“The impacts of AI are going to be profound and they are happening faster than most people expect.” That’s one main precept of Stephen Ibaraki’s message. He’s fueling a worldwide conversation about the future of AI, blockchain, cloning and global connectivity. When Ibaraki talks about tech, anywhere in the world, people listen. He’s a venture capitalist and futurist who founded the UN ITU AI for Good Global Summit. It’s a dignitary-attended symposium that includes 37 UN agencies, has reached over 2 billion people in the media, and features industry leaders, like Microsoft, as keynote speakers. Its goals include bringing the internet to the least developed societies and narrowing the gap in tech literacy that’s leaving women and other groups behind. Ibaraki is an expert’s expert whose extensive pedigree includes 18 Microsoft Global awards. AI already surrounds us, he says, from email tracking bots to computers in your car. Ibaraki has a bionic chip embedded with AI on his phone that can perform 5 trillion operations per second. He’s a firm believer in augmenting humans with AI. Other trends that are advancing, he says, include AI machine learning, blockchain, technology to counter security threats, and 5G networks. He believes businesses should get on board the speeding bullet train of tech innovations. He predicts a huge investment in everything from machine learning to augmented reality. As for the Orwellian nightmare of lost jobs and dehumanization that is spinning around AI, Ibaraki predicts the opposite. Research shows a net gain of millions of jobs in the coming years, he says. There will be new roles for people as tech specialists and “human/machine interaction” designers. We’ll soon see AI “spread everywhere,” he predicts. “And it will help us to live better lives.”