Martin Ford is a

futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...

and author focusing on

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

and

robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrat ...

, and the impact of these technologies on the job market, economy and society. He has written four books on technology. His 2015 book, '' Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future'', was a ''New York Times'' bestseller and won the £30,000

Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award ''Financial Times'' Business Book of the Year Award is an annual award given to the best business book of the year as determined by the ''Financial Times''. It aims to find the book that has 'the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern ...

. In Ford's most recent book, ''Rule of the Robots: How Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Everything'' (2021), he argues that AI is a systemic, general purpose technology that will ultimately compare to electricity in terms of its impact on the economy and society. Ford argues that AI will be one of humanity's most consequential technologies, transforming virtually every industry and aspect of civilization, and that it will be critical driver of increased innovation and creativity that will lead to future advances across a broad range of fields in science, engineering and medicine. Ford's previous book, ''Architects of Intelligence: The Truth about AI from the People Building It'' (2018) consists of conversations with the most prominent research scientists and entrepreneurs working in the field of artificial intelligence, including

Demis Hassabis Demis Hassabis (born 27 July 1976) is a British artificial intelligence researcher and entrepreneur. In his early career he was a video game AI programmer and designer, and an expert player of board games. He is the chief executive officer and ...

Geoffrey Hinton Geoffrey Everest Hinton One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: (born 6 December 1947) is a British-Canadian cognitive psychologist and computer scientist, most noted for his work on ar ...

Ray Kurzweil Raymond Kurzweil ( ; born February 12, 1948) is an American computer scientist, author, inventor, and futurist. He is involved in fields such as optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and e ...

Yann LeCun Yann André LeCun ( , ; originally spelled Le Cun; born 8 July 1960) is a French computer scientist working primarily in the fields of machine learning, computer vision, mobile robotics and computational neuroscience. He is the Silver Professor ...

Yoshua Bengio Yoshua Bengio (born March 5, 1964) is a Canadian computer scientist, most noted for his work on artificial neural networks and deep learning. He is a professor at the Department of Computer Science and Operations Research at the Université ...

Nick Bostrom Nick Bostrom ( ; sv, Niklas Boström ; born 10 March 1973) is a Swedish-born philosopher at the University of Oxford known for his work on existential risk, the anthropic principle, human enhancement ethics, superintelligence risks, and the rev ...

Fei-Fei Li Fei-Fei Li (; born 1976) is a Chinese-American computer scientist who is known for establishing ImageNet, the dataset that enabled rapid advances in computer vision in the 2010s. She is the Sequoia Capital Professor of Computer Science at S ...

Rodney Brooks Rodney Allen Brooks (born 30 December 1954) is an Australian roboticist, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, author, and robotics entrepreneur, most known for popularizing the actionist approach to robotics. He was a Panasonic Profes ...

Andrew Ng Andrew Yan-Tak Ng (; born 1976) is a British-born American computer scientist and technology entrepreneur focusing on machine learning and AI. Ng was a co-founder and head of Google Brain and was the former Chief Scientist at Baidu, building ...

Stuart J. Russell Stuart Jonathan Russell (born 1962) is a British computer scientist known for his contributions to artificial intelligence (AI). He is a professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley and was from 2008 to 2011 an adjunct ...

and many others. The conversations recorded in the book delve into the future of artificial intelligence, the path to human-level AI (or

artificial general intelligence Artificial general intelligence (AGI) is the ability of an intelligent agent to understand or learn any intellectual task that a human being can. It is a primary goal of some artificial intelligence research and a common topic in science fictio ...

), and the risks associated with progress in AI. His first book, ''The Lights in the Tunnel: Automation, Accelerating Technology and the Economy of the Future'' (2009) also dealt with the effects of

automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...

resulting from advances in artificial intelligence, and the potential for

structural unemployment Structural unemployment is a form of involuntary unemployment caused by a mismatch between the skills that workers in the economy can offer, and the skills demanded of workers by employers (also known as the skills gap). Structural unemployment i ...

and dramatically increasing inequality. Ford earned a BSE in computer engineering, magna cum laude, from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, Ann Arbor, and a graduate business degree from the

UCLA Anderson School of Management The John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management, also known as the UCLA Anderson School of Management, is the graduate business school at the University of California, Los Angeles, one of eleven professional schools. The school offers MBA (ful ...

