While artificial intelligence has improved people's lives, there is still a significant amount of misunderstanding about it, experts said at the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Councils annual meeting in Dubai on Tuesday.
“[AI] is not a technology. It’s a field of study. It’s defined by the problem of how to make machines intelligent,” Stuart Russell, professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, said during a panel discussion on the sidelines of the meeting.
Mr Russell also dismissed the notion that AI is new. “It’s about 80 years old,” he said, referring to the various iterations and ideas on how to make machines intelligent.
He said that although impressive and full of potential, artificial intelligence and machines that will match or exceed human performance across every conceivable task have not been realised yet. However, the pace is quickening, he added at the event, which is part of the agenda of the World Economic Forum's annual meeting held in Davos, Switzerland.
Mr Russell also warned against blindly accepting the idea of AI “solutionism”. “AI isn’t a solution to everything,” he said.
AI solutionism is the philosophy that, given enough data, machine learning algorithms can solve all problems faced by humanity.
Climate change was a perfect example of why AI wouldn’t be the silver bullet to all of the world’s problems, he said.
“It might help around the edges,” he said, referring to the ability to use AI to find specific climate solutions. “But the climate is really a collective action problem. We know what to do but we’re not doing it.”
It’s one thing to find a solution, it’s another thing to implement it, Mr Russell said. That task must fall to humans. “AI isn't going to make us do it.”
He said education was greatest example of how AI could enrich lives. “AI can deliver extremely high quality personalised tutoring to every child on earth and it’s going to maximise their potential.”
However, it would be a mistake to totally dismiss AI's potential power. “At some point we have to expect the machine to take control,” he cautioned.
“How do we retain power over entities more powerful than ourselves forever? What’s clear is that we had better produce an answer to that question before we develop those machines that are more powerful than ourselves.”
The discussions at the Global Future Councils meeting are happening at a time when the prolific use of AI tools is sparking discussions, debates and speculation about AI's potential impact on jobs, as well as its biases and even misuse by unseemly actors.
AI has gained momentum with the introduction of generative AI, which rose to prominence thanks to ChatGPT, the language model-based tool made by Microsoft-backed OpenAI.
Its rise has also raised questions about how data is used in AI models and how the law applies to their output, such as paragraphs of text or computer-generated images.
During another panel session, called Is AI a Force for Good?, Azeem Azhar, chief executive at Exponential View, a technology and AI newsletter, said AI should be viewed through the lens of technology overall.
“Technology is essential. If we’re asking if AI is a force for good, we’re also asking is technology a force for good,” he said, while acknowledging that AI systems collect and combine all previous knowledge of humanity, which makes them slightly different.
ChatGPT-4, he said, is trained on 3 trillion words of text. The sheer speed of its evolution is unprecedented. “It’s outpacing our ability to work and think; it’s disruptive by nature,” he said.
Khalfan Belhoul, chief executive at the Dubai Future Foundation, said speed would be paramount in terms of government and regulations regarding AI.
“The gap between policy and technology will always be there, but you have to constantly try to shrink that gap,” he said.
“We in the UAE jump into things early like AI,” he added, noting that the UAE was the first country to appoint a Minister of AI.
Mr Belhoul and Mr Azhar were asked the key question in the minds of people around the world: Is AI a force for good? Both replied: “Yes, absolutely.”
Match info:
Burnley 0
Manchester United 2
Lukaku (22', 44')
Red card: Marcus Rashford (Man United)
Man of the match: Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United)
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ZIMBABWE V UAE, ODI SERIES
All matches at the Harare Sports Club:
1st ODI, Wednesday - Zimbabwe won by 7 wickets
2nd ODI, Friday, April 12
3rd ODI, Sunday, April 14
4th ODI, Tuesday, April 16
UAE squad: Mohammed Naveed (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Boota, Ghulam Shabber, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
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Pakistan Super League
Previous winners
2016 Islamabad United
2017 Peshawar Zalmi
2018 Islamabad United
2019 Quetta Gladiators
Most runs Kamran Akmal – 1,286
Most wickets Wahab Riaz –65
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Spare
Profile
Company name: Spare
Started: March 2018
Co-founders: Dalal Alrayes and Saurabh Shah
Based: UAE
Sector: FinTech
Investment: Own savings. Going for first round of fund-raising in March 2019
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Karwaan
Producer: Ronnie Screwvala
Director: Akarsh Khurana
Starring: Irrfan Khan, Dulquer Salmaan, Mithila Palkar
Rating: 4/5
The specs: 2018 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross
Price, base / as tested: Dh101,140 / Dh113,800
Engine: Turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder
Power: 148hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 250Nm @ 2,000rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed CVT
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.0L / 100km
Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
Jetour T1 specs
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Favourite book: Animal Farm by George Orwell
Favourite music: Classical
Hobbies: Reading and writing
The specs
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
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