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Accenture Tech Boss Says AI Will Impact 40% of Working Hours

Accenture Plc’s European technology lead said generative AI could eventually “free up” about 40% of working hours across industries, allowing workers to focus on other tasks.

Speaking at a Workday conference in Barcelona, Accenture’s Jan Willem Van Den Bremen said the rise of the technology has prompted companies to rethink which tasks they want staff to perform. For example, Van Den Bremen said computer programmers could shift to validating programs developed by AI, rather than writing the programs themselves.

EK: Can generative AI finish my paper?

Elon Musk’s Brain Implant Startup Is Ready to Start Surgery

Elon Musk is preparing for the most consequential launch of his career. But this one isn’t rocket science—it’s brain surgery. Musk’s company Neuralink Corp. is seeking a volunteer for its first clinical trial, meaning it’s looking for someone willing to have a chunk of their skull removed by a surgeon so a large robot can insert a series of electrodes and superthin wires into their brain. When the robot finishes, the missing piece of skull will have been replaced with a computer the size of a quarter that’s meant to stay there for years. Its job will be to read and analyze the person’s brain activity, then relay that information wirelessly to a nearby laptop or tablet.

For the purposes of the trial, an ideal candidate would be an adult under age 40 whose four limbs are paralyzed. Such a patient would likely have Neuralink’s implant inserted into what’s known as the hand knob area of their premotor cortex, which governs the hands, wrists and forearms. The goal is to show that the device can safely collect useful data from that part of the patient’s brain, a key step in Neuralink’s efforts to convert a person’s thoughts into a range of commands a computer can understand.

Unrealistic timetables are one of Musk’s favorite management techniques. To his credit, he’s made several improbable dreams come true—eventually. But while rockets and cars are serious business, neural implants require perfection on a whole other level. One does not rush a brain implant to market and hope for the best.

Two other companies, Synchron and Onward, have more than a year’s head start on human trials with brain implants and related technology. Neuralink has, however, gotten dramatically more attention than the decades of incremental, largely academic research that preceded it, and not always to its credit. Some neuroscientists have said Neuralink is hyping the technology. Animal-rights groups have accused it of cruelty to the monkeys, pigs and other mammals it’s tested implants on so far. The through-line is Musk, whose increasingly manic and reactionary online persona has done little to suggest he stands as the ideal candidate to mass-produce mind-control devices.

EK: The area that only belongs to God is being touched by Musk in multiple ways… Whether good or bad will be decided in the future.