Wei Qing, CTO of Microsoft China: The so-called "mid-life crisis at 35" is a false proposition, and the ability of humans to control machines is the real answer.

In the era of AI, everyone is asking, "Where are the next wave of opportunities?" The answer given by Wei Qing, the CTO of Microsoft China, is - "The future business blueprint consists of two core elements: cutting - edge organizations and super - individuals."

He reminds us that when machines replace our ability to act, calculate, and even think to some extent, it is humans themselves who truly determine the future.

"We are always used to chasing dazzling stories and bright sunshine. We just don't want to taste that plain glass of water, and we're reluctant to eat a bowl of noodles or a bun steadily. We always think this isn't the life we should live, right?"

In the complex and ever - changing AI era, how many people are willing to live their lives steadily?

Let's first take a look at the "Ten Don'ts" summarized by Teacher Wei Qing, which can refresh your mind.

1. In the wave of technology, don't ignore the silent majority who are greatly affected - the general public.

2. When reveling in the replacement of humans by machines and the concept of dark factories, don't forget that "humans" are the end - goal.

3. When constantly talking about robots and silicon - based life, don't forget that machines are not humans, and silicon - based entities have no life.

4. When AI becomes a buzzword, don't forget that it is machine learning.

5. When machines are continuously learning, don't forget that humans are a species that has survived because of lifelong learning.

6. When hotly discussing AGI, don't forget that there are still diverse opinions on how human consciousness is generated.

7. When worrying that your job will be replaced by machines, don't forget to ask yourself what you really like to do.

8. When wandering in the digital media world, don't forget to ask what kind of news can reach you and whether it represents the truth.

9. When feeling at ease after consuming a vast amount of information, don't forget to ask yourself whether you can digest, remember, and apply so much information.

10. When machines learn human knowledge, don't forget to ask yourself whether you really need knowledge or the wisdom to apply knowledge.

The following is only part of the course content:

The "Flower" of the Future: The Co - rise of Cutting - edge Organizations and Super - individuals

Just like all plants, after having deep roots, strong stems, and lush leaves, the next step is to bloom and bear fruit. We have now reached the blooming stage.

So, what is the phenomenon that this "flower" can show to the world and that organizations and individuals can pursue? Simply put, the future business blueprint is very clear. It consists of two core elements: cutting - edge organizations and super - individuals.

Let's see what a cutting - edge organization is. It doesn't appear out of thin air. The prerequisite is that enterprises must truly complete their digital transformation and convert knowledge into a comprehensive data reserve. With this foundation, every process, individual, and task in the organization can be empowered and enhanced by artificial intelligence.

In this case, we enter a new stage of human - machine cooperation, which is manifested as the presentation of the intelligence of the entire organization. We call it: Intelligence on Tap - getting the intelligence you want anytime, anywhere, just like turning on a faucet. When this ability emerges, the operation paradigm and business model of the entire organization will be fundamentally changed.

But as we all know, an organization is composed of individuals. So, although the cutting - edge organization is the vision, what we really care about is the super - individual. From the perspective of individual evolution, we will cooperate with machines and master them.

Mostly at the knowledge level and below, machines will become increasingly powerful. As long as humans develop into super - individuals and can command these knowledgeable machines to help them do things, they will grasp the basic way of this information civilization.

So, the "flower" represents such a vision: Everyone is a super - individual, and every organization is a cutting - edge organization.

This beautiful flower will most likely bloom, but what kind of fruit it will bear is still a big question mark. You should know that the human - machine ratio will change from 1:1 to 1:100, and this improvement in ability is not solely determined by technology but by human capabilities.

Therefore, we must think: As the "multiplicand" - the purpose of human beings, what can they do? What can't they do? Which tasks must the whole society reach a consensus on for humans to take responsibility? An extreme example is, if applied in the military or in matters related to human lives, who should press the final button?

At the same time, we also need to be vigilant against an unfair situation: Will only those who pay more be able to access "human services", while those who don't pay enough can only receive machine services?

