Last month 2,600 tech industry professionals signed a petition led by Elon Musk and Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, to halt AI development until there was a clear understanding of its full implications. Although he did not sign the letter, Geoffrey Hinton, the so-called "Godfather of AI", resigned from Google to warn the world stating, "AI could be a greater threat to humankind than climate change".

In this part 1 of this 2-part series, Rob sits down with Reza Samahin, Portfolio Manager at KJ Harrison, to discuss the big ideas behind artificial intelligence and what impacts it may have for humans overall. Will we all be out of a job? When will it become sentient?

In part 2, Rob will speak with Reza again to discuss the implications of AI from a macro investing perspective.

Reza Samahin, P.Eng, CFA Portfolio Manager Reza Samahin is a Portfolio Manager and a member of the KJH Investment Team. Reza focuses exclusively on investing in global technology companies. Reza has over 20 years combined experience in capital markets and the technology industry. Prior to joining KJ Harrison Investors in 2011, Reza was a Portfolio Manager at Natcan Investment Management Ltd. and Altamira Management Ltd. where he was a Lipper Fund Award recipient in the Technology category. Reza is a Professional Engineer and has held management positions at Amdocs Inc., Algorithmics Ltd. and IBM Labs.

Reza received a Bachelor of Applied Science (Engineering Science) from the University of Toronto.