Potential of AI will be fully realised only if governance is ethical, access equitable: Expert

Ben Guerir (Morocco), May 9 (PTI) AI's potential will be fully realised only if its governance is ethical, access equitable, and impact globally and equally distributed, an education expert said at the Deep Tech Summit here in Morocco.

At the summit, hosted by the University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P) here, academics and business experts brainstormed and explored the foundational role of artificial intelligence (AI) in reshaping scientific, entrepreneurial and industrial innovation.

Hicham El Habti, president of UM6P, said AI is rewriting playbooks of the industry, but its complete potential can be realised only if its governance is ethical.

"AI today is a general-purpose technology that demands general-purpose responsibility. It is rewriting the playbooks of industry, reshaping value chains, and reimagining public goods. And yet, its potential will only be fully realised if we ensure that its governance is ethical, its access is equitable, and its impact is globally and equally distributed.

"The debate today is less about how fast we go and more about where we are headed. It challenges us to look past the hype and ask deeper questions. Not just how fast we can move, but where, why, and for whom," Habti said.

The two-day summit saw about 7000 participants from over 30 countries and 980 startups.

Jalal Charaf, Chief Digital Officer at UM6P said AI is something that we all struggle to know what to do with.

"It is very difficult because it's a new technology, and a lot of people even liken it to fire or electricity, because it is a general purpose technology.. it is like a drug. We don't know the dosage, we don't know the side effects, we don't know exactly what to do with it. So we are in this period of, I would say, fermentation, where we're trying to figure out what to do with it.

"I think the best way to build an ecosystem is to make the maximum people aware of it and try it. We have to. We are responsible of making people test it and see what they can do with it," Charaf said.

An understanding of AI technology would need to be embedded within education systems, stressed Stavaros N Yiannouka, CEO of World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), a global think tank of the Qatar Foundation, who added that dealing with AI is like interacting with a new form of intelligence.

"We are really trying to connect the dots between policy research and innovation in education. Whatever we do with AI, however we harness its its potential, it has to be with an aim in mind. So, the most asked question today is what can AI do for education, and how do we harness its potential? "I think there are opportunities to personalise learning, to significantly enhance access through AI agents that can act as tutors, teaching assistants, research assistants or even co-principal investigators at some point," he said.

The CEO supported that we are dealing with a new intelligence and a potentially new consciousness.

"Who knows where this is going to go? We need to start thinking about how we are going to be interacting with that, with that new intelligence. We also need to think about the broader community and embed within our education system, an understanding of this technology and how we interact with it. This will help us avoid the mistakes we made with social media," he said.

Steve Ciensinki, founder of Vencrest Partners, a private venture capital and advisory firm, and professor at Stanford University, US, said the advent of AI is obviously a game breaker for all of us as human beings.

"Stanford has set up an institute across the university called Human-Centered AI, and the idea is to have AI work for humans, as opposed to the other way around," Ciensinki said.

"This is changing..and those who have the clever agility to figure out how these markets will be changing, the courage to move forward, the resilience that startup companies need to have are going to do to really do well in this industry, in this whole area," he added.

Being a new technology, AI is not yet proven, which is where science is needed, Ciensinki said.

"So, instead of just having two elements -- engineering and commercialisation -- you have the third element, which is the science behind it. That's the third group that needs to be brought in, and that is hugely risky for any kind of customer or individual to use when (the technology) is all new and has never really been even invented yet.

"It is going to take more people, specialised workforce and scientists. It is also going to take more capital, more equipment, and a lot more patience by investors. These venture capital funds that are going to be formed now for deep tech are going to be longer than 10 years, before we can start to see some of these technologies really take hold but undoubtedly the opportunities are immense," he said. PTI GJS KRS KRS