October 31, 2018. Shanghai – The MBA 2020 eLab Entrepreneurship and Investment Camp welcomed its first guest speaker today, Keith Ng from Hong Kong, to talk about next generation technologies and their impacts on our personal and work lives. Coming from a banking and M&A background, Keith is passionate about the world of technology, especially the evolution of AI and blockchain.

The lecture kicked off with an insightful question about defining “Futures Studies.” Keith explained to the young entrepreneurs and investors in attendance that, “Studying the future is not predicting what exactly will happen in the future, but gaining strategic foresight about the possibilities around probable future scenarios.” He demonstrated how new AI technologies can change our imagination about the future with, for example, facial recognition, robotic interactions, and the replacement of human labour. Furthermore, he elaborated on some breakthroughs and opportunities for blockchain. The concept of decentralisation comes from bitcoin’s transparent nature, reduced transaction cost with no middlemen, and no central supervision or control.

In the future, Keith stated, more sophisticated and intellectual work will be taken over by computers with fast evolving machine learning and artificial intelligence. The MBA students found this session highly educating and relevant to their future jobs. “This trend will surely continue into the future with so much potential yet to be explored in a field where no physical limit can be set,” observed MBA 2020 student Michelle Yu.  MBA 2020 Shengwu Zeng was also impressed with the overview and the latest trend in applications for bitcoin. His batch mate Jason Zhang’s key takeaway was that, “Although AI creates convenience, it also takes away repetitive jobs and increases risks around privacy. Therefore, everyone of us should be more conscious about privacy and define our unique value proposition.”