Taiwan Cement Group, was invited to attend the 15th annual meeting of the Taiwan Institute of Directors recently, and discussed the mission of corporate governance in the new era with the theme of "Rediscovering the Position of Human Beings in the Age of AI".
When global enterprises compete for computing power, data and algorithms, Zhang Anping encourages business operators to reflect on the value of civilization and human positioning.
Zhang Anping admits that from steam engines, computers to today's AI, all new tools in history will change the world, but tools have never been the protagonists of civilization, human beings are. "AI is a tool, not intelligence," he stressed. "What should really be warned is not that AI is too strong, but that human beings are too lazy: too lazy to think, too lazy to judge, too lazy to take responsibility."
He pointed out that AI is a software revolution, but also an energy revolution, when the power of science and technology continues to enlarge, AI is a mirror, let us rethink "what is human?"? Why does civilization exist? What is progress for?
Zhang Anping analyzed that from agricultural civilization, industrial civilization, information civilization to AI civilization, the essence of human civilization is a history of energy utilization. When most people talk about civilization, they think of emperors, religion, law and war, but if the time scale is extended, human civilization is actually a history of constantly mastering energy and transforming energy. From the ancient megalithic civilization to today's AI data center, every leap of civilization is accompanied by a major change in the way energy is used.
Chang An-ping says that agricultural civilization uses the sun, which shines on the land, and the land produces food, which feeds humans and livestock. Industrial civilization uses the sun, which was sealed underground hundreds of millions of years ago, that is, coal and oil. Humans use steam engines and electricity to break through the limitations of land and seasons; With the advent of information civilization, computers and networks have enabled knowledge to break through the constraints of time and space, and information has begun to circulate at an unprecedented speed. Today's AI civilization is based on electronic flow and huge power systems.
He believes that behind every question raised to AI is the synchronous operation of data centers, power grids, energy storage equipment and cooling systems. The rapid development of generative AI means that the demand for electricity is rising at an unprecedented rate. "When AI gets smarter, the meter actually turns happily,"
he quipped.
Therefore, to understand energy, to some extent, is also to understand civilization itself, but as energy and technology continue to advance, mankind is facing unprecedented challenges in the history of civilization.
When more and more decisions are handed over to algorithms, people tend to focus only on efficiency, but ignore the importance of questioning and judgment, and ultimately lose not only the ability to judge, but also the ability of civilization to correct itself.
To this end, he solemnly pointed out three reminders:
one: all systems must be questioned;
two: major decisions must retain the final judgment of people;
and three: efficiency and growth should not be regarded as the highest value.
Zhang Anping said that the biggest blind spot in today's social discussion of AI is that it pays too much attention to AI, but ignores the more important "civilized intelligence". Artificial intelligence asks: What can we do? Civilized intelligence asks: What should we do. The former increases the ability, the latter determines the direction; the former allows humans to fly faster, and the latter determines where to fly.
He concluded by stressing that the key to the 21st century is the sustainability of ecological civilization, and that AI should be an assistant to help human beings coexist with the earth, not a leader. He quoted Gandhi's famous saying that the greatness of human beings lies not in being human, but in having "humanity". Therefore, in the era of science and technology, human beings must clearly know why they live, and retain the space for human nature revision outside the algorithm, in order to protect the real value of human beings.
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