Technology has been facing a reckoning, with many people calling it frenemy No. 1. While some experts at The Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything Festival Tuesday offered warnings about the lack of oversight and management and the level of distraction, the broader theme focused on how entrepreneurs and other doers and thinkers have harnessed the chaos to their advantage across industries.
Here, their thoughts on artificial intelligence, sports, work and wellness.
AI: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
We are hurtling toward a future where machines are taking over and, as speakers Tuesday noted, there aren’t many brakes in place.
Nine tech companies, including Alphabet Inc. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. , are largely deciding the direction of artificial-intelligence research and implementation, said Amy Webb, founder of the Future Today Institute.
“There’s no switch, and nobody is in charge,” Ms. Webb said.
That limited group is introducing human biases into algorithms, warned Kate Crawford, co-founder of AI Now Research Institute. “In some ways, the people designing these systems are the least well-trained to think about the problems,” she said.
Large tech companies are also gaining a significant advantage over smaller competitors through data collection and the application of AI strategies, said David Siegel, co-chairman of Two Sigma Investments. That can lead to “a situation where it’s very, very bad for economic growth and creative disruption,” he added.
Even as we face challenges of living with AI, there is much to look forward to, said Garry Kasparov, author and former world chess champion. “It’s about human-machine collaboration,” Mr. Kasparov said.
Humans still have creativity on their side, said Jeffrey Wright, an actor who plays a humanoid robot on HBO’s Westworld. “One of our advantages, and one of the most compelling things about art, about a performance, is the mistake, is the flaw, is the unexpected,” Mr. Wright said.
Gary Marcus, professor of psychology and neural science at New York University, juxtaposed photos of his young daughter easily climbing off a chair with the awkward fumbles of the latest robots.
“In the event of a robot attack—I know you are all worried—just close the door,” Dr. Marcus said.
—Yuliya Chernova
Take Me Out to the Ballgame...and the Team Store...and the Esports Arena...
Sports today aren’t just games played on a court or a field, they’re an amalgam of fan experiences, entertainment assets, merchandise sales, cross-discipline training, political discussion, and much more.
Take Team Dignitas—an esports team acquired by the Philadelphia 76ers organization. What business does a pro basketball team have collaborating with a group of gamers? Emmalee Garrido, Team Dignitas captain, said she’s learned how to manage jet lag and nutrition from her basketball counterparts, and when Sixers star Ben Simmons live-streams himself playing esports in his free time, it helps promote the booming world of digital gaming.
Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, said he’s “on the fence” about the so-called one-and-done rule, after reading an NCAA commission report by Condoleezza Rice last month. And if there was any question, he said the days of athletes sticking to sports are long gone.
“I don’t agree with everything our players say, but I agree with the platform” to say it, he said.
Alex Rodriguez perhaps epitomizes the modern sports figure: retired from his on-field accomplishments but making new waves as a sportscaster and business owner. Asked whether he’d ever get into coaching, he cited an unlikely example for a New York All-Star.
“The greatest coach in the world is Bill Belichick,” he said, referencing the New England Patriots boss. “He gets up at 4:30 in the morning and ends at midnight. In order to do it, I want that kind of commitment, and I’m not ready to do that right now.”
Mr. Rodriguez and his co-panelist, Fanatics founder Michael Rubin, agreed that success in sports and in business shares a common characteristic: focus.
—Sara Germano
Tech Has Made Offices More Efficient, But Workers Less Productive
As employers turn over more human-resources functions to new chat apps and hiring platforms, the big question for many business leaders has become how to reign-in the slow creep of that technology into workers’ personal lives.
The constant onslaught of alerts and notifications from email and social-media platforms threatens to create “cognitive diabetes,” said Stewart Butterfield, co-founder and CEO of messaging app Slack Technologies Inc. “I agree that’s a problem” for productivity, he added.
Mr. Butterfield said he recently deleted Twitter because he felt he was wasting too much time on the app, and that he limits his preteen daughter’s screen time to encourage her to read.
Even so, he’s confident tools like Slack ultimately save workers more time by enabling short, direct interactions with colleagues.
Alphabet’s director of food programs at Google, Michiel Bakker, said he also sees his role as one that balances gentle “nudges” to encourage good workplace behavior with employee freedom. “We’re not the food police,” he said.
Other employers argued their responsibility to staff members’ well-being extends to protections for family time.
Yogurt-maker Chobani Inc. Chief Executive Hamdi Ulukaya in 2016 moved to provide all employees with six-weeks of paid leave for parents. “It is our responsibility to make the difference we feel needs to happen in the world,” Mr. Ulukaya said Tuesday.
The world of work has changed dramatically in a short amount of time, and companies have an obligation to ensure current and future employees have the skills, legal protections and benefits that workers “took for granted” in the past, said Brad Smith, president and chief legal officer of Microsoft Corp.
“We should think hard about how to ensure people of 21st century enjoy the same standards of living” as those in the 20th century, he said.
—Kelsey Gee
Beyond Skin-Deep: Companies Are Expanding the Idea of Wellness
Wellness is no longer a state of mind. It’s now big business, with technology pushing it beyond a niche market for spiritual-minded hippies into everything from how we exercise to the beauty products we buy. Major industry players spoke Tuesday about plans to expand even further.
Peloton, the popular fitness brand, said it would move into international markets, beginning with Canada. Virtual reality may also be in the company’s future. When asked about the risk of Peloton becoming a trendy exercise fad, Co-founder and Chief Executive John Foley said running and biking will never go out of style: “The simplicity of biking and running are the most efficient ways to get cardio workouts.”
Moon Juice founder Amanda Chantal Bacon helped put the wellness term “adaptogen” on the map with powders touting names such as Brain Dust, Spirit Dust and Dream Dust. Recently launching pill versions of the powders, she said one of her goals is for wellness to be embraced by a wider audience.
Before Jessica Alba started her company, Honest Co. Inc., the celebrity-turned-entrepreneur said she was frustrated by a lack of progressive products. The options “felt very granola, hippie, patchouli, hemp,” she said.
Starting and growing a business focused on “nontoxic” beauty and household products wasn’t easy, and has included some controversy. But, Ms. Alba said, “you know that there’s always a new day, always an opportunity to reinvent yourself.”
Bobbi Brown, the makeup guru now focused on a healthy-food initiative, said the future in beauty lies in focusing on what goes into the body. “It goes hand in hand—you feel better, you look better,” she said.
—Ray A. Smith