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.”
