Professor Lee explaining about AI and deep learning. Photographed by Kim Hyun Ji

By Kim Hyun Ji (hyunjimy1@korea.ac.kr)

Professor Lee Wonjun (Department of Cyber Defense) delivered a lecture titled “Beyond Metaphorical 4IR: The Future X Technology” on October 31 in the Centennial Memorial Samsung Hall at Korea University (KU). Professor Lee has a background in computer science and is now attached to the College of Informatics in KU. The lecture is the second of the AI Humanities Lecture Series—which is comprised of four lectures in total—where remaining lectures will be covered until mid-November.

The lecturer led off the talk with the meaning of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). The term has been widely used to describe today’s society, but Professor Lee provided a different perspective on this term. He explained that the 4IR is simply metaphorical, instead of being literal in  that there has been no “actual” revolution. Furthermore, he mentioned that the IT field does not actually use the term. The more accurate term to describe the rapid development today is “digital transformation,” not “industrial revolution.” In this sense, he elaborated on the technology prevalent in the current generation and what future technology would look like.

Professor Lee continued the lecture by introducing history of computer language, the internet, the Internet of Things (IoT), and lastly, artificial intelligence (AI). By looking at history, Professor Lee was able to point out how things were constantly changing and developing at an extremely fast rate, and he also pointed out trends in technology. Just like what goes around comes around, technological trends seems to be repeating again and again. The representative example of this tendency is AI.

AI has been the hottest topic in the IT field in the past few years, and it continues to be on the top of the list of interests. Professor Lee explained that although recent AI boom seems to be new, it has been around for a long time with a few changes. He mentioned that the main distinguishing characteristic of the current AI boom is deep learning. He talked about how the popularity and interest in AI research has fluctuated greatly in the past, and although AI may seem like a stable field now, AI winter will come soon.

Professor Lee gave further examples of new, developing technologies in today’s IT field. The main example he used was radiofrequency (RF) related technology; for instance, RF-powered devices will be battery-less. In 2017, the first battery-less cellphone was developed. Although it did not produce much change, it opened paths and provided a direction for the future. Unfortunately, however, many of such findings have been shadowed by the AI, not having received much attention, especially in Korea.

Professor Lee ended the lecture with a quote, “The lake is not water in the eyes of someone who has seen the sea.” He gave some heartfelt advice to students as he reminded them of how fast the technological world changes and that they should look at the future and beyond instead of focusing on latest hits.
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