MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks on Tuesday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is visiting Russia, state news agency TASS reported.
Putin to hold talks with Palestinian president Abbas on Tuesday, says TASS
AI can affect job market positively, say experts at Global AI Summit
- AI’s wealth creation will need equitable distribution, says executive
- Other experts believe firms will set right ethical ‘guardrails’ around AI
RIYADH: Fears that the adoption of artificial intelligence will result in widespread job losses are overstated and there are likely considerable benefits to be derived from integrating the technology in the workplace, said experts during a panel discussion at the third Global AI Summit in Riyadh on Thursday.
Dr. Richard Benjamins, the co-CEO of RISE.ai, said AI would have an impact but probably in a positive way. “Some jobs will maybe disappear, but a lot of new jobs will be created,” he said.
He said the obvious negative was that some may lose their jobs, but AI could lead to greater productivity and even three- or four-day weekends. An important question was who would benefit.
“The question is, really, the issue of distribution of wealth,” he said. “Clearly, we are on a trend where there are increasing gaps between countries, and the haves and the have-nots.
“And within the countries also, the distribution is going to a few. I think a lot of people are worried about this and this has a huge impact on society.”
Benjamins said that most companies would regulate themselves to ensure their employees are not hurt in any way. However, there was also the possibility that employees would reject AI for fear of how it might affect their livelihoods.
Dr. Heather Doman, IBM’s global leader, responsible AI initiatives, said: “People are generally concerned … But I also want to say that I don’t personally feel that we need to slow down.
“Generally, we have learned, as with other technologies, that we can innovate and set the right guardrails around it, and that is what I believe we’re going to see.”
Benjamins added that AI must be used ethically. “I think AI is all about creating value and increasing productivity, but sometimes, even though the intention is positive and the use is legitimate, there might be, let’s say, negative, unintended consequences.
“If you speak about ethical AI, it’s to make sure that those unintended negative consequences are mitigated or prevented. And that requires what we call a methodology for responsible use of AI.”
He said that inaccuracies in AI could have varying consequences. If a social media algorithm is 1 percent inaccurate, it was probably not a big problem. But if a manufacturing process or healthcare analysis is 1 percent inaccurate, it could have significant consequences.
Simon Turner of Sofinnova Digital Medicine said: “I think we should go the way we’re going with healthcare in general … We’ve always had the guiderails, quality assurance, quality management, ethics committee approval, you know, a lot of work that’s been done in this space.
“AI is yet another tool, but not important. We’re just adding the same approach we’ve been using for years, which is always thinking first about the patient. So for us, it doesn’t really change much.”
AI could out-think humans in 10 years, expert tells Riyadh summit
RIYADH: Artificial intelligence experts have delivered their visions for the future of the technology at the 3rd Global AI Summit in Riyadh.
With AI already evolving at breakneck speed, one expert said that humans could take a back seat to the technology in just 10 years’ time.
Simon Turner, a partner at Sofinnova Digital Medicine, said: “In 10 years, I think we will have something that looks like what we’re talking about in terms of artificial general intelligence.
“So, I think we will have models that are more sophisticated, more intelligent than humans on basically any topic. I think that will be a very powerful and good thing, and I don’t think that it will be dangerous.”
Turner’s hope is that AI will be able create models that automate menial business tasks, freeing up employees’ time and producing value.
However, Dr. Richard Benjamins, the co-CEO of RISE.ai, said that artificial general intelligence may not be the key to the technology’s evolution.
“In 10 years, I believe that we will not have artificial general intelligence, so not general intelligence, but we will have much better problem solving,” he said.
“So, it’s not about emotions, about fear or power or what the AI wants or its intentions; it’s about solving hard problems, which we will use for business, and I think mostly in the context of the co-pilot concept. So, humans in the driving seat.”
But the danger, Benjamins added, is that human brain power may deteriorate as AI takes on all the hard work. Who remembers phone numbers anymore, he asked, when your mobile phone takes care of all the memory.
“I predict one of the jobs in the future will be to run a fitness center for your brain, because we don’t have to think anymore, we don’t have to be creative anymore,” Turner said.
“It’s all done by AI. So, I think that’s one of the risks that we hardly are seeing yet. In the future, we need to go to the gym to stay mentally healthy.”
But there is an upside to the evolution of AI, Turner added.
“In research, I think we’ll be making incredible groundbreaking biological discoveries. We’ll probably start getting towards the foundation of biology, understanding how we work, why we are the way we are, why we get diseases, how we potentially prevent them.
“When you go and see your GP, suddenly if some anomaly pops up, they’ll know what to do with you in a much more streamlined fashion.”
EU top diplomat urges Lebanon and Israel to ease tensions along their border
- “Since I lasted visited Lebanon in January the drums of war have not stopped pounding,” Borrell told reporters in Beirut
- Borrell said that according to the United Nations more than 4,000 residential buildings have been completely destroyed in Lebanon
BEIRUT: The European Union’s top diplomat on Thursday urged Lebanon and Israel to work on deescalating tensions along the border, saying that since his last trip to the region in January “the drums of war have not stopped pounding.”
The comments of Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief, came as members of the militant Hezbollah group and Israel’s military carried out cross border attacks along the tense frontier on Thursday.
Western and Arab officials have visited Beirut over the past year to try to reduce tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border, but Hezbollah officials have said they will only stop carrying out attacks along the border when Israel stops its offensive in the Gaza Strip.
