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Sept. 3 (NBD) -- Kai-Fu Lee, artificial intelligence (AI) expert and former president of Google China, released his new book AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order in Beijing Sunday, and the book will be available on the international market at the same time. 

According to the new book, AI will come in 4 waves: Internet AI, Business AI, Perception AI, and Autonomous AI, and each of them will change how human live and work.

Lee predicted in the book that AI and automation will replace 40 percent to 50 percent of jobs in 15 years. But it may take a little while longer to materialize due to corporate policies, intervention of labor unions and government decisions. 

Jobs that require repeated labor such as dish washing, cable assembling, sewing, customer services, telephone marketing, archiving, dada collecting and etc, are more likely to be replaced by AI, underlined Lee.

As a consequence, training and re-employment of those people will be a great challenge to the society in the coming 15 to 25 years.

However, creative jobs such as medical researchers, AI scientists, script writers, PR experts, entrepreneurs, as well as jobs that require extreme precision, such as dentists and massagists, are not likely to be replaced by AI.

During the past three years, AI was always a hot topic among scientists, entrepreneurs and policy makers. It is interesting to note that even preschoolers are studying AI.

AI companies are good at making stories, having attracted a string of venture capital. Usually, a great AI project could draw up to ten venture capital investors, each of which invest 10-20 million yuan (1.5-3.0 million U.S. dollars). However, the model that lacks a lead investor is unsustainable, Lee stressed.

When it comes to the question whether there is bubble in the AI industry, Lee said the hype around AI results in high valuation of some AI companies, but the situation is changing. The overall valuation of AI firms dropped 20-30 percent in the past three to four months, he noted.

Just like the Internet, AI has a long way to go despite bubbles on the development road. In the long run, it will be a promising industry.

Lee predicted that the valuation of AI companies will be more reasonable if another 20-30 percent fall is seen in the future. At that time, there will be more investment opportunities.

Email: tanyuhan@nbd.com.cn