Natural intelligence trumps AI

I recently participated in the "Middle Eastern North African International Security Conference on Artificial Intelligence".

- R GOPALAKRISH NAN

Did you exclaim, "Whoa, you?" I had warned the organisers of my deficiency as a techie. However, they sought my perspective as a user and business leader. We had a deