Human CEOs Could be out of the Job by 2047, Says Jack Ma

The Alibaba founder also warned of 30 years of global pain as artificial intelligence displaces workers.
Executive chairman of Alibaba Jack Ma meets with President Trump

CEOs struggling to perfect succession planning in the digital age may soon have little cause for concern, though the same couldn’t be said for their prodigies.

Apparently, robots could be heading up companies in 30 years’ time, Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, told a gathering in China recently.

“The Time magazine cover for the best CEO of the year very likely will be a robot. It remembers better than you, it counts faster than you and it won’t be angry with competitors,” Ma said.

Whether Ma was 100% serious or just trying to be provocative isn’t entirely clear, though he did remind the audience that people who doubted his predictions 15 years ago that the Internet would upend the retail sector ended up with egg on their faces.

“MACHINES SHOULD ONLY DO WHAT HUMANS CANNOT. THIS WAY WE HAVE OPPORTUNITIES TO KEEP MACHINES AS WORKING PARTNERS WITH HUMANS, RATHER THAN REPLACEMENTS.”

Many business leaders, including Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff, have noted startling advances in artificial intelligence technology in the past year alone. And Ma isn’t the first person to predict that machines will make good managers. Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of  Bridgewater Associates, is reportedly already developing software that will automate much of the day-to-day management of the hedge fund firm.

At least some of the stuff that CEOs do each day could be handled by current technologies, if they were applied right, according to a report released in November by McKinsey. More precisely, the management consultancy pegged the proportion of robot-adoptable CEO tasks at 20%.

These include, it said, analyzing reports and data to informing operational decisions, preparing staff assignments and reviewing status reports.

But that leaves a whole heap of other requirements that machines simply can’t handle yet, including so-called soft skills, such as communication and providing inspiration.

“Ultimately, it’s not going to be about human versus machine,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote last year in a piece for Slate. “We humans have creativity, empathy, emotion, physicality and insight that can be mixed with powerful AI computation—the ability to reason over large amounts of data and to pattern recognition more quickly—to help move society forward.”

Alibaba’s Ma at least agrees that humans and machines can work together for the common good, though he predicts a tough adjustment period will come first.

“In the next 30 years, the world will see much more pain than happiness,” Ma said. “Machines should only do what humans cannot. Only in this way can we have the opportunities to keep machines as working partners with humans, rather than as replacements.”

You might also like:
Humans Play a Key Role in Automated Robotic Systems
Robotic Exoskeletons could Turn Manufacturing Workers into Superhumans
5 Ways Manufacturing CEOs Can Maximize the Robotics Revolution


MORE LIKE THIS

  • Get the CEO Briefing

    Sign up today to get weekly access to the latest issues affecting CEOs in every industry
  • upcoming events

    Roundtable

    Strategic Planning Workshop

    1:00 - 5:00 pm

    Over 70% of Executives Surveyed Agree: Many Strategic Planning Efforts Lack Systematic Approach Tips for Enhancing Your Strategic Planning Process

    Executives expressed frustration with their current strategic planning process. Issues include:

    1. Lack of systematic approach (70%)
    2. Laundry lists without prioritization (68%)
    3. Decisions based on personalities rather than facts and information (65%)

     

    Steve Rutan and Denise Harrison have put together an afternoon workshop that will provide the tools you need to address these concerns.  They have worked with hundreds of executives to develop a systematic approach that will enable your team to make better decisions during strategic planning.  Steve and Denise will walk you through exercises for prioritizing your lists and steps that will reset and reinvigorate your process.  This will be a hands-on workshop that will enable you to think about your business as you use the tools that are being presented.  If you are ready for a Strategic Planning tune-up, select this workshop in your registration form.  The additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.

    To sign up, select this option in your registration form. Additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.

    New York, NY: ​​​Chief Executive's Corporate Citizenship Awards 2017

    Women in Leadership Seminar and Peer Discussion

    2:00 - 5:00 pm

    Female leaders face the same issues all leaders do, but they often face additional challenges too. In this peer session, we will facilitate a discussion of best practices and how to overcome common barriers to help women leaders be more effective within and outside their organizations. 

    Limited space available.

    To sign up, select this option in your registration form. Additional fee of $495 will be added to your total.

    Golf Outing

    10:30 - 5:00 pm
    General’s Retreat at Hermitage Golf Course
    Sponsored by UBS

    General’s Retreat, built in 1986 with architect Gary Roger Baird, has been voted the “Best Golf Course in Nashville” and is a “must play” when visiting the Nashville, Tennessee area. With the beautiful setting along the Cumberland River, golfers of all capabilities will thoroughly enjoy the golf, scenery and hospitality.

    The golf outing fee includes transportation to and from the hotel, greens/cart fees, use of practice facilities, and boxed lunch. The bus will leave the hotel at 10:30 am for a noon shotgun start and return to the hotel after the cocktail reception following the completion of the round.

    To sign up, select this option in your registration form. Additional fee of $295 will be added to your total.