At this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, global leaders are asking whether to put guardrails in place for AI itself or look to regulate its effects once the tech is developed.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is top of mind for many workers who are hopeful about its possibilities, but wary of its future implications.
Earlier this month, researchers for the International Monetary Fund found that AI may affect the work of four in 10 employees worldwide. That number jumps to six in 10 in advanced economies, in industries as diverse as telemarketing and law. Additionally, a just-released report by the World Economic Forum showed half of the economists surveyed believed AI would become “commercially disruptive” in 2024 – up from 42% in 2023.
Business leaders at 2024’s World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos are also prioritizing conversations about artificial intelligence. Particularly, they’re focused on how to regulate AI tech to make sure it’s a force for good in both business and the world at large.
“This is the most powerful technology of our times,” Arati Prabhakar, director of the US White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said at a Davos panel on 17 January. “We see the power of AI as something that must be managed. The risks have to be managed.”
The conversation around how, exactly, governance can help manage that risk comes at a crucial inflection point. Alongside AI’s emerging benefits has been a more complicated and darker reality: artificial intelligence can have unintended consequences and even nefarious uses. Take, for example, the software that automatically (and unlawfully) turned down job applicants over a certain age, or the AI-powered chatbot that spouted sexist and racist tweets.
Governments in regions including the EU and US have been discussing AI regulations for years – yet there are still almost as many questions as answers. One of the stickiest is around how to regulate AI, exactly – and to what extent it even can be regulated.
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