AI could solve world’s health care, climate change challenges: FII summit

Major issues related to health care, climate change, and education could be resolved through the appliance of advanced machine technology, delegates at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) summit in Riyadh were told. (Shutterstock)

• AI has developed rapidly in the last three years
• COVID-19 pandemic would only ‘accelerate the evolution’

RIYADH: Business leaders meeting in Riyadh on Thursday predicted that AI (artificial intelligence) could provide the solution to many of the world’s greatest challenges.
Major issues related to health care, climate change, and education could be resolved through the appliance of advanced machine technology, delegates at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) summit were told.
“AI is the most fundamental breakthrough and the greatest technology evolution mankind ever created,” said Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of the Japanese SoftBank Group.
And his comments were supported by Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Chinese technology investment firm Sinovation Ventures, who said: “We are digitizing everything in life.” He added that the next five years would see the emergence of “virtual teachers” and “AI sales representatives” because “necessity forces innovation.”
Lee added: “AI has developed rapidly in the last three years and is now able to see and recognize people. With the ability to see, hear, and sense and also the ability to move, AI will enable the economy in the coming years.”
Son pointed out that sectors such as education and business would witness an increase in productivity as a result of developments in AI.
He said that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic would only “accelerate the evolution” and that most issues faced by society today would be dealt with using AI.
The SoftBank chief added that AI could also help “to cure the human disease (cancer) that could never be cured before.”
The global AI software market was expected to grow exponentially, reaching $126 billion by 2025, according to data firm Statista.
However, Stephen A. Schwarzman, the chairman, CEO, and co-founder of alternative investment management company Blackstone, told the FII conference that concerns surrounding ethics and the need to have proper structures in place to ensure positive progress, were still major issues. “There must be rules and principles in a way that is good for human beings.”
Lee said: “AI is subject to caveats, as it only works within certain domains. AI does not have a sense of human touch, or comfort, or self-awareness, or desires. It is still a tool under our control.”