Digital information technology has made information readily accessible to practically anyone, anytime and anywhere. This has had a profound effect in shaping all aspects of our society from industrial manufacturing, to distribution, to the consumption of goods and services. Inevitably, like in preceding technological revolutions, digital information technology’s impact has been so pervasive that we are no longer simply adopting it—doing what we have done before—but adapting to it by changing how we behave.
Today, digital information technology has redefined how people interact with each other socially, and even how some find their partners. Redefined relationships between consumers, producers and suppliers, industrialists and laborers, service providers and clients, friends and partners are already creating an upheaval in society that is altering the postindustrial account of moral reasoning.
We are standing at the cusp of the next wave of the technological revolution: AI, or artificial intelligence. The digital revolution of the late 20th century brought us information at our fingertips, allowing us to make quick decisions, while the agency to make decisions, fundamentally, rested with us. AI is changing that by automating the decision-making process, promising better qualitative results and improved efficiency. Successes by AI gaming systems in defeating world chess champion Gary Kasparov, and world go champion Ke Jie underscore the qualitative aspect of AI that proved to be superior than human experts in computing the impact of current decisions on potential future moves.
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