The first driver has to do with what I experienced with AlphaGo: great power competition. Technological rivalry is a geopolitical reality. Indeed it always has been. Nations feel the existential need to keep up with their peers. Innovation is power. Second comes a global research ecosystem with its ingrained rituals rewarding open publication, curiosity, and the pursuit of new ideas at all costs. Then come the immense financial gains from technology and the urgent need to tackle our global social challenges. And the final driver is perhaps the most human of all: ego.
