OWP 2022: Leading For the Future

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By speeding up processes, AI allows humans to be more creative, thoughtful, and strategic and leaves the less interesting and time-consuming tasks to AI. Giuseppe is not the only AI colleague making an impact. AI companions are also filling the gap for people who are lonely and who just want a friend. Replika is a personal chatbot powered by AI which offers companionship for people seeking a friend ‘with no judgement, drama or social anxiety.’ Eight million people in the US have downloaded it and millions elsewhere, said Khanna. “Young people are talking to Replika a lot.” INTERACTING IN A PHYSICAL AND VIRTUAL WORLD “Don’t focus on the technology, focus on the human behavior,” said Khanna.

To understand the relevance of the metaverse, consider that there are 3.21 billion gamers in the world who are interacting online and in a virtual world every day. “A metaverse is any place where people get together in another altered reality,” she explained. “Half the world’s population go in and out of digital and physical spaces comfortably, trading in game coins, buying skins, candy, farmlands using non government issued currency. “Don’t think about the technology, think about the underlying tsunami of people that are spending more time in metaverse-like behaviors … Already in places like Korea, government officials such as local mayors are engaging with citizens in the metaverse, as it is a country where people are very comfortable with operating in that sphere.”

company in a well-regulated industry, then it should be fine. If not, citizens need to say stop.” She cited the example of a Canadian city which put a stop to the development of a smart city when citizens discovered that the data would be stored across the border. “Privacy, sustainability, and ethics will make everything that I say possible, and more innovation will come out of it,” concluded Khanna. “If that doesn’t happen, then companies will suffer from loss of trust. You have no choice but to use AI because your competitor will otherwise leave you in the dust. That is the exciting and scary future.”

WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY

Wrapping up the session, Khanna reminded participants that while AI offers tremendous opportunity, there is a “dark side”. She explained that currently 1% of global electricity is used to power data centers. This will only increase as we produce and consume more data every day as over 50 billion connected drives are coming online. “Ensuring that these data centers are as sustainable as possible is critical,” she warned. “Already innovation is coming out that will address this concern.” It is also important, said Khanna, to always ask the question: “Where is all the data going?” “The problem is not the AI, it is who owns the AI and what are they doing with it? If it is a good

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