The recent Nobel Prize in Physics, Geoffrey Hinton, awarded along with John Hopfield for the development of artificial intelligence (AI), wants to dedicate his last years to warning of the dangers of the technology that he has contributed to developing. On the other shore is Stephen Ibaraki, entrepreneur, professor and global technology advisor born 70 years ago in the Canadian city of Kelowna, near Vancouver, where he lives.
Ibaraki, who has participated in the double international meeting World Congress on Innovation and Technology and Digitec from Yerevan (Armenia), to which EL PAÍS has been invited along with a dozen international media, provides a more optimistic vision of the current technological revolution, although his calmness when speaking contrasts with the vertigo he anticipates. Founder of AI For Goodassures that in five years there will be a convergence of unprecedented advances in humanity for which society has to prepare.
Ask. What is the immediate future of AI?
Answer. In a global picture, I see that the penetration of AI increases and can help reduce inequalities. Everyone will have access to it, so the global deployment of AI will have a positive impact on all sectors. It is true that there will be a skills shortage. In fact, some predictions for 2027 suggest that 70% of the workforce will have to be retrained. But AI can also help. Anyone in the world can participate in its development or obtain resources.
Q. But there are many risks too.
R. That’s true for everything. Electricity, gene editing, and even healthcare can be misused. There is no technology that cannot be destructive in the hands of people. You cannot prevent a car from being used in a bad way.
There is no technology that cannot be destructive in the hands of people
Q. So, can’t misuse be prevented?
R. I think the use of technology for good reasons is greater and will be more positive overall. It’s about being very careful in monitoring what’s out there and, if someone is misusing it, enabling policies or safeguards to prevent it.
Q. Do regulations like the European one prevent these misuses or do they represent a brake on the development of AI?
R. Regulation is a difficult question of balance. It is positive, but it can also prevent the investment of resources. Communities and governments have to ask themselves whether regulation is protecting or limiting. Furthermore, not everyone will have the same regulation and there are many open source models. I think some governance that everyone agrees with is positive.
Q. Does the immediate future involve robots?
R. AI has no body and that limits it. An AI with sensors and capable of manipulating the world around it can potentially increase its capacity. But there are ethical concerns about customizing the machines. They can have computational capacity and sensors to interact and provide feedback, to learn. There are already companies developing them so that they can work all hours of the year at an enormous production level without wear and tear. All of this is escalating. That robot is going to end up being a companion in your home, an assistant that you can probably talk to and that will help you.
The robot will end up being a companion in your home, an assistant that you can probably talk to and that will help you.
Q. When?
R. In the next five years we will see unimaginable capabilities of these robots. People may not want to believe it, but autonomous or semi-autonomous devices are becoming cheap enough that, at least in some parts of the world, they can become a mass product.
Q. Is there a risk that this humanization of machines will alter the complexity of the personal relationship?
R. It’s already happening. 10 years ago a chat was launched in China that some users adopted as friends. And it was nothing compared to what we have now. It will happen.
Q. Are we prepared?
R. We are in a transition period during which we cannot predict accurately because things are moving so quickly. In the next five years we are going to see the convergence of all technologies escalating and in such a way that we need to prepare.
Q. As?
R. It takes an open mind and agility to be resilient, to look at what is on the limits and think about the implications. We have to prepare ourselves to have responsibility, critical thinking, and make sure that we do not lose the capacity for empathy. This transition period is new for humanity, this convergence of technologies has never occurred at the same time. I am 70 years old and the world is totally different from the one I observed when I was 10 years old. But now things move much faster. It’s what I call the double exponential rate of innovation. Imagine what children today are going to see when they are my age? It will be 1,000 times larger. It’s going to be amazing because we are in a moment of tremendous change.
