A leading artificial intelligence entrepreneur has told a conference in London that the next 10 years will be the “most prosperous and transformative decade that we've ever experienced as a species”.
Speaking to the CogX Festival in London, Mustafa Suleyman, the co-founder of Inflection AI, one of the first artificial intelligence consumer software companies, also warned that the technology is “also going to empower the long tail of bad actors who want to use these tools to sow misinformation, to have an easier time of causing chaos intentionally”.
Mr Suleyman added that people shouldn't be afraid of the coming AI revolution and should see it within an historical context.
“With every new technology, there have been new threats, new things that make us concerned that it's going to change everything,” he said.
“When people first saw the arrival of our aircraft, it was pretty scary to get into a jet that flew 40,000 feet in the sky and travelled across the Atlantic.
“But over time, we developed all kinds of safety measures to make it was safe, reliable, reproducible, and it's now one of the safest forms of transport that we have.”
'Insidious and pernicious'
Others at CogX took a more cautious view of AI, raising concerns about the economic transformation it could engender.
Alex Younger, the former head of the British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, described AI as “an insidious and pernicious technology” that “risks fundamentally undermining most of the things that bring together a free society”.
“The term Luddite implies someone who opposes change or new technology, but the Luddites were right at the time,” he said, harking back to the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s.
“The new technology they were protesting about was looms, which were going to destroy their livelihoods.
“Of course the technology and the Industrial Revolution made us fabulously rich and improved our lives immeasurably, but their lives were destroyed, their generation was essentially rendered destitute.
“So, while we’ve got this prediction of new dividend jobs for everybody, that transition is going to be regrettably extraordinary terrible,” he told CogX.
But David van Weel, Nato Assistant General Secretary for Emerging Security Challenges, said that overall AI would “help humankind”, but at the same time stressed the need for safety and vigilance.
“Every technology has been used for bad purposes as well – we got the internet, but we also got cybercrime as a result. So, we need to shield ourselves.”
Alien invasion
Others saw a more existential threat from AI technologies, beyond what some “bad actors” might do to further their own ends.
Mr Suleyman disagreed with historian, philosopher and best-selling author Professor Yuval Noah Harari who likened AI to an alien invasion.
He described his friend's comparison as “unhelpful framing”, adding: “It sounds like this scary invasion from a different planet that's completely out of control and that will come to dominate us.
“It's not going to replace us. That would be a choice. It would be a choice to design autonomy into the system.
“It would be a choice to design recursive self-improvement into these systems. It would be a choice to let them define their own objective functions or acquire more resources independently of us.
“Those are decisions which we would make as engineers and creators and that would be a failure of society to provide oversight.
“I think the framing that this [AI] is inevitably going to replace us is just not correct. Nothing is inevitable and it's not out of our control.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Essentials
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Delhi from about Dh950 return including taxes.
The hotels
Double rooms at Tijara Fort-Palace cost from 6,670 rupees (Dh377), including breakfast.
Doubles at Fort Bishangarh cost from 29,030 rupees (Dh1,641), including breakfast. Doubles at Narendra Bhawan cost from 15,360 rupees (Dh869). Doubles at Chanoud Garh cost from 19,840 rupees (Dh1,122), full board. Doubles at Fort Begu cost from 10,000 rupees (Dh565), including breakfast.
The tours
Amar Grover travelled with Wild Frontiers. A tailor-made, nine-day itinerary via New Delhi, with one night in Tijara and two nights in each of the remaining properties, including car/driver, costs from £1,445 (Dh6,968) per person.
The biog
Name: Greg Heinricks
From: Alberta, western Canada
Record fish: 56kg sailfish
Member of: International Game Fish Association
Company: Arabian Divers and Sportfishing Charters
MATCH INFO
Cricket World Cup League Two
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Namibia beat Oman by 52 runs
UAE beat Namibia by eight wickets
UAE v Oman - abandoned
Oman v Namibia - abandoned
FIGHT%20CARD
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFeatherweight%204%20rounds%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EYousuf%20Ali%20(2-0-0)%20(win-loss-draw)%20v%20Alex%20Semugenyi%20(0-1-0)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EWelterweight%206%20rounds%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EBenyamin%20Moradzadeh%20(0-0-0)%20v%20Rohit%20Chaudhary%20(4-0-2)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EHeavyweight%204%20rounds%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EYoussef%20Karrar%20(1-0-0)%20v%20Muhammad%20Muzeei%20(0-0-0)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EWelterweight%206%20rounds%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EMarwan%20Mohamad%20Madboly%20(2-0-0)%20v%20Sheldon%20Schultz%20(4-4-0)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESuper%20featherweight%208%20rounds%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EBishara%20Sabbar%20(6-0-0)%20v%20Mohammed%20Azahar%20(8-5-1)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECruiseweight%208%20rounds%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EMohammed%20Bekdash%20(25-0-0)%20v%20Musa%20N%E2%80%99tege%20(8-4-0)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESuper%20flyweight%2010%20rounds%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3ESultan%20Al%20Nuaimi%20(9-0-0)%20v%20Jemsi%20Kibazange%20(18-6-2)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ELightweight%2010%20rounds%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EBader%20Samreen%20(8-0-0)%20v%20Jose%20Paez%20Gonzales%20(16-2-2-)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
INDIA SQUADS
India squad for third Test against Sri Lanka
Virat Kohli (capt), Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Vijay Shankar
India squad for ODI series against Sri Lanka
Rohit Sharma (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul
Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
Miss Granny
Director: Joyce Bernal
Starring: Sarah Geronimo, James Reid, Xian Lim, Nova Villa
3/5
(Tagalog with Eng/Ar subtitles)
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The specs: Lamborghini Aventador SVJ
Price, base: Dh1,731,672
Engine: 6.5-litre V12
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 770hp @ 8,500rpm
Torque: 720Nm @ 6,750rpm
Fuel economy: 19.6L / 100km
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO
Real Madrid 2
Vinicius Junior (71') Mariano (90 2')
Barcelona 0
