[Viewpoint] Let’s Quickly Climb the "Golden Ladder"

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Jang Ha-joon (60), a professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Cambridge, gained global fame over 20 years ago through his book “Kicking Away the Ladder” (2002). This book has been published in 10 languages, including Korean. Professor Jang received the Myrdal Prize in 2003 (awarded to economists who propose alternatives to neoliberal economics) and the Leontief Prize in 2005 (awarded to economists who broaden the horizons of economics).

The thesis of the book is as follows: “Leading countries climbed the ladder (protectionism, resource exploitation, environmental destruction, etc.) to become advanced nations. Following countries also climb the ladder. The advanced countries then kick the ladder away. ‘It’s okay for us, but not for you.’”

Lee Sang-gyu, CEO of Neolab Convergence, compares the recently emerging generative artificial intelligence (AI), namely GPT, to a “golden ladder.” It is a novel means that helps individuals, companies, and countries make quantum leaps. Throughout human history, there have been a few such ladders. Steam and electricity changed the industrial landscape, and the internet shook the world. Individuals, companies, and countries that climbed these ladders gained wealth and led the world. Looking back, these were such tremendous changes that humanity gave grand names: “First Industrial Revolution” for steam, “Second Industrial Revolution” for electricity, and “Third Industrial Revolution” for the internet.

Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF), was somewhat hasty. In 2015, he named AI the “Fourth Industrial Revolution,” claiming it would be another ladder for humanity. However, AI had not yet changed the game. Thus, there has been much debate about the true nature of the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” until now.

In fact, AI, which began in the 1950s, was not a ladder for humanity for over 70 years. Rule-based AI in the 1950s barely recognized what humans explicitly programmed it to recognize (failure). Learning-based AI in the 1980s improved somewhat but still could not distinguish cats from dogs (also failure). Deep learning AI in the 2010s was different. The internet revolution of the 1990s caused a surge in data, making it possible to identify and recognize the world. Still, it only increased human convenience and did not generate anything new (yet another failure). Reinforcement learning AI in the 2020s was distinctly different. It became possible to process natural language by probabilistically analyzing every sentence digitally and speak like a human (finally a success). This is ChatGPT, released by OpenAI last year, which is rapidly evolving into a general-purpose GPT and shaking the world.

Bill Gates said, “ChatGPT is as important an invention as the internet.” According to Schwab, it is the “Fourth Industrial Revolution,” and according to CEO Lee Sang-gyu, it is the “golden ladder.”

The application fields of GPT are limitless, including economics, finance, society, and culture. Moreover, the AI industry tends toward an open, shared copyleft rather than a closed, monopolistic copyright. It is open to everyone. After all, why else would the company be named OpenAI? Now, only the obvious choice remains: will you quickly climb the golden ladder before you, or kick it away yourself?

(※Kim Dae-sik, a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at KAIST, classifies Apple as an underperformer in the AI industry. Unlike the copyleft camp of MS and Google, Apple has a copyright tendency, causing AI talent to avoid it.)

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