Jack Ma Sees Decades of Pain as Internet Upends Old Economy
Jack Ma Sees Decades of Pain as Internet Upends Old
Economy
Alibaba founder says education can ease blow from
automation
‘Machines should only do what humans cannot,’ Ma tells
forum
April 23, 2017, 2:00 PM PDT April 23, 2017, 11:03 PM PDT
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Chairman Jack Ma said society
should prepare for decades of pain as the internet disrupts the economy.
The world must change education systems and establish how
to work with robots to help soften the blow caused by automation and the
internet economy, Ma said in a speech to an entrepreneurship conference in
Zhengzhou, China.
“In the next 30 years, the world will see much more pain
than happiness,” Ma said of job disruptions caused by the internet. “Social
conflicts in the next three decades will have an impact on all sorts of
industries and walks of life.”
It was an unusual speech for the Alibaba co-founder, who
tends to embrace his role as visionary and extol the promise of the future. He
explained at the event that he had tried to warn people in the early days of
e-commerce it would disrupt traditional retailers and the like, but few
listened. This time, he wants to warn against the impact of new technologies so
no one will be surprised.
“Fifteen years ago I gave speeches 200 or 300 times
reminding everyone the Internet will impact all industries, but people didn’t
listen because I was a nobody," he said.
Ma made the comments as Alibaba, China’s largest
e-commerce operator, spends billions of dollars to move into new businesses
from film production and video streaming to finance and cloud computing. The
Hangzhou-based company, considered a barometer of Chinese consumer sentiment,
is looking to expand abroad since buying control of Lazada Group SA to
establish a foothold in Southeast Asia, potentially setting up a clash with the
likes of Amazon.com Inc.
Ma, 52, was also critical of the traditional banking
industry, saying that lending must be available to more members of society. The
lack of a robust credit system drives up the costs for everyone, he said.
The China Entrepreneur Club event is host to many of the
country’s startup founders, but even here Ma got a celebrity’s reception. As he
took the stage, the crowd surged closer and snapped selfies with Ma in the
background. During a Q&A session, people jumped up and down to get
attention and then often used the time with a microphone to marvel at the
opportunity to talk with him.
Ma was at times brutal in his criticism of companies that
won’t adapt. At one point, he said cloud computing and artificial intelligence
are essential for business -- and if leaders don’t get that, they should find
young people in their companies to explain it to them. Another time, he called
for traditional industries to stop complaining about the internet’s effects on
the economy. He said Alibaba critics ignore that Taobao, its main online
marketplace, has created millions of jobs.
Alibaba shares have outperformed this year on
expectations it can withstand efforts by rivals such as Tencent Holdings Ltd.
to capture digital ad spending and muscle in on its turf. The company is moving
into untapped rural markets and investing in new sources of income, such as online
media and cloud computing -- one of its fastest-growing businesses in 2016.
He also warned that longer lifespans and better
artificial intelligence were likely to lead to both aging labor forces and
fewer jobs. “Machines should only do what humans cannot,” he said. “Only in
this way can we have the opportunities to keep machines as working partners
with humans, rather than as replacements.”
— With assistance by David Ramli
Comments
Post a Comment