AI is hardly a new concept – it’s been a thrust of bleak science fiction for decades and, in some form or other, been an analytical and data processing lynchpin for almost as long.

So, what’s moved it away from the pages of I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream to a core consideration of futurists, technologists, CISOs and huge swathes of the population – 83% of whom are now aware of genAI?

The new wave of AI represents scale. The amount of data it’s trained on is exponentially larger.

Traditional AI relied on narrow, task-specific algorithms, whereas genAI uses large-scale models with billions of parameters, allowing it to handle more complex tasks, such as natural language understanding, content creation, and problem-solving, with greater accuracy and adaptability.

This scalability drives genAI’s ability to revolutionise industries and applications far beyond what earlier AI could achieve.

According to the opening keynote of this year’s ScotSoft, the next 10 years will be critical as genAI further permeates.

It’s through this lens that Honorary Professor at the University of Stirling and Senior Advisor to the chief futurist at Deloitte, Joe Little, opened this year’s ScotSoft, discussing some avenues in which genAI could be used to tackle some of the biggest problems of our time.

The Exponential Rise of GenAI

The next decade will be the one that will be forever known as the decade where AI in all its forms rose to exponential tool.

When it comes to tectonic-shifting – but still essentially nascent – technologies like genAI, Little posits that their impact over five year’s is usually “vastly overestimated” and “vastly underestimated” with regards to a 10-year view.

He adds: “We’re going to see a lot more specialised solutions being created, more machine autonomy, more dynamic interface, context awareness system models being created. But hallucination – AI’s tendency to produce incorrect or misleading information – is going to be an issue for some time and human supervision is going to be absolutely necessary.”

Little’s view of AI is an aspirational one, he feels that the technology will be critical in facing the climate crisis.

He says: “This emergency will create climate refugees to a degree that we’ve never seen before – potentially around 300 million people by 2050.

“We need tools to help us solve this problem.”

Little also notes the importance of multi-modal processing and language models, while warning that they still have “limitations.” The shift, he explains, will be towards AI solutions that are “more specialised, creating new opportunities across industries.”

However, these advancements won’t come without challenges, as AI’s increasing complexity will demand greater versatility from human workers. As he states, “Human beings will have to become more versatile, able to work across a number of skills and tools.”

A Critical Moment for Scottish Tech and Innovation

While there’s no doubt an appetite for Scotland to embrace genAI at an industry level, Professor Little posits that we’re sleepwalking into a crisis at a grassroots level.

As Professor Little points out, the country lags behind others like Estonia, which boasts “ten times more unicorns” in industries such as gaming and robotics.

This gap, he argues, stems largely from a lack of Computer Science teachers which threatens to undermine Scotland’s future tech workforce. “We are not delivering enough,” Little says, adding that addressing this shortage is critical to preventing “disaster in the coming years.”

Despite these setbacks, Little sees potential for growth if Scotland can harness its strengths. He calls for deeper collaboration between universities and industry, noting that “Scotland’s universities need to stop competing and start collaborating.”

Recommended reading

• Data Centre Emissions Could Be 600% Worse Than Big Tech Claims
• What is the Carbon Cost of AI?
• Placing Data Centres in Scotland Could Cut Carbon Significantly

Little suggests that fostering entrepreneurial skills and creating a more integrated ecosystem for innovation will be crucial. “We need to invest in computer science education and entrepreneurial skills,” he explains, underscoring the need for Scotland to nurture the next generation of tech leaders.

In his view, Scotland must also act swiftly to retain and attract talent. “We need our alumni to stay connected and return to Scotland,” Little stresses, advocating for greater support for local startups and encouraging students to engage with emerging technologies.

With these changes, Scotland could transform itself into a leader in AI and tech, but only if it addresses the challenges head-on.