I firmly believe that artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to be among the most disruptive technologies we will ever develop. So why – more than 50 years since the first machine learning research – is its impact still, in many ways, limited? This is the question at the heart of a new book called Power and Prediction - The Disruptive Economics of Artificial Intelligence, co-authored by Joshua Gans, along with Ajay Agrawal and Avi Goldfarb. I got the chance to once again catch up with Gans, holder of the Jeffrey S Skoll Chair of Technical Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Toronto's Rotman School of Management. The last time I spoke to Joshua, he had just released his first book, Prediction Machines – The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence.

I firmly believe that artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to be among the most disruptive technologies we will ever develop. So why – more than 50 years since the first machine learning research – is its impact still, in many ways, limited? This is the question at the heart of a new book called Power and Prediction - The Disruptive Economics of Artificial Intelligence, co-authored by Joshua Gans, along with Ajay Agrawal and Avi Goldfarb. I got the chance to once again catch up with Gans, holder of the Jeffrey S Skoll Chair of Technical Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Toronto's Rotman School of Management. The last time I spoke to Joshua, he had just released his first book, Prediction Machines – The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence.

Rotman Management Magazine Speaker Series Creative Destruction: 4 Short Talks Speaker: John Hull, University Professor, Maple Financial Group Chair in Derivatives and Risk Management and Academic Director - FinHub, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto Topic: Machine Learning in Business: Issues for Society (Featured in the Winter 2020 issue of Rotman Management magazine) Date: February 4, 2020 Published in January, May and September by the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, Rotman Management magazine explores themes of interest to leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs. Each issue features thought-provoking insights and problem-solving tools from leading global researchers and management practitioners. The magazine reflects Rotman's role as a catalyst for transformative thinking that creates value for business and society. Located in downtown Toronto and part of the University of Toronto, the Rotman School of Management (http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca) is the leading business school in Canada. Rotman offers a Full-Time MBA program, and several programs for working professionals, including the Morning and Evening MBA, Master of Finance, One-Year Executive MBA, Global Executive MBA, Master of Financial Risk Management, Master of Management Analytics and the Graduate Diploma in Professional Accounting.

What does AI mean for businesses big and small? What key opportunities and challenges does it present? Two experts on the topic weigh in: Rotman School Dean Tiff Macklem and Scotiabank CTO Michael Zerbs. Can you talk a bit about how you're leveraging third-party datasets as part of your AI strategy? MZ: If you work for a large organization, never underestimate the challenge of just getting at the data that you think you've already got.

U.S.-based artificial intelligence research organization OpenAI have rolled out a robot hand that can take and solve a Rubik's Cube. Joshua Gans is a professor of Strategic Management at the Rotman School of Management and the chief economist at the Creative Destruction Lab. Tiff Macklem is dean of Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. Last week, the U.S.-based artificial intelligence research organization, OpenAI, rolled out a robot hand that can take and solve a Rubik's Cube. Creating a robot with visual sense and complex touch and dexterity is an impressive achievement in AI.

This 2018 book…on the timely topic of AI - tops my summer reading list. "This is a timely book, well written, and accessible putting forward their insights, and is well worth reading." Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot Professor, former president, Harvard University; former secretary, US Treasury; and former chief economist, World Bank-- "AI may transform your life. And Prediction Machines will transform your understanding of AI. This is the best book yet on what may be the best technology that has come along."

"As the Institut d'entrepreneuriat Banque Nationale–HEC Montréal's early partner, it was natural for us to extend our support to CDL-Montreal, which brings together new businesses at the cutting edge of technology and artificial intelligence. Supported by a team of entrepreneurs, scientists and angel investors, these businesses will be in an exceptional development environment that promotes all types of innovation," says Louis Vachon, President and CEO of National Bank. "And supporting new tech companies like this provides abundant rewards in terms of knowledge development and social and economic vitality." This first group, dedicated to AI startups, launched in December 2017 and will continue its activities until June 2018. During this time the startups in the program will receive objectives-based coaching led by experienced entrepreneurs, representatives of major investment funds and world-class scientists, with the goal of maximizing equity-value creation.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reaffirmed his nerd-in-chief reputation and outlined his government's vision to capitalize on Canada's early lead in artificial intelligence, or AI, during an appearance today at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. Trudeau, a self-professed "geek," was a special guest at an annual business of AI conference hosted by Rotman's Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), a seed stage accelerator that specializes in building AI-powered startups. Quizzed on his AI knowledge, Trudeau compared the technology to playing chess against a computer that not only made moves based on cold hard calculations, but "leaps of instinct" that mimic how the human brain works. "I think we all understand, certainly in this room, the way the world is going," Trudeau said during a 20-minute conversation with Shivon Zilis of Tesla, Bloomberg Beta and Open AI. "So let's be part of it and help shape it, and let's make sure we're benefiting from the innovations – in both the designing of them and the applications and the jobs." In recent years, Canada – and Toronto in particular – has emerged as a hotbed of AI activity thanks in part to fundamental research performed by people like U of T's University Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton, who is known as the "godfather of deep learning" and works for Google, and U of T Associate Professor Raquel Urtasun, who is heading up Uber's self-driving car lab in Toronto.

To understand how advances in artificial intelligence are likely to change the workplace -- and the work of managers -- you need to know where AI delivers the most value. Major technology companies such as Apple, Google, and Amazon are prominently featuring artificial intelligence (AI) in their product launches and acquiring AI-based startups. The flurry of interest in AI is triggering a variety of reactions -- everything from excitement about how the capabilities will augment human labor to trepidation about how they will eliminate jobs. In our view, the best way to assess the impact of radical technological change is to ask a fundamental question: How does the technology reduce costs? Only then can we really figure out how things might change.

To understand how advances in artificial intelligence are likely to change the workplace -- and the work of managers -- you need to know where AI delivers the most value. Major technology companies such as Apple, Google, and Amazon are prominently featuring artificial intelligence (AI) in their product launches and acquiring AI-based startups. The flurry of interest in AI is triggering a variety of reactions -- everything from excitement about how the capabilities will augment human labor to trepidation about how they will eliminate jobs. In our view, the best way to assess the impact of radical technological change is to ask a fundamental question: How does the technology reduce costs? Only then can we really figure out how things might change.