Why AI Is Neither the End of Civilization nor the Beginning of Nirvana

Where AI, robots, IoT and the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution are taking us, and how we should prepare for it are some of the hottest topics being discussed today. Perhaps the most striking thing about these discussions is how different people's conclusions are. Some picture a utopia where machines do all work, where all people receive a universal basic income from the revenues machines generate and where, being freed from a need to work for wages, all people devote their time to altruism, art and culture. Others picture a dystopia where a tiny elite class uses their control of AI to horde all the world's wealth and trap everyone else in inescapable poverty. Others take a broad view that sees minimal disruption beyond adopting new workplace paradigms.