But in his most recent book, "AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order," Lee argues that AI displacement will be fundamentally different. In a November interview with Futurism, Lee explained that AI will allow entire new industries to be built from the ground up with automation in mind -- not only will AI prove cheaper than human employees, but many of the new jobs it creates will be automated as well. Lee told CBS that this wave of automation and worker displacement will happen much more quickly than others, such as the invention and distribution of the steam engine. Part of that is because AI algorithms can be shared around the world among developers and business leaders with little need for new infrastructure. No railroads or highways or power grids need to be built.

Kai-Fu Lee became a legend in artificial intelligence research and the tech world because of his groundbreaking work the past three decades with Apple, Microsoft, and Google. But Lee says cancer has radically changed the way he views technology, his life, and the world of medicine. In September 2013, the former head of Google China was given a diagnosis of stage IV follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The cancer diagnosis put his career and life on the line. Then, it put his career and life in a new light.