The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Trust will become new currency as we adopt AI
Like many businesspeople, I have come to terms with the fact much of what we do today is going to be impacted or transformed by AI.
The focus has shifted from what will change to how quickly it will change, and it would appear that will be faster than almost all of us think.
Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce recently welcomed one of the world’s leading authorities on AI, Nina Schick, to Aberdeen to share her insights with the local business community.
A world-leader in her field, Nina has advised global leaders including US president Joe Biden, French president Emmanuel Macron and Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former Danish prime minister and former secretary general of Nato.
Addressing an audience at The Chester Hotel, Nina warned about the dangers AI possesses.
But she also highlighted the endless opportunities offered by this exponential technology.
She began her speech by explaining the near-impossibility of differentiating between AI, before describing its enormous growth in recent times.
This new technology is growing faster than anything ever has before.
It took Twitter nearly two years to reach a million users and Facebook around 10 months. ChatGPT took just five days.
And it’s not only tech companies like Meta and Google investing in future technology.
Nina told us an “arms race” was taking place, not just among the big tech players but also among nation states.
She added: “Early movers are the US, China and Canada – who had national strategies on AI – but since then there have been more than 50 national strategies on AI.
“The mood music seems to be pretty unanimous, that we’re all committed to the development of ethical and responsible and safe AI.
“What we’re actually starting to see is very different strategies in
different markets. My view is the US and China are going to be the biggest players, but the US far, far outpaces China.
“If you look at the investment that is going in, the US leads the pack, with China second.
“At the very, very bottom you have the European Union and the UK.”
Closing her keynote address, Nina shared a recording of a podcast between Joe Rogan (US commentator, podcaster, comedian, actor and former television host) and Steve Jobs (Apple’s co-founder, who died in 2011).
“It will be interesting to see what happens when you have computers that
are as smart as people but much more reliable,” said Jobs.
He continued: “They won’t get tired, they won’t get sick, they won’t go on vacation and leave work unfinished. You tell them to do something, they’ll just do it.
“And they will have many more orders of intelligence than people have. The computer will be a thousand times more important than it is today, we’re right on the edge of that.
“So what do we want to do about it? Do we want to just ride the wave or do something else?
“It should scare you, but it is also really cool.”
And Nina’s assessment “(AI
is) really, really scary, but also really, really cool.
“And, of course, in the plot twist that no one saw coming... that is an entirely AI generated conversation.”
Following her speech, Nina took a number of questions from the audience about the implementation of AI throughout the business world.
She said: “I encourage everyone to be innovative, but always make sure you’re not implementing something that could lose trust of your clients or your customers, because once it’s gone, it’s very hard to (get it to) come back.
“When you talk about trust, it isn’t just some woolly concept.
“Decades of research has basically found that you (can) distil it down to three main pillars, or three main components integrity, benevolence and competence.
“So, you can see why for political leaders or public institutions trust is declining, because we don’t see they are benevolent, that they have integrity, or are competent.
“Maybe in part it’s because the challenges are just so vast but you as a business leader can demonstrate that.
“I would say trust in how you embody your integrity, benevolence and competence is going to be absolutely essential.”
And that was the big takeaway for me – trust.
If, as Nina predicts, 90% of the content we read online is AI-generated, then trust is going to become crucial.
Authenticity is a crucial aspect of AI-generated media. As AI-generated content becomes more pervasive, understanding how to verify the origins of such media is vital.
We need to know the provenance of the information we consume online. For businesses across the world, trust will be the new currency.
Maintaining it will, therefore, be crucial to your future business success.