Kazuo Ishiguro: forthcoming work on AI, society

STOCKHOLM, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- The 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature Laureate, Kazuo Ishiguro, said here Wednesday that his forthcoming works would be an exploration on how society can be influenced by artificial intelligence.

"I have been interested in artificial intelligence for some time, what the breakthroughs of science and technology might do to our society in the future," said Ishiguro at the press conference held at the Swedish Academy on Wednesday.

"I think there will be many positive, exciting benefits to come, but of course to me, society will have to adjust enormously, some of the most basic assumptions we have made, about things such as employment, our relationship to machines, our relationship to each other, even things like the nature of meritocracy -- why one deserves a better job than the other. We have to look at these things again," the Japanese-British author said.

"I am quite interested in looking into where we are going, because I think we are moving very fast at the moment, on the technological and scientific front. And to some extent, I feel the discussions haven't kept up in society at large, we haven't really addressed what the implications are of the breakthrough we will have in biotechnology, artificial intelligence, robotics," he added.

Ishiguro believes more discussions are needed about these technological changes that are revolutionizing our society.

"The world is in many ways more prepared for zombie attack on our major cities, because this is something we rehearse over and over again in movies. So I think if the zombies attack us, we all know what to do. But I don't think we've been having a proper discussion about breakthroughs that are either already on top of us or just around the corner," said Ishiguro.

The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2017 was awarded to Kazuo Ishiguro "who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world," the Swedish Academy announced in early October.

Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and economics gather in Stockholm during the annual Nobel week, which culminates on Dec. 10, when the Nobel Prize award ceremony will be held. Enditem