“If not you, then who?” Kristin Johnsen asked a diverse group consisting of Tsinghua professors and students who have gathered to hear about her talk on Artificial Intelligence (AI). Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Services was referring to the next generation who will lead the introduction of AI into the mainstream, an initiative she believes will be significant towards our advancement as a civilization.

On 29 March, 2019, the Friday afternoon event was opened by Professor XU Xin, Associate Dean of Tsinghua SEM who gave an introduction of Microsoft, which he confidently declared as a company “everyone is familiar with.” Professor XU also highlighted Ms. Kristin Johnsen’s long list of achievements including leading a Microsoft global team of more than 16,000 employees who work with customers to help accelerate their journey to becoming digital businesses.

AI as a game changer

Throughout the 90-minute event, Kristin constantly emphasized the value and potential that AI would bring. Kristin compared the significance of AI to the introduction of steam engine in the 17^thcentury and the shift towards digital age in the 20^thcentury. She shared how AI has the potential to transform the way we perceive information, influence our daily decisions and restructure the entire industries. Kristin also gave examples such as how Barilla, an Italian consumer food company, and Rolls Royce, a British engineering firm, have leveraged AI technology to revamp their business models completely and create more value for their customers. Kristin pointed out that businesses must have a strategy to prepare for this incoming wave of transformation or risk losing out forever. Such a scenario would be undesired because it would result in a winner-takes-all competition when, instead, technology should be here to create opportunities for everyone.

Implementation of AI - Challenges

Nevertheless, Kristin also conceded that there is a long way to go before AI could reach its full potential. Kristen described the current technology as esoteric to even most Fortune 500 companies’ executives and highlighted the challenges AI faces before it becomes accessible to the public. She admitted that AI still remains a field that is, at least for now, only accessible to “PhD programmers and developers.” She further explained that ease of use of AI is a top priority at Microsoft as it would pose a problem if everyone is using a technology that they know little about, which risks rendering AI a system with little transparency. Kristin also touched on other challenges in the implementation of AI such as the need for constant update on the AI system. This is because she believes it is the responsibility of users of AI to feed the system with the most updated data and to ensure that these data do not consist of any flaws or bias that could be further amplified in a world of AI.

Current State of AI in China

Following Kristin’s presentation, Richard Feng, General Manager of Microsoft GCR Services, gave the audience of an overview of the state of AI in China. He started by stating that AI is a national strategy that is recognized and supported by the government and that China aims to be the center of AI’s innovation in a decade. In his vision, he mentioned that AI would be imperative to China’s push for rapid economic development, highlighting the huge increase in productivity given a successful implementation of the AI technology. Although he also admitted that the incorporation of AI with Chinese companies would be a major challenge towards this endeavor.

Richard Feng, giving an overview of AI technology

During his presentation, Richard shared a short clip of how Jabil, a manufacturing service company, uses AI image recognition capabilities to detect damaged chips rapidly and in the meanwhile saves huge labor and maintenance costs. Richard ended his presentation with another video clip showcasing how BMW employs AI to build an intelligent voice assistant which is able to respond to a variety of commands from climate control to checking on tire pressure.

The final portion of the talk allowed students to raise their questions. Kristin addressed how Microsoft as a company is committed to following the regulatory environment wherever they are operating and how Microsoft as a company shifts their culture to empower its own employees to be prepared for the upcoming wave of AI’s implementation.

Quantum Computing – The next big thing?

In her closing comment during the Q&A section, Kristin offered audience another glimpse of the future when she was asked about the next big thing after AI. She said that she believed quantum computing would be the next game changer when fully ready. Lightning speed computing would lay the path for brand new ways of using digital tools, although she also predicted that in a world of quantum, encryption would no longer work since passwords can be easily decoded at lightning speed.

Kristin Johnsen sharing the capabilities of AI with students