Author and futurist

In 2009, Ford published ''The Lights in the Tunnel'', making a strong argument that advances in robotics and artificial intelligence would eventually make a large fraction of the human workforce obsolete. Ford predicted in his 2009 book that "artificial intelligence will be the next

Killer App In marketing terminology, a killer application (commonly shortened to killer app) is any computer program or software that is so necessary or desirable that it proves the core value of some larger technology, such as computer hardware, a video game ...

" and would become a central focus of Silicon Valley. By 2016, major firms like Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Apple were in an intense talent war for AI experts, and Google's CEO had proclaimed that artificial intelligence represented an "inflection point" and that Google would be an "AI-first" company. In his second book, ''Rise of the Robots'' (2015), he argues that the growth of automation threatens many highly educated people, like lawyers, radiologists, and software designers. ''Rise of the Robots'' is a ''New York Times'' bestseller and has been translated into 19 languages. In addition to his books, Ford has written for numerous publications including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'', ''

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, Massach ...

'', and ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''. He speaks frequently to industry, academic and government audiences, and has presented his ideas at major events attended by global thought leaders, such as the

TED Conference TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...

, the

Milken Institute The Milken Institute is an independent economic think tank based in Santa Monica, California with offices in Washington, DC, New York, Miami, London, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore. It publishes research and hosts conferences that apply market-based p ...

's Global Conference, the

Festival of Dangerous Ideas The Festival of Dangerous Ideas (FODI) is Australia's original disruptive festival that encourages debate and critical thinking, co-founded in 2009 by The Ethics Centre (formerly known as the St James Ethics Centre) held in Sydney, Australia. ...

, held annually at the Sydney Opera House, the

St. Gallen Symposium The St. Gallen Symposium, formerly known as the ''International Management Symposium'' and the ''ISC-Symposium'', is an annual conference taking place in May at the University of St. Gallen in St. Gallen, Switzerland. It hosts intergenerational ...

in Switzerland, and the

Asian Leadership Conference The Asian Leadership Conference (ALC) is an annual international conference hosted in Seoul, South Korea, by ''The Chosun Ilbo'', a major Korean daily newspaper. The inaugural conference was in March 2005. The conference addresses important issues ...

in Seoul. Ford has spoken to or consulted with various governments, and in July 2016 he participated in a conversation with the White House Chief of Staff about the potential impact of robotics and artificial intelligence on the U.S. economy and workforce that was live-streamed from the White House. Ford's first two books both focus on the fact that widespread automation could potentially undermine economic growth or lead to a

deflation In economics, deflation is a decrease in the general price level of goods and services. Deflation occurs when the inflation rate falls below 0% (a negative inflation rate). Inflation reduces the value of currency over time, but sudden deflation ...

ary spiral because jobs are the primary mechanism for distributing purchasing power to consumers. He has warned that as income becomes ever more concentrated into the hands of a tiny elite, the bulk of consumers will eventually lack the income and confidence to continue supplying demand to the mass market industries that form the backbone of the modern economy. To deal with the rise of unemployment and to ensure that consumers have sufficient purchasing power to continue driving economic prosperity, he is in favor of a

basic income guarantee Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive an unconditional transfer payment, that is, without a means test or need to work. It would be received independently of an ...

. Ford strongly supports both

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...

and continued technological progress but believes it will be necessary to adapt our economic system to the new reality created by advances in artificial intelligence, and that some form of basic income guarantee is the best way to do this. In ''Rise of the Robots'' he cites the

Peltzman effect Risk compensation is a theory which suggests that people typically adjust their behavior in response to perceived levels of risk, becoming more careful where they sense greater risk and less careful if they feel more protected. Although usually ...

