Exactly how this century’s potentially wrenching economic transformation will play out is up for debate. Some believe that it will simply shift the focus of work (much like the industrial revolution before it) and we’ll simply end up doing different types of jobs. Others feel the shift might be more fundamental, and it might leave some workers permanently jobless as AI improves and takes over an increasing number of roles. And it’s difficult to predict how quickly things will change.

“That is definitely a strong possibility if the AI is leveraged for job automation (something that seems inevitable),” says Martin Ford. “On the other hand, if the wealth generation results primarily from leveraging AI in financial markets or in biotechnology, then the impact on labour markets might be less immediate – but probably still inevitable once the technology scales across other industries.”

Cryptocurrency

The crypto world is full of bloviating evangelists and pump-and-dump scammers. But it has made a diverse group of people rich in a very short time. Forbes compiled a list in early February, which suggested there were at least a few potential billionaires, including the Winklevoss twins and the founder of Ripple (XRP), Chris Larsen – who, at the peak of the crypto craze, briefly became one of the world’s richest men, according to the New York Times and other US media.

“There’s a lot of creative people figuring out how to monetise this, in lots of ways we never anticipated in the past,” says Thomas Frey, a futurist who has written extensively about the industries that will create the first trillionaire. “There’s so much activity in that space right now. And there’s so many people involved, that there’s potential for it to scale quickly.”

Bitcoin made the most headlines, with growth of 1,318% during 2017, but it wasn't even near the top of the list when it comes to rapid growth. Other well-known cryptocurrencies like Litecoin and Ethereum grew faster, while Ripple (XRP) grew 36,018% in the same period meaning $100 invested in Ripple in January 2017 would have grown to over $36,000 by the start of 2018. With such strong returns, it's easy to see how investors could get rich very quickly if they cashed out.