Written during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, this piece by Angela Harvey (SAP) highlights how AI compressed vaccine development timelines from years to months. However, the core of the essay is a historical analogy provided by Genevieve Bell (Intel) regarding the combustion engine.
The article notes that the engine didn’t just speed up travel; it eventually forced the standardization of time (GMT) to prevent trains from colliding. It suggests AI will similarly alter our fundamental understanding of reality. The critical warning, however, is that the engine also brought global warming—a consequence of short-term design. The piece argues for the necessity of “innovating 100 years into the future” and integrating “poets” with engineers to ensure AI addresses the right problems without creating existential debt.