AI Takes Center Stage at WEF 2024: The Prominent Concern and Opportunity for Davos Elite
At the World Economic Forum’s prestigious annual gathering in Davos, artificial intelligence has become the most talked-about topic among global leaders and corporate executives. The remarkable progress in generative AI witnessed last year has left the world astonished, and now the influential attendees are eager to harness its potential while mitigating any associated risks. OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has gained significant prominence, as evidenced by CEO Sam Altman’s highly anticipated appearance at Davos, drawing a crowd akin to that of a rock star. Notably, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella closely followed Altman, further highlighting the growing significance of OpenAI.
Illustrating the geopolitical significance of AI like few other technologies before it, the word was on the lips of world leaders from China to France. It was visible in the Swiss Alpine town and spread to the after-party.
Here’s a look at the buzz:
1. THE OPENING OF OPENAI AT GREAT DAVOS
The management drama at the wild chatbot maker of the artificial intelligence world followed Altman and Nadella to the beautiful snows of Switzerland.
Altman’s sudden firing and quick hiring last year cemented his position as the face of the generative AI revolution, but questions remained about the boardroom collapse and OpenAI’s governance. He told Bloomberg’s interviewer that he is focused on getting “excellent full-time care in place” and deflected further questions.
At the end of a Davos panel on technology and humanity on Thursday, Altman was asked what he learned from the upheaval.
“We had known our plate had become too small and we knew we didn’t have the necessary experience,” Altman said. “But last year was such a wild year for us in so many ways that we sort of just neglected it.”
Altman added that “for every step we take closer to a very powerful AI, every character gets, like, plus 10 crazy points. It’s a very stressful thing. And it should be because we’re trying to be responsible for very high stakes.”
2. WORLD LEADERS WANT TO LEAD THE WORLD IN AI
From China to Europe, top officials took a stand on artificial intelligence as the world grapples with how to regulate the rapidly evolving technology with major implications for jobs, elections and privacy.
According to a report published by the World Economic Forum, the European Union has drawn up the world’s first comprehensive AI rules ahead of a busy election year. False information and disinformation caused by artificial intelligence are the biggest risk to the world economy, because it threatens to erode democracy and polarize society. last week.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang called artificial intelligence a “double-edged sword.”
“People need to control the machines instead of the machines controlling us,” he said in a speech on Tuesday.
“Artificial intelligence must be guided in a direction that promotes the development of mankind, so there should be a red line in the development of artificial intelligence – a red line that must not be crossed,” Li said without elaborating.
China, one of the world’s centers of AI development, wants to “enhance communication and cooperation with all parties” to improve global AI governance, Li said.
China has issued interim regulations to govern generative artificial intelligence, but the EU broke ground with its artificial intelligence law, which won a tough political deal last month and is awaiting final approval.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said artificial intelligence is “a very significant opportunity if used responsibly.”
He said a “global race is already underway” to develop and deploy AI, citing efforts by the 27-nation EU, including an AI law and a program to pair supercomputers with small and medium-sized businesses to train large AI models.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he is a “strong believer” in artificial intelligence and that his country is an “attractive and competitive country” for industry. He outlined France’s role in helping to coordinate the regulation of AI-generated deepfake photos and videos, and plans to host an AI safety summit after the kick-off meeting in Britain in November.
3. IT’S ALL THE GLITTERATI SEES
The letters “AI” were omnipresent on the boardwalk in Davos, where consulting firms and tech giants are among the groups that strike major projects every year, renting shops and turning them into exhibition pavilions.
Inside the main conference center, a giant digital wall beamed moving images of AI art and computer-generated renderings of wildlife and nature, such as exotic birds or tropical streams.
Davos guests who wanted to dive deeper into the technical details of AI can come to AI House sessions.
4. THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE
Generative AI systems, such as ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, took the world by storm by rapidly disseminating new poems, images and computer code, and are expected to have a wide-ranging impact on life and work.
The technology can help give momentum to a stagnant global economy, said Nadella, whose company is incorporating the technology into its products.
The Microsoft executive said he was “very optimistic about AI as a mainstream technology that will drive economic growth.”
Business leaders predicted that AI will help automate mundane tasks or make advanced jobs easier, but also warned that it threatens workers who can’t keep up.
In a survey of 4,700 CEOs in more than 100 countries published by PwC at the start of the Davos meetings, 14 percent believe they will have to lay off staff due to the rise of generative artificial intelligence.
“There is no region, there is no industry that is not affected by artificial intelligence,” said Julie Sweet, CEO of consulting firm Accenture.
For those who can move with the change, artificial intelligence promises to transform tasks such as computer coding and customer relations, as well as streamline business functions such as invoicing, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said.
“If you embrace AI, you make yourself much more productive,” he said. “If you don’t… you’ll find you don’t have a job.”
5. IS IT ALSO SEX?
Speaking with Yann LeCun, a meta-AI researcher at Meta, about risk and regulation during the session led the moderator to a hypothetical example of “end-to-end communicating sexbots” that anyone using open source technology could build.
LeCun countered that artificial intelligence cannot be controlled by a handful of Silicon Valley tech giants if it is to serve people around the world with different languages, cultures and values.
“You don’t want this to be controlled by a few private companies,” he said.
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