Will Robots and A.I. Heal the World?

Robots might eat the world's ills

A high-speed robotics system from AMP Robotics picks out recyclables on a conveyor belt in a Waste Connections recycling facility. Photo courtesy of AMP Robotics.

Hey Everyone,

I think a lot about the intersection of Venture Capital, ESG and artificial intelligence. ESG is an acronym for Environmental, Social, and Governance. ESG takes the holistic view that sustainability extends beyond just environmental issues. My question is can A.I. uplift how we deal with some of humanity’s major problems?

I don’t know the answer, but I will in this publication sometimes attempt storytelling around that theme. A.I. for Good needs to be priority and not just why Generative AI is Eating the world. The Cloud and Ads are still pushing software to the brink of sparks of AGI. But besides economic productivity, what is the “good” that comes out of it?

Many of you might not know this, but in my emerging tech coverage I also cover stories around robotics. I’m bullish on robots and our attempts to make a general purpose robot. Emerging tech has many forms. In Quantum, recently, a flurry of reports of innovations around Topological quantum computation is taking place (link to paper).

These things are exciting, and A.I. for Good and robots doing beneficial things in society will begin to take shape in the 2025 to 2035 period.

The intersection of venture capital and robots is something I cover closely. So recently, on May 9th, 2023 it was reported AMP Robotics has received financing from Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund. This latest investment brings AMP’s Series C round, led by Congruent Ventures and Wellington Management, to a total of more than $99 million.

We must have conviction that human progress and technology are fundamentally good, no matter the painful transitions it will surely entail. In an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” a few weeks ago, Google CEO Sundar Pichai hinted that society isn’t prepared for the rapid advancement of AI. Ready or not, the robots are coming and the environment could benefit.