đ Hello! Ian McConnell here with this afternoon's edition.
Artificial intelligence is a hot topic indeed right now, and there are so many major implications for economies and societies in its development and deployment.
It was fascinating to hear globally renowned economist Daron Acemoglu offer his expert insights into AI this week as he delivered a lecture on âartificial intelligence and its role in the economy and societyâ as part of the University of Glasgowâs Adam Smith Distinguished Speaker Series.
Mr Acemoglu highlighted his view that the promise of AI is âcompletely being wastedâ.
Here is my report on why the renowned economist has come to this conclusion, and on his other fascinating insights into AI:
The promise of artificial intelligence is âcompletely being wastedâ, as business models and technology sector ideology dominate, a globally renowned economist told an audience at the University of Glasgow this week.
Daron Acemoglu, institute professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, highlighted the âpossibility of complementing human decision-making and problem-solvingâ with AI. He emphasised his view that this was something digital technologies had promised 60 years ago but did not deliver.
He underlined the potential to use AI to help the likes of electricians, plumbers, blue-collar workers and healthcare employees in a way which meant they could still be doing more complex tasks.
However, Mr Acemoglu declared: âThat promise, in my opinion, is completely being wasted. That is not where we are headed. If you are hoping we are going to get better tools for electricians and plumbers, you have a lot of hoping to do.
âWe are heading in a very different [direction] because, I am going to argue, [of] business models especially in the United States and the ideology of the tech sector.â
He argued that both of these factors were creating âroadblocksâ and âpushing usâ in the âwrong directionâ when it came to the development of AI, as he delivered a lecture on âartificial intelligence and its role in the economy and societyâ as part of the University of Glasgowâs Adam Smith Distinguished Speaker Series.
Mr Acemoglu said: âBusinesses demand tools, they use tools, but at the end of the day the tools they use are very conditioned by the tech sector.â
He argued that âthe real way to increase productivity is not just to automate human labourâ.
Mr Acemoglu observed that, while âof course you are going to do thatâ, the key was to âuse technology to complement humansâ, providing âbetter technical expertise, new tools for humansâ.
He declared: âThe real promise is in complementing the workers so they can perform new tasks.â
Mr Acemoglu added: âWe need to move away from an excessive focus on automation and really start viewing AI technologies as complementary to humans.â
Asking âwhy is that not the direction we are goingâ, he noted that US business âwants to make moneyâ and âthe tech sector is more and more focused on finding ways of reaching human parity, which is more and more for automation".
He argued that what is being prioritised in the business and tech world is âcreating other roadblocksâ.
Mr Acemoglu added: âWhat we want from AI is more useful information but more useful information needs to be used in the right way by humans.â
He argued that human knowledge was still crucial.
Mr Acemoglu highlighted human creativity, and the ability to experiment and discover things, and share the knowledge.
He argued that, if you did not prioritise human learning, there will be âtoo much conformityâ.
Mr Acemoglu said: âThe business model is very much focused on using digital tools for cutting costs.â
He declared that this situation had been exacerbated in the last two decades.
Mr Acemoglu talked about the importance of âreinvigorating democracyâ in the context of AI. He highlighted Taiwan as an example of a place which was a leader in both AI and democratic reform.
He added: âIf my vision is we need pro-worker AI toolsâŚwe canât do that from an ivory tower. It is like saying I want to help a village in Malawi but I am not going to hear anything from Malawi.â
Mr Acemoglu also said it is a âmyth that AI cannot be regulatedâ. He noted, given the technologyâs huge energy use, âyou canât do hidden AIâ.
He declared: âIf you look atâŚChina, I am not condoning the Chinese Governmentâs objectives and methods, the entire AI sector is very tightly regulated in China. They just work a lot on what the Chinese government funds, which is surveillance and facial recognition technologies.â
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