We are in the middle of a steam engine moment.

Before the invention of the steam engine, manual labour could only be replaced by animals or water power. The iconic fountain in Geneva is a testimony to water powered machinery in Geneva's watchmaking industry.

With the availability of steam engines, you did not need to be close to water or have an ox to pull a wheel. Steam engines could deliver power wherever you had the place to install one. Steam engines on wheels and on rails allowed for the mass transportation of goods across long distances.

The steam engine was the enabler of the industrial revolution and it hit the manufacturing industry full speed.

With AI, we are currently in such a moment. The availability of data, networks, algorithms and computing power at low cost allow us to use AI "everywhere".

Like the steam engine, it does certainly not make sense to use AI regardless of it's fit to the job, but like the steam engine AI allows to become faster, predictable (key for industrializing a task) and to create new products and services.

I find this observation fascinating. As with the steam engine, AI will require regulation, controls, and an embedding into the workings of our society. That is under way and many problems are already solved, though we are still in discovery mode.

The most intriguing line of thought is however what happened next with steam engines and is still happening today with them: They produce electricity.

Bringing this back to AI, I ask myself what the next level comparable to electricity will be?