The Great
Intelligence Unlock
Intelligent systems will unlock opportunities
available to people, families and enterprises globally.
Trust will determine where that unlock occurs.
Peter Toumbourou
THE GREAT UNLOCK
Much of the dialogue about technology has been about what it will reduce.
Not enough has been about what it will add, multiply and unlock.
This unlock is coming quickly.
Continuous, instant and most importantly: trusted.
The
Great Multiplier
Trusted intelligent systems turn better decisions into a more prosperous tomorrow.
1
TRUSTED INTELLIGENCE
Clear, credible insights give individuals and businesses the confidence to make better decisions.
2
BETTER DECISIONS
Individuals and businesses choose smarter, act faster and allocate resources more efficiently.
3
STRONGER LEGACIES
Greater financial security leads to more opportunities and brighter futures for the next generation.
4
THRIVING ENTERPRISES
More innovative, efficient companies create new jobs and investment fuels wider prosperity.
5
STRONGER COMMUNITIES
Healthier, more resilient communities with better education, infrastructure and shared opportunity.
6
GLOBAL
GROWTH
More stable, innovative and inclusive global economies unlocks opportunities everywhere.
The Expert
You trusted the advisor for the degree on the wall, their ‘reputation’ and their professional membership. If something went wrong, at least you had someone to blame (and sue).
Aligned Intelligence
It’s probably why you shouldn’t rely on your Jack-of-All-Trades Uncle Bob for the free financial and medical advice he dishes out at the family BBQ. He sounds as confident as a global expert and dresses sharply, but little do you know he barely has a roof over his head. A wolf in sheep’s clothing you’d never speak to again once he ripped you off.
The gatekeepers to expert advice were time, money … and trust.
Now, with a click, “intelligence” is available to anyone lucky enough to have the internet.
So, everyone can afford advice they once couldn’t? Ahh, not so fast.
Advice was never the prize.
It was what you could do with it.
Buy a home. Save a business. Challenge a bad contract. Plenty never knew those doors existed. That's the bigger unlock.
Not just cheaper expertise, but more people able to attempt things once beyond their reach.
Trust is a Glass
Trust is the glue that keeps this all together.
But trust is fragile; break it once and it is seldom the same again.
While trust is rare, it is becoming even harder to recognise. With the ubiquity of “intelligence,” sorting fact from fiction, truth from fraud and good from bad actors will be harder than ever – and more essential than ever.
But wasn’t that always the case – sorting the wolf from the sheep? The Uncle Bobs from the trusted advisors? Haven’t we always needed trust to receive expert advice? Why should this intelligence be any different? It isn’t.
AI may unlock abundant intelligence. Trust is still the glue that makes it work. Like it always has. A good answer is one thing. Giving intelligence permission to act for you is another. That takes clear limits and someone accountable when things go wrong.
Intelligent systems require governance that scales commensurately with their endeavours. That means that for every decision they make, accountability, veracity and transparency follows.
But what happens when intelligent systems make decisions for us ?
Aligned Intelligence
Much of the work of intelligent systems involves maths (cryptography included), comparing options against your circumstances, testing multivariate scenarios and learning as those circumstances, decision planes and environments change.
But choosing what matters to you is more than an equation.
Intelligence doesn’t wait to be asked. Your bills don't wait for an appointment next Tuesday. Neither do expiring contracts. An intelligent system continuously watches, sees a change and acts within the limits you set. Not once a year. Continuously. Across multiple domains.
Optimizing is More than Just Maths.
You get promoted. Your income tax bill grows. An intelligent system weighs the tax, borrowing costs and risks of another investment property, including any depreciation benefits. It might recommend buying. Or not buying. No meeting required. More than maths.
Grandma’s phone bill jumps from $75 to $845 after those 3 am calls to Tajikistan. Her intelligent system spots the charge, investigates and, within her authority, takes action. No appointment. More than maths.
Aunt Poppy’s electricity bill went to the wrong house. Her power is about to be disconnected. Her intelligent system spots the unpaid bill and helps keep the lights on. More than maths.
Aunt Poppy’s electricity bill went to the wrong house. Her power is about to be disconnected. Her intelligent system spots the unpaid bill and helps keep the lights on. More than maths.
Your health insurance premium triples. Your intelligent system compares policies against your needs, checks exclusions and finds better value. Better premium, better cover. More than maths.
A refugee needs a migration application and employment contract reviewed in their native language. Soon that same intelligence helps with qualifications, work, housing and perhaps a business. Not just legal advice. A different life trajectory.
The mortgage broker won’t look at your home loan because you fall outside her panel of lenders. Your intelligent system searches further and finds an option you didn't even know existed. Better rates, better terms and lower interest overall through your offset account. You buy the house instead of renting for the next 25 years. Your children now have a legacy they can build on. More than maths.
The future may not be fewer experts. It may be far more people doing work previously beyond their reach.
Unlocking
Professionals
We've unlocked individual decision makers, but what happens when we unshackle professionals to achieve what was previously impossible ?
A regional doctor with an intelligent system has access to specialised knowledge that previously required a major hospital network. The doctor advises their patient for a rare disease before it becomes acute. The treatment saves the patient from years of medical intervention, costs and hardship. One intelligent system unlocks a better future not only for the patient but their family aswell.
A young lawyer handles more sophisticated legal research and provides specialised advice to a client. The client is able to protect themselves from untrustworthy business partners. Everyone wins.
