The potential to harness artificial intelligence for social good emerged as a key theme at this year's VivaTech conference in Paris, an event that brings together global leaders in technology.
Executives from Alphabet Inc., Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Uber Technologies Inc. urged conference participants to look past AI's critics and early technological mishaps to see the possibilities to complement human intelligence in areas like healthcare and transportation.
"It's too easy for people to point to an individual failure of technology and try to use that as an argument to slow down progress," said Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a keynote speech. For instance, while autonomous vehicles are still in development, the potential of self-driving cars is to "massively reduce one of the leading causes of death," he said.
Eric Schmidt, former chairman and now director and technical adviser for Alphabet, said in a separate speech that any problems with the technology behind AI would be worked out and minimized over time. Until the technology can demonstrate "complete accuracy" in vital decision-making, however, he said AI should be used in an advisory role rather than as a replacement for humans.
"Making people smarter is a net good," he said.
This year's VivaTech conference closely followed French President Emmanuel Macron's "Tech for Good" summit, a meeting of 50 technology CEOs focused on the tech industry's responsibility to ensure that AI and other advances are used to augment human capability, rather than replace it. The leaders, many of whom also appeared at VivaTech, discussed ways to equip the workforce with skills for new jobs in an AI-powered future.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who was at both events, described AI as the "most defining technology of our times," in a speech at VivaTech, but he also said that tech players face a "responsibility [to ensure] that the technology we build benefits everyone."
As part of a program aimed at deploying AI across industries such as healthcare, energy, transportation, financial services and agriculture and food, Nadella said Microsoft planned to employ more AI specialists in France, including data scientists, architects and digital advisers, to support new projects in partnership with both startups and established enterprises in the country.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said that he believes AI and automation will improve productivity and help to create new jobs, but it also will create some challenges as global and local economies evolve.
"[AI] will be a job creator on an aggregate basis ... but there are certain parts of society that are going to [be negatively impacted]," he said.
For Uber, part of the technology's potential is to partner with cities to complement urban planning initiatives.
"What we bring to the cities now is a vision that goes beyond cars," Khosrowshahi said. "Cities don't need more cars." What they do need, and what Uber is positioned to bring, he said, are more ways to pool car riders, thus easing traffic and parking concerns.
Despite the challenges that can arise in developing those partnerships, ultimately, such initiatives make the business "more lasting and ultimately more valuable," he said.
