What would the world look like without the integration of electricity? Steampunk fans know. For anyone who’s not versed in one of the most popular science fiction genres outside of, say, Star Wars–style space opera or eerily relevant cyberpunk (and why wouldn’t you be?), steampunk imagines a retro-chic future where an economy of the future, including flying cars or even trains, would run completely on steam, as if the Victorian age technology prevailed over electricity. It turns out that one of the major investment banks, Barclays, is prone to some steampunk-style thinking, at least when it comes to the markets' topic du jour: artificial intelligence.
For its annual Signal in the Noise compendium, assembled by the bank’s media and telecoms team, Barclays addresses A.I.’s potential impact on art and touches on the topical case of the Hollywood writers' strike over several disagreements but especially the use of A.I. in screenwriting. It discusses, among other things, the tentative Hollywood directors’ deal that includes the agreement that “A.I. cannot replace the duties performed by members.”
