Astro Teller, who oversees Google's secret laboratory "X" talks about the future of X

Hold Google affiliatedAlphabetInside,Automatic driving carAnd Wi - Fi balloon "LoonCompanies that work on ambitious projects such as "X"(Old:Google X)Astro TellerIn response to Mr. The Verge's interview, he talks about the future that X is aiming for.

Delivery drones will mean the end of ownership | Verge 2021
http://www.theverge.com/a/verge-2021/google-x-astro-teller-interview-drones-innovation

Mr. Teller learned computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, acquired a doctorate in artificial intelligence, entered the health management company BodyMedia from the academic world, but after joining Google as a result of the company being acquired by Google I decided to do it. Mr. Teller is currently serving as general manager of X on Google X which is its predecessor. Because many studies carried out by X are as ambitious as represented by automatic driving cars, Mr. Teller who supervises X has a synonym of "Captain of the Moon Shot" in analogy to the moon landing of the Apollo project .


Q:
What do you see about 5 to 10 years from now?

Teller:
I do not know. More importantly, no one knows the future. It is a very dangerous business to try to predict. What I want to do with X is to concentrate on the task of asking various questions to imaginary products that may be possible.

Q:
Who is responsible for reducing "anxiety" related to technology? Is it a technician or regulatory authority?

Teller:
I think that the "technician" is responsible for explaining how useful new technology is for society. Technicians should produce responsible technology. Technicians can predict the influence of that technology on the world. That is why we should try to make people understand the impact of technology correctly. The progress of technology is very fast, it keeps getting faster and faster. Nevertheless, the necessary education for children to adapt to technology change is not made. I think the education system has failed.

Q:
What will happen to the employment market after artificial intelligence (AI) deprives work that humans are currently doing?

Teller:
Technological progress has changed the form of employment and has created new employment. It's like leverage that lifts someone with the latest technology and then many people can lift it. From a narrow perspective, technological innovation will deprive people of their work. AI may bury some professions, but at the same time it creates many new opportunities.

Q:
Project WingDrone performed an experiment to deliver burrito. Have you had Burito delivered to the drone?


Teller:
There is.

Q:
How was?

Teller:
It was wonderful and indeed strange. Every age human beings have continued to change their means of transport. Boats, planes, trains, horses, postal systems, etc. These are major changes in society. Looking back on these is easy. That is because it is after removing various problems.

Q:
If drone fly around in the air, many drone will be shared rather than owned. Then we share electricity and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. What is the biggest challenge to realizing this future of drone?

Teller:
It is necessary to make longer distances perfectly autonomously, with high safety, at low cost. These are unresolved problems. I would like to make it possible to land slowly without breakage in the air even if accident happens so as not to collide with electric wires. There are many unresolved problems.

Q:
Will houses have drone launchers and landing tables in the future?

Teller:
High-rise buildings are equipped with heliports. Also, I saw the design that Drone dropped his luggage from the window or dropped it in the garden. These are what X is working on. It may be too early to build a droning-friendly building, but I think it's a good time to start imaging.

Q:
We are trying to solve the problem of Internet environment with Project Loon which delivers Internet connection environment with balloon. Do you think there is a potential problem for a permanent connection environment?


Teller:
Some people believe that continuing to connect to the net has a harmful effect. I myself am not a heavy user of social media ... .... It is not the first time for people to panic with the idea that technology and other innovative things lead to the destruction of society. For example, once Rock 'n' roll was thought to corrupt young Americans, young Americans survived in rock 'n' roll. I think that young people survive even on Facebook.

Q:
What is the project that X is now working on, giving the greatest impact to society from 5 to 10 years later?

Teller:
I will not pick up "favorite children". This is by no means an absolute answer, but I think I will answer seriously about the question. When looking backward ten or twenty years from now it seems that we were able to successfully balance between anomalous optimism and too strict skepticism, ordering the technological innovation we are about to do I hope that. When these go well, I think that it will give society greater impact than any project that came out with X.

Q:
Does that mean that the process is important, not the project (product) that X produces?

Teller:
That is what I am talking about. Is there any impact greater than this? What Henry Ford saw was "How to make a car" or "T type Ford itself"? I think that the biggest impact that Ford has given the world is systematization of interchangeable parts at the automobile factory. This systematization is much bigger than the product produced by the factory. In that sense, I am proud of the project that nested from X, such as an automatic driving car, deep learning technology called GoogleBrain, and at the same time I am proud that many projects are now being created in X.


Q:
How about X in 5 years, 10 years later?

Teller:
I do not know. Five or ten years later please come again and ask me.

Q:
Will X live longer than Ford?

Teller:
X is planned to continue to exist in the future. Let's live longer, wait for a while and let's see.