Day 4 at Davos
The focus on the fourth day of Davos 2024 was AI - a key driver for the economy and society.
Among the distinguished speakers was Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, who shared his insights on the subject. Here's a detailed look at the key points raised during the session titled 'Technology in a Turbulent World'.
AI: Driving Productivity
Altman kicked off the session by speaking about how AI, despite its current limitations, is being utilized for significant productivity enhancements. He reiterated that users understand the constraints of AI tools and are finding novel ways to make them beneficial.
"AI has been somewhat demystified because people really use it now. And that's always the best way to pull the world forward with a new technology."
AI's Capability to Reason
A crucial aspect of trusting technology is comprehending how it operates. Altman believes that AI will eventually be able to explain its reasoning to us in natural language. This will allow us to evaluate the steps taken by AI and decide whether they are sound.
AI and Human Connection
Altman also discussed how AI would not replace human care. Using the example of how the popularity of chess increased after a computer defeated a world champion, he emphasized that humans are still interested in what other humans do.
"Humans know what other humans want. Humans are going to have better tools. We've had better tools before, but we're still very focused on each other."
AI in the Workplace
AI is anticipated to lead to job growth and job losses. Altman, however, believes AI will transform certain roles by allowing people more room to generate ideas and make decisions.
"I think everyone's job will look a little bit more like that. We will all operate at a little bit higher of a level of abstraction. We will all have access to a lot more capability. We'll still make decisions. They may trend more towards curation over time, but we'll make decisions about what should happen in the world."
AI Value Alignment
Altman is optimistic about AI's ability to align with a set of values. He mentions that significant progress has been made in how well AI can align itself, but deciding those values is a societal question.
"From the technological approach, there's room for optimism," he said, adding that the current alignment techniques would not scale to much more powerful systems, so "we're going to need to invent new things".
New Economic Models and AI
Altman also talked about the distinction between displaying content and using it for training in the context of large language models (LLMs). He believes that new economic models need to be developed that would compensate content owners.
The session ended with Altman stating that it's the tech industry's responsibility to get society's input on decisions like what the values are and the safety thresholds so that the benefits outweigh the risks.
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