UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened Wednesday with a speech in which he spoke about artificial intelligence with the same seriousness as the climate.
– Faced with serious, almost existential threats from rampant climate chaos, and the rampant development in artificial intelligence without guardrails, we seem powerless.
“Significant for Europe”
The companies that lead AI development, and can influence its future, are all present here in Davos. All American. This means a risk for Europe, warns Alex Karp who is the CEO of one of these companies, Palantir.
– The most important thing for Europe to think about is that everything happens in the USA. There the AI technology for the battlefield is built, there the algorithms and language models are developed, and the knowledge to integrate it into the business.
The fact that Europe is not keeping up technologically is something that Jacob Wallenberg, chairman of the Swedish Business Association and Investor, agrees with.
– Yes, the challenge is significant for Europe, we are lagging behind. AI will develop companies, create efficiency and also new jobs, I think. That we are lagging behind is a big problem.
“A game-changer”
However, the World Economic Forum’s head of AI issues, Cathy Li, wants to wait to pass judgment on Europe.
– Generative AI is a “game-changer” but we are early in the development so it is difficult to determine who has a strategic advantage.
Li highlights that access to large amounts of data is important for AI development and believes that the EU has an advantage by being a common market with common rules for sharing data.
– I wouldn’t say that regulation necessarily hinders innovation, regulation can also be good. Companies dare more if they know the rules of the game.