It from Bit: how AI is shaping our physical world

Pioneering Physicist John Archibald Wheeler once summarized the intricate interconnection between the'ethereal' concept of information and our material physical reality with the poetic "It from Bit". Intangible entities like the ones flooding our electronics devices, made of 1s and 0s, are literally'making up' and shaping our physical universe. Artificial Intelligence is an equally ethereal concept, made up of abstract mathematical entities built out of 0s and 1s that code the structuring and functioning of simulated neurons and synapses, eventually endowing AI with the ability to learn and make predictions about the real world that resemble the one produced by our biological brains. Though, we live in a world made of matter: people, houses, tables and chairs, building, planes, trains and cars. What is the true impact that this abstract thing that is AI has on our everyday physical reality?