to a higher level, devote themselves to designing and projecting, and not just be slaves to coding. Software engineering, which normally has characteristics of both natural sciences and humanities, will deal more with concepts and behaviors, and less with simple outcomes. It is clear that those who will not have the capacity to transform themselves from a technical to an engineering and scientific role will be more exposed to competition and that the space for their action will rapidly decrease.

- For 50 years, we have been hearing how there will be fossil fuels for only the next 50 years. In truth, it would have been the same if we had stayed at the same level as before, in that area. Fortunately, the same has happened in many spheres: through knowledge and constant study, dedication and research, most of the field of human work has been improved significantly. If we want to remain relevant and competitive, it is enough to follow our human nature. Without our basic life drive, the desire for survival, prosperity and an easier life, we are not what we should be, and therefore neither relevant nor competitive.

- I think that it is an urgent task for us to master new tools and principles. The sooner we become comfortable with them, the sooner we free up our time and mind to devote to abstraction, imagination and conceptual modeling. We will have more time to devote ourselves to what the client wants to pay for, which is the comfortable use of the software, the integration of all processes, the unique truth of the information and seamless management, with as little supervision as possible. Then we will also sell our products at higher prices, they will have a higher value. And so to a new industrial revolution and a new topic of concern.