AUTOMATE THE BORING, ENGINEER THE AWESOME

CAMPUS NEWS

There is a real chance that your organisation or your job will soon cease to exist. A huge wave of digital transformation is coming our way, changing the world at an exponential rate. As an engineer, how do you turn disruptive threats into disruptive opportunities? Christian Kromme, futurist, tech-entrepreneur, and best-selling author, spoke about the future of engineering during a forum evening ‘Beyond Engineering’ at Group T Leuven Campus.

Predicting the future in times of uncertainty seems like looking into a crystal ball. According to Christian Kromme, the waves of technological innovation that follow each other in ever faster succession are not at all coincidental. He discovered striking parallels between biological evolution and technological revolutions. “The development of single-celled organisms into complex organisms such as humans took place in phases in which not the strongest or the most intelligent species survived, but the one that was the most adaptable to change”, says Christian. “Technological developments follow a similar pattern, starting with the first tools over agriculture and the industrial revolutions to the machine learning and Artificial Intelligence phase we are now in. Just as cells form organisms, people build organizations. As needs grow larger and more complex, so does technology”.

Self-organizing

The future belongs to decentralized autonomous organizations, Christian believes. “You can compare them to a school of fish or a swarm of starlings. Each fish or bird responds to the seven others around it. The whole is very agile, almost fluid. In such organizations, all individuals are connected by the algorithm. If the need changes, the algorithm changes. Such organizations no longer need a CEO or an energy-consuming hierarchy or bureaucracy. They organize themselves”.

A key driver in this evolution is the ever-increasing power of the chips. According to Moore’s law, the capacity doubles every year, and the price drops accordingly. According to Christian, this means that in three years’ time, you will be able to buy a chip for 1,000 euros that can process as much information as the human brain. In 2038, a chip would have the power of all human brains combined. As this process continues, the relationship between man and machine will change dramatically. Where until now, man had to adapt to technology, technology will be able to adapt to man. This means not only recognising your voice or face, but also reading your intentions and anticipating your needs.

Generative design

According to the futurist, such human-sized technology will work according to the principle of ‘generative design.’ “Suppose you want a chair that can cost up to twenty-five euros and has to be able to bear 120 kg. A software platform first uses AI to generate thousands of designs, from which you can choose your favourite. But it does not stop there. Your chair contains sensors that collect user data and provide feedback so that subsequent copies improve.”

This evolution means the end of mass production. The future belongs to micro-factories. These consist of a number of 3D printers and a robot to assemble the parts. Efficient and cheap. Do you want a new pair of shoes? Enter your desired colour, size and model and your shoes will be 3D printed in your neighbourhood.

Chief Ethical Officer

“With the rapid development of AI and robotics, soon almost all hard skills will be automatable,” Christian predicts. “The reason is simple. Hard skills are usually repetitive and regulated, so easily digitised. You could put it like this: everything that cannot be digitised will decrease in value. That also applies to jobs”.

If the entire core business of most companies can soon be digitised, what will be the function of the engineer? According to Christian, the engineer should put maximum effort into the development of what are currently called ‘soft skills’. He mentions empathy, imagination, creativity, emotional intelligence and, finally, ethics. The future CEO will first and foremost be a Chief Ethical Officer.

“If the engineers in the organizations of the future still want to play a meaningful role, they must specialize in the skills in which the machines fall short,” says Christian. “Or to put it another way: automate the boring, engineer the awesome.”

Yves Persoons

Christian Kromme