INGENIEUR
purpose technology (GPT). We have seen the rise
of many general purpose technologies before AI.
The wheel and iron, both several thousand years
old; railways and electricity in the 19th century;
and automobiles, computers, and the Internet in
the 20th century.
In Economic Transformations: General Purpose
Technologies and Long-Term Economic Growth,
the Canadian academic Richard G. Lipsey noted
that new GPTs are the drivers of sustainable
socioeconomic growth. A GPT must have multiple
uses across the economy, according to Lipsey,
and have many technological complementarities,
meaning when two or more different technologies
strengthen and reinforce each other, with spillovers.
Economists have observed that, throughout
human history, there have been 26 technologies
that can be classified as true GPTs. AI is one of
them.
By emphasising AI’s role as a general purpose
technology, my goal is to call your attention to how
influential and valuable AI is to our future. As a
GPT, AI will help us find more efficient solutions
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to problems we already know how to fix. It will
also help us address problems that, to date, have
remained unsolved.
As companies, if we want to stay ahead we
need to adopt an AI mindset - use AI concepts and
technologies to tackle both existing and future
problems.
Inside Huawei, our experience shows that AI
can replace humans in certain tasks, and also
automate cost reduction throughout production
cycles. This is the most valuable characteristic
of AI, and what sets it apart from run-of-the-
mill informatisation, which cannot automatically
reduce production costs.
AI will trigger change in all industries
AI will change all industries. We need to ask,
“How will AI reshape or even disrupt the industry
I’m working in?” Going forward, we need to think
of new ways to prepare our businesses and
industries for change.