The co-founder of Apple admits he harbours fears about the impact of – but says it has led to more young entrepreneurs.
Steve Wozniak, who built the first Macintosh computer in a garage alongside friend Steve Jobs, is appearing at the National Entrepreneurs Convention, .
The Silicon Valley philanthropist, who was thrust into the public eye recently with the Jobs film about his fellow co-founder released in the US, said he was taking part in the event as he loved entrepreneurs, and believes there are a generation of young people eager to go into business.
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His work at Apple contributed to major global changes through communications but Mr Wozniak said sometimes such progress frightens him.
He said: “I do fear for the future with computers becoming more and more like real people.
“If they ever got consciousness or smarter than people that could have a horrible outcome.
“Already jobs are being replaced with more machinery and kiosks – I do sometimes worry about losing more jobs.”
However, he said the rise in young children using mobile phones and tablets, which is often raised as a drawback to Apple’s insatiable growth was just natural progress.
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Indeed, Mr Wozniak believes that the impact of the digital revolution on young adults has led to a spike in entrepreneurialism.
He will be speaking to more than 1,500 business owners at the National Entrepreneurs Convention on September 21 and 22, sharing the lessons learned during his 30-year career.
He said: “Entrepreneurs are my favourite people in the world. Maybe engineers too, but an entrepreneur has got to be an inventor and a businessperson.
“When I look back to my youth, when my interest in technology was developing, around the end of high school to college days, it was very different. That is where you find entrepreneurs these days.
“Back then people were trying to get into big corporations but not entrepreneurship is more open to young people, which is great.
“Established businesspeople look to keep on doing the same thing and it is always young people who look to think outside the box and recognise new and different ways of doing things.”
The National Entrepreneurs Convention, which is in its final year, is organised by multi-million pound Solihull business owner Nigel Botterill.
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Attendees at the two-day event will get to hear success stories from some of the world’s biggest business brains, as well as network with fellow entrepreneurs.
Mr Wozniak told the Post his advice to fledgling businesses would be to get a working model in place as quickly as possible and always to involve engineers in key decisions.
He added: “When I was young I was good with technology, engineering and inventing.
“I had a lot of dreams and imagination that a lot of other people didn’t but there is another side to it – the dollars and the detail. That is a very important part of starting a business.
“I had Steve Jobs as a partner and boy, he was going to take care of that.”
Speaking of Mr Wozniak’s appearance at the National Entrepreneur’s Convention, Mr Botterill said: “I can’t wait to put some questions to the guy who started what is now the world’s biggest company from his parents’ garage.”
You can find out more about the National Entrepreneurs Convention by visiting http://entrepreneursconvention.co.uk