“Since I lasted visited Lebanon in January the drums of war have not stopped pounding,” Borrell told reporters in Beirut during a joint press conference with Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib. “Since then the fears I was outlining have been growing, more escalation, fears of a spillover of the war in Gaza and fears of more widespread human suffering.”
In late August, Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah pulled back after an exchange of heavy fire that briefly raised fears of an all-out war.
Borrell said that according to the United Nations more than 4,000 residential buildings have been completely destroyed in Lebanon and more than 110,000 Lebanese have been forced to leave their homes along the border. He said the same thing is happening on the Israeli side of the border.
The European official said that his message is that the European Union “stands on the side of the Lebanese people to help to overcome the threats and challenges as much as we can.”
More than 500 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli strikes since Oct. 8, most of them fighters with Hezbollah and other armed groups but also more than 100 civilians. In northern Israel, 23 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed by strikes from Lebanon.
“We need to deescalate military tensions and I use this opportunity to urge all sides to pursue this path,” said Borrell, who on Tuesday visited UN peacekeepers deployed in southern Lebanon along the border with Israel.
He added that the “full and asymmetrical implementation” of the UN Security Council resolution that ended the summer 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war should pave the way for a comprehensive settlement including land border demarcation and allowing the return of people and reconstruction in the affected border areas.
“The European Union is doing a lot but we don’t have a magic wand,” he said.
UNESCO warns of possible looting from Sudan museums
- “UNESCO is deeply concerned about the recent reports of possible looting and damage of several museums and heritage institutions in Sudan,” it said
- It said it had been monitoring the impact of fighting on Sudan’s heritage, cultural institutions and artists since hostilities broke out in 2023
PARIS: The UN cultural agency on Thursday raised the alarm over reports of armed groups looting several museums and heritage institutions in war-wracked Sudan.
“UNESCO is deeply concerned about the recent reports of possible looting and damage of several museums and heritage institutions in Sudan, including the National Museum, by armed groups,” it said.
It said it had been monitoring the impact of fighting on Sudan’s heritage, cultural institutions and artists since hostilities broke out in 2023.
“In recent weeks, this threat to culture appears to have reached an unprecedented level, with reports of looting of museums, heritage and archaeological sites and private collections.”
It said it was particularly concerned by reports of looting at the National Museum of Sudan, as well as the Khalifa House Museum in Omdurman and Nyala Museum in South Darfur.
The National Museum, which opened in the 1970s, has been home to more than 2,700 objects including some important pieces from the ancient Egyptian Pharaonic dynasties and Nubian culture.
“UNESCO reiterates its call upon the public and the art market involved in the trade of cultural property in the region and worldwide to refrain from acquiring or taking part in the import, export or transfer of ownership of cultural property from Sudan,” it said.
The agency said it was planning training in Cairo for members of law enforcement and the judiciary of Sudan’s neighboring countries by the end of the year.
War has raged since April 2023 between the army, under the country’s de facto ruler Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which are commanded by Burhan’s former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
Since the start of fighting, UNESCO says it has supported emergency measures in five other Sudanese archaeological museums, including packing “endangered collections” and preparing “safe havens” for them.
Saudi hospital performs world’s first fully robotic heart transplant
- KFSHRC breakthrough strengthens Kingdom’s leadership in medicine, specialist says
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center has performed the world’s first fully robotic heart transplant, Saudi Press Agency reported.
The two-and-a-half-hour operation was carried out on a 16-year-old patient suffering from end-stage heart failure.
A medical team led by Dr. Feras Khaliel, head of Cardiac Surgery and director of the Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery Program at KFSHRC, performed the operation after weeks of preparation.
The pioneering achievement, overcoming significant medical challenges associated with such procedures, reinforces Saudi Arabia’s leadership in healthcare, and highlights KFSHRC’s ability to innovate medical practices, SPA said.
The process began with detailed theoretical planning to ensure precision and minimize potential risks.
The team devised a surgical approach to access the heart and perform the transplant without opening the chest of the patient.
To ensure the effectiveness of this approach, the team practiced the procedure virtually seven times over three days before carrying out the operation.
The successful operation has been hailed as a significant development in heart transplant surgery, moving away from traditional chest-opening procedures that require long recovery periods, often lasting months.
Robotic technology allows for minimally invasive surgery, reducing pain, shortening recovery time, and minimizing the risk of complications. This significantly improves patients’ quality of life and accelerates recovery.
KFSHRC CEO Dr. Majid Al-Fayyad said that the successful operation marked another major advance in heart transplant surgery, first performed in the 1960s.
“The success of the world’s first robotic heart transplant marks a transformative leap, not only for our institution but also for Saudi Arabia’s journey toward global leadership in specialized medicine, in line with Saudi Vision 2030, which places innovation at the core of its efforts to improve quality of life,” he said.
“This remarkable achievement would not have been possible without the unwavering support of the Saudi leadership, who have prioritized the development of the healthcare sector, paving the way for a transformative leap in health care services, unlocking new possibilities to elevate the quality of life for patients both locally and globally,” he added.
The breakthrough aligns with KFSHRC’s commitment to medical innovation. As a leading training center in robotic organ transplant surgery, KFSHRC contributes to advancing the global understanding of minimally invasive organ transplants by collaborating with medical institutions worldwide to train their medical teams and achieve better outcomes, further elevating global medical practices.
Latest updates
Recommended
© 2024 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.