Improvisation #3 on Investment into Human Intelligence

From AI to arts and education

Since the popularization of Artificial Intelligence, we have been bombarded with new companies and products harnessing AI. Web3 projects that seemed intent on building a valuable solution suddenly pivoted to AI, and SaaS platforms began advertising new AI functions as part of their products. From 2020 to 2021 the total global corporate investment in AI increased by a whopping 27% (Statista). For 2021 and 2022, the investment was a staggering $90+ billion per year. Now compare that to how much was invested into ‘human intelligence’.

Oh wait – you can’t…

This article is sparked by will.i.am’s comments during the World Economic Forum’s Open session ‘A Primer on AI’. Some of it was published by YahooFinance and the full recording is available on the WEF website.

What is Human Intelligence (HI)?

According to will.i.am AI machines are going to be better at articulating, reasoning, analytical skills, and contextual reasoning than humans if we continue on our current path.

Human intelligence is, generally speaking, the mental quality that consists of the abilities to learn from experience, adapt to new situations, understand and handle abstract concepts, and use knowledge to control an environment. (Britannica)

For me it’s also about interacting with each other and being able to more fully and critically interact with the world around us, ultimately making independent and informed choices that benefit our communities, society, and ourselves.

How are we (not) building human intelligence?

In the very early stages of a child’s development, creativity, arts, and exploration is crucial. The links between early music education and the ability to think critically have long been established by research. Sadly, there are a large number of communities where children have no access to any form of the arts due to their socio-economic environment. 

If we are lucky enough to be born into circumstances that offer and encourage creativity, then we will certainly encounter schools that prioritize memorizing facts and regurgitating textbooks in exams. Critical thinking often is introduced in university, if even.

As adults, we are encouraged to fall in line with corporations and businesses that will give professional development opportunities – again to learn concepts like SMART goals, Kanban methods, and conflict resolution templates to improve the workplace. There is little encouragement for employees and adults to bring their artistic practices into the workplace, to play and have fun without an ulterior motive.

What company would support their employees in taking singing lessons? Who encourages their employees to go to acting workshops?

Please give me examples, I want to talk to those who do!

Instead, they will hire consultants and coaches who have ‘corporatized’ their offering to teach concepts that employees can directly apply – we are being spoon-fed instead of being encouraged to apply what is most important to us and leave what doesn’t serve us behind.

What then is our current investment in human intelligence? Right now, we are investing very little into empowerment and divergent thinking. Most educational institutions are barely getting enough funding to enable their students to become digitally literate and companies invest heavily in training their staff on AI, new technologies, and the aforementioned corporatized concepts for evaluation and growth.

Some Stats about AI vs Arts and Education

I am intentionally mentioning both arts and education because I believe that education is especially important for children while the arts can offer a different avenue for creativity and play for adults. Both are important in developing human intelligence.

In most countries, investment into AI far surpasses that of the arts and education! Ireland’s Arts Council received €134 million to invest in the arts sector, while the government reached its €1 billion mark for investment in Research and Development in 2022/23. This would include investment in AI. In the US, public funding for the arts was $1.85 billion while federal spending on AI reached $3.3 billion in 2022. Abu Dhabi recently launched an investment vehicle worth $100 billion for AI investments while the government committed to invest $6 billion into the arts sector over five years back in 2021. Venture Capital funding for Artificial intelligence in January and February 2024 was $6.9 billion globally.

It's incredible to think that VCs invested exponentially more money into AI in two months than entire governments invest in their arts sectors in a year.

Here is the age-old argument: Yes, but technology requires a higher amount of funding due to operational and material costs. Sure but if arts and education would get the same level of funding and support, the world would be a different place! The amount of people that could be reached, the joy that could be brought to those disadvantaged, and the equities created would be incredible.

Is it really important to invest in human intelligence? What is the future of AI?

AI is here to stay, and the technology is a great tool to leverage for execution, drafting, and ideation processes. There is no doubt that we need to learn how to identify and use technology that can optimize our lives. At the same time, humans aren’t going to disappear either.

Well, until the earth decides to kill us off due to the pollution and havoc we are wreaking.

 Most of the big decisions that influence our lives are still made around dinner tables and in board rooms. Politicians will call each other or travel thousands of miles for a meeting to discuss important issues. The boards of multinational companies still come together to make important decisions. Families will meet around the dinner table or kitchen island to decide how to structure their lives. Not to mention the tête-à-tête and coffee chats that happen around these big conversations to get your points across and build alliances.

If you can prioritize your HI, you will have a potentially unfair advantage over most. Until the tide changes and big companies and our governments change their tune, we need to empower each other to focus on human intelligence.  

Where do we go from here?

We can start with ourselves and start to prioritize creativity and play. Do you love Legos? Go and buy yourself a set. Did you give up your viola lessons after starting your job? Get back to it and find a teacher. You were a theater kid at school? Find a group, be courageous, and go act. Easier said than done – I know. You don’t need to make a big commitment and join a group. Several incredible organizations support creativity and play for adults and children alike. Go to an exhibition opening and panel or participate in a music workshop.

The NYUAD Art Gallery and The Arts Center at NYUAD offer free workshops and opportunities for adults and children alike to engage with the arts, and so do the Irish Baroque Orchestra and many other museums, orchestras, and performing arts houses.

If you have financial resources or access to distribute funding, consider investing in education initiatives and non-profits that are building opportunities and programs for creativity and play. I’m very biasedly going to plug the Irish Baroque Orchestra here who have launched an amazing program of social inclusion initiatives called ‘IBO Infinity’. There are many more and in the absence of large government funding, businesses and individuals can support non-profit organizations and education institutions to commit to investments in AI.