A small business owner instantly examines strategic optimization strategies for legal, tax and accounting that once required a consulting team. It supercharges their growth and employs even more people, putting food on even more family's tables.
Now multiply that. Businesses competing for work they never would have attempted. Regional professionals helping more people closer to home. More businesses started. More mistakes avoided. A much bigger unlock than just cheaper advice.
Your accountant’s advice on Testamentary Trusts and company “buckets” gets a second intelligent opinion. Instantly. Ah, got you… a human was required! Well, now there’s a second opinion.
Instant Second Opinion
Previously, expert advice came with trust. Sometimes deserved. Sometimes because the alternatives were expensive, slow, or unavailable. Now intelligence will check humans and humans will check intelligence.
Now that second opinion will unlock even greater opportunities.
An instant lawyer checks the legal advice you bought against relevant regulatory changes.
A specialist urologist receives a useful medical history from your intelligent advisor, with possible questions to investigate and whether an MRI is warranted.
A local accountant helps implement structures proposed by your intelligent system, navigating the regulatory portals. Their bill may be far smaller than the fully briefed advisory fee.
That’s just the beginning.
Now AI will be checking AI. Another unlock (but beyond this article’s pay grade).
And perhaps we'll be able to check more than the answer. Did the system follow your instructions? Did it disclose a conflict? Did it act within the limits you gave it? A professional's reputation used to be our best clue. Imagine being able to inspect the evidence of your intelligent system instead. Not perfect trust, but better reasons for it.
Anyone, anywhere with access to trusted tailored intelligent systems.
No expensive coffee in Lake Zug.
No First-Class lobster.
No bill shock.
Aligned Intelligence
The Shape of Trust
Now everyone is an “expert.” So, who, or what, can I trust?
Aligned Intelligence
At its heart are four questions:
-
Who has the tailored knowledge of my personal situation to act honestly (without conflicts)?
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Who has the wisdom of experience to know the rules, regulations and pitfalls of their advice?
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Who is consistent enough for me to rely on them?
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Who is loyal to my best interests, even when it doesn’t benefit them?
That fourth question isn’t hyperbole. Fiduciary duties have existed for centuries. Technology has too often forgotten them. That’s the risk of intelligent systems without proper governance.
Now let’s consider the flow-on effects. Think beyond the individual decision. Better intelligence helps someone start a business, carefully considered and set up with guardrails once reserved for the “gated communities”.
That business employs others and feeds their families. Its supplier gains a new customer. Both families benefit from the productivity unlocked through intelligent systems. Now multiply that single decision across people, families and enterprises everywhere. No single miracle. Millions of better decisions. What does that unlock over a generation?
For centuries, opportunity followed money, geography and circumstance. Where you were born, who you knew and what you could afford determined which doors opened.
Now imagine a young entrepreneur in Osaka with access to the same financial and legal expertise as a business in New York. Or a farmer in rural Rwanda who sells commodities overseas and makes better decisions about crops, weather, financing and markets. Not because they suddenly became wealthy. Because intelligence became affordable.
Now multiply that by a billion people (at least). Small businesses get started. Inventions find their way to market. Talented people get the right advice, connections and confidence to pursue their ideas. What happens when even a fraction get the chance? This could unlock opportunities, welfare and wealth that otherwise would never have existed.
One bad actor can break trust for a long, long time. It can also cost dearly.
And here’s the interesting part. Intelligence isn’t like land, oil or gold.
Sharing it doesn’t leave less for everyone else.
The Flow-on Beyond Today
A good idea in Singapore doesn’t diminish one in Sydney. It might make it better. As more people learn, build and contribute, possibilities multiply.
That trust will unlock opportunities and journeys around the world.
These questions will shape the future of trust.
The greatest unlock won't be what intelligent systems do for us. It will be what billions can do for themselves.
Peter Toumbourou
The Locked Gates.
For centuries, the wisest advisors were “locked” behind tall gates. The village doctor, the lawyer in the next town, the banker in the distant city.
Now those gates are about to be unlocked.
For everyone (lucky enough to have the internet).
For centuries, the wisest advisors were “locked” behind tall gates. The village doctor, the lawyer in the next town, the banker in the distant city.
Aligned Intelligence
To reach them, you needed time... and plenty of money. Without either, you suffered. You got sick. Lost your contract. Your bank foreclosed on some obscure loophole.
Today we really haven’t evolved as much as you might think. The best tax advice doesn’t come cheap. It usually follows a “briefing” and an expensive coffee overlooking Manhattan or Lake Zug, in a mahogany office at 11 am next Tuesday, for 30 minutes.
The bill follows shortly after your episode with said trusted advisor. If they take you for dinner, you’ll probably be paying for the lobster’s First-Class flight across the Atlantic as well (no double entendre was intended at the time of writing).
You had time, plenty of dough, and unlocked their gate of knowledge.
Otherwise, that gate stayed locked (firmly).
Now interchange the tax advisor for Special Legal Counsel, Urologist, Private Wealth Advisor or Personal Insurance Broker.
A fiduciary is someone you trust to make important decisions on your behalf. Your doctor. Your lawyer. The trustee of your inheritance. The accountant who files your return. The law requires each of them to put your interests first, ahead of their own and ahead of their employer's.
You unlocked their gate by the hour and they billed by the minute.
That gate is about to be unlocked.