(or risk compensation) as evidence that the safety net created by a guaranteed income might well result in increased economic risk-taking and a more dynamic and entrepreneurial economy. (Peltzman's thesis that risk-improvement measures may be offset by higher-risk behavior is controversial and has been disputed). He has also argued for incorporating explicit incentives — especially for pursuing education — into a basic income scheme, suggesting for example that those who graduate from high school (or complete an equivalency exam) ought to receive a somewhat higher guaranteed income than those who drop out. Without this, many marginal or "at risk" students would be presented with a perverse incentive to simply drop out and collect the basic income. Ford has appeared in a number of documentary films and television features, including

The Future of Work and Death ''The Future of Work and Death'' is a 2016 documentary by Sean Blacknell and Wayne Walsh about the growth of exponential technology. The film showed at several film festivals including Raindance Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam ...

, (2016), "Notes on the Way Forward" (2016), CBS News feature "Automation Nation" (2017), "How to Build a Human" (2017) and the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

documentary

The Truth About Killer Robots ''The Truth About Killer Robots'' is a 2018 documentary made by Third Party Films. It describes the hitherto ignored issues related to robots that have been involved in human fatalities. Plot The documentary investigates the 2015 killing by a ...

(2018).

Awards and honors

*2015

winner for ''Rise of the Robots''

Books

*''The Lights in the Tunnel: Automation, Accelerating Technology and the Economy of the Future'', Acculant Publishing (2009) *'' Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future'', Basic Books (2015) *'' Rule of the Robots: How Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Everything'', Basic Books (2021)

''Architects of Intelligence''

In ''Architects of Intelligence: The Truth About AI from the People Building It'' (Packt Publishing, 2018, ), Ford interviewed 23 prominent figures in artificial intelligence, including DeepMind CEO

, Google's

Jeff Dean Jeffrey Adgate "Jeff" Dean (born July 23, 1968) is an American computer scientist and software engineer. Since 2018, he is the lead of Google AI, Google's AI division. Education Dean received a B.S., ''summa cum laude'', from the University o ...

, and Stanford's

. ''

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts. The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media' ...

'' stated that the book offered a "rare snapshot" of elite opinion in artificial intelligence. Ford stated that his interviewees "don't agree on how fast (AI) is moving, what the next breakthroughs will be, how fast we'll get to (

), or what the most important risks are." A '' Vox'' article on ''Architects'' and on John Brockman's '' Possible Minds'' states "One gets the sense these are the kinds of books that could perhaps have been written in 1980 about the internet... It is easy for the people involved to see that there’s something enormous here, but surprisingly difficult for them to anticipate which of its potential promises will bear fruit, or when, or whether that will be for the good." The book is mainly composed of transcripts of Ford's interviews.

Selected publications

* Ford, Martin
"Could Artificial Intelligence Create an Unemployment Crisis?"
''Communications of the ACM'', July 2013, Vol. 56 No. 7, Pages 37–39. * Ford, Martin
"Driverless trucks: economic tsunami may swallow one of most common US jobs"
''The Guardian'', February 16, 2017. * Ford, Martin

''The New York Times'', June 10, 2015. * Ford, Martin
"Economic Growth Isn't Over, but It Doesn't Create Jobs Like It Used To"
''Harvard Business Review'', March 14, 2016. * Ford, Martin

''CNN'', November 10, 2014. * Ford, Martin

''Fortune'', June 10, 2010. * Ford, Martin

''Forbes'', April 8, 2010. * Ford, Martin

''The Washington Post'', September 16, 2011.

References

External links

About at mfordFutureInterview at Wired.comTED TalkInterview at National GeographicMartin Ford on CNBC, December 6, 2016Radio Interview on NPR "Fresh Air"C-SPAN Book TV Presentation for 'Rise of the Robots'Huffington PostQuoracast Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Martin Living people University of Michigan College of Engineering alumni UCLA Anderson School of Management alumni American technology writers Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area People from Sunnyvale, California Year of birth missing (living people)