These are not caused by technology but by social and human factors.

In addition, the core competitiveness of an enterprise is not only data security but also whether the data can be used for the society, have a social impact, and achieve people - centered data application. Therefore, our outlook on the future must shift from a physical "addition" to a "chemical addition" in terms of ability and possess real AI literacy.

In the past one or two hundred years of the industrial revolution, most of us have been alienated by industrial civilization. The entire social form and performance evaluation, in a sense, treat people like a screw.

This is correct under certain premises. But the key lies in determining whether these premises still hold.

We can see that the change in human organizational form has evolved from the initial rigid production - line era of Taylor's scientific management method (where humans were part of the machines), through technological progress, to the era of knowledge workers. Although they are knowledge workers, in essence, they still have the attributes of a "worker", except that the work object has become knowledge. So, Peter Drucker began to emphasize people - orientation. However, this development has been a long - term process because the modern economic model always has a tendency to alienate people into machines.

Humans have gradually developed into the system era and the complex era, and systematic concepts such as Peter Senge's "The Fifth Discipline" have emerged. Now, we are facing a brand - new situation.

Most likely, we are seeing a trend where organizations are no longer managed based on a rigid "department - based" distribution but are transforming into a "task - based organizational structure".

We are all accustomed to companies having departments such as R & D, sales, finance, and human resources. But have you ever thought that from a systems theory perspective, what do your customers really want? Customers don't care about your sales department or production department. What they want is for the organization to provide them with a product or service that can solve their problems, and preferably, this product or service is "alive" - able to be adjusted according to people, events, and circumstances, and continuously updated and improved.

So, most likely, we will see the emergence of a flexible, task - based organizational form. This is precisely the outbreak point of the contradiction between digital - native people and traditional entities. Of course, this contradiction is also a way for enterprises to progress.

This requires our IT systems to have the ability to shoulder the heavy responsibility of adjusting the company's organizational structure at any time. This is definitely not easy. But after discussing the "roots, stems, and leaves", we will understand that this cutting - edge organizational form is not a goal to pursue but rather a result.

So, we can gradually understand what the ancients said: "The sage fears the cause, while the ordinary person fears the result."

Well, since we have briefly analyzed the outlook for future cutting - edge organizations and the possible problems, let's now see what a super - individual really is.

The Path to Advancement of Super - individuals

Just as in the electrification era, only a tiny fraction of the population was actually involved in power generation, in the intelligent era, the proportion of the population engaged in algorithm development will also be extremely small.

In the past, the thinking paradigm of many employees when facing tasks was: "I can't do it, so I won't do it." The reason why super - individuals are becoming important is that machines have given us the ability to change.

First, you need to have the capabilities and ideological system for the first three steps:

1. Don't say "I won't do it" just because "I can't do it".

2. You can say "I can't do it", but say "I will learn".

3. You may start off "not doing well", but you will get better and better.

Only after having these steps can you enter the crucial fourth step: I can't do it, but I can command the machine to do it.

I've seen too many colleagues who, because they lack the first three steps, never even think about "letting the machine do it". So, we must challenge the habit of not doing anything just because of the excuse of "I can't do it".

Once you have the ability to command, you can learn while doing things with the machine. In this process, you will naturally demystify the machine's capabilities.

After a super - individual can use machines to solve tasks, we must return to the essence of being human: the goal of life is not to complete tasks but to fulfill a common mission and realize the meaning of life. In tens of thousands of years of human evolution, completing tasks has never been the goal. Completing tasks is just a means, and upgrading, sublimating, and realizing meaning are the ultimate visions.

This leads to the concept of common sense. In the intelligent era, common sense is actually the rarest and most precious thing. Why? Because common sense is often a kind of tacit knowledge internalized by people living in the physical world and complex social environment. It is formed based on life experience and value judgment.

No matter how powerful AI is, it can do well at the knowledge level, but it lacks this common sense based on the physical world and social interaction. The core ability of a super - individual is to use this unique human common sense and insight as the benchmark for commanding machines, defining tasks, and judging results. The extent to which you can maintain and apply your common sense determines the extent to which you can master and surpass those intelligent agents lacking common sense.

Because once we talk about collaboration, especially collaborating with humans, the principle of "Traveling alone is fast, but traveling together is far" must be followed. What one person can do is different from what a group of people can do. Now, what one person can do with many intelligent agents, plus what more people can do with more intelligent agents, the potential for this collaboration is huge.

However, this doesn't happen automatically. It needs to be restricted by the original intention and driven by continuous optimization and iteration. In the construction of new personal qualities in the 21st century, we intentionally left a blank, and now we will conclude here.

Three Key Abilities: Communication, Persuasion, and Personal Brand Building

This conclusion is about communication, persuasion, and personal brand building.

This ability will be the core requirement for people in the information civilization after the continuous emergence of super - individuals and cutting - edge organizations. Many qualities that were not required in the industrial civilization are now very important.

For example, in the agricultural civilization, you could say, "Good wine needs no bush", but in the information civilization, in a world where everyone is interconnected, you must have the ability to show your true self to the world.

Some people may ask, "Can I choose not to show myself?" Most likely, the answer is no.

This ability of efficient expression, that is, being eloquent, even had some negative connotations in the past, but in the information civilization, it has become a necessary skill for super - individuals.

Moreover, through efficient persuasion, you can gather a group of like - minded people, and these people are also supported by many machines. A virtual small team driven by tasks will naturally emerge.

In addition, there is personal brand building. This is not just about being eloquent. You also need to build your personal brand just like building a corporate brand. Why? We will elaborate on these abilities through three tools:

Toulmin's Argumentation Method: The Art of Communicating with Machines

In today's era of mature intelligent agents, interacting with machines also requires you to have efficient expression abilities. Efficient expression is not only for humans but also for machines.

The core of what we have repeatedly emphasized as "prompt engineering" is actually "knowing how to speak", which requires structured and logically clear expression abilities. From my personal observation and empirical evidence, as long as you can master the most basic human speaking and argumentation methods, machines can understand.

The elements of the Toulmin model are as follows. First, there is a clear Claim, which is what you want the machine to do. Then, there are Grounds/Reason, presenting the cause - and - effect relationship in a "because... so..." structure. Next is the Warrant, which supports why your reasons lead to the claim and is the bridge connecting the premise and the conclusion. Finally, Backing provides the basis for the validity of the warrant and acknowledges its limitations.

The Toulmin model has truly benefited Microsoft in its global expansion when communicating in various contexts with different backgrounds and concepts.

The real benefit is not just in the argumentation process. What is it then? It's the qualifier! That is, never speak in absolute terms. With this qualifier, you can add words like "should", "probably", "most likely", or "under certain pre - conditions".

Those who have used this method know that it can be a lifesaver. We often find our arguments being criticized for being incomplete because we are too subjective and over - emphasizing, leaving no room for redundancy or alternatives.

Then, there is the concept of Rebuttal or Exception. In fact, the universe and the world are incomplete. No conclusion is not restricted by pre - conditions. That is to say, no matter how complete your support and warrant are when you make any conclusion or claim, you can't cover all possibilities. So, there will always be an aspect that your very complete argumentation process can't cover.

What's the benefit of this? We often see people arguing endlessly over small differences in views, or even over differences in principles, while forgetting that the world itself has both positive and negative aspects. If we want to move forward, we can only do so in the realm of "harmony". This real ability of seeking common ground while reserving differences is precisely an effective method formed invisibly after considering rebuttals and exceptions. It means never speaking in absolute terms and always being able to accept different opinions because the world is incomplete and not perfect.

However, a problem arises. The Toulmin method, with only logic, is not enough in real - world applications because we are all human beings and often interact with other humans. Our core view is that humans must not become machines.

So, true communication requires achieving a spiritual resonance that combines reason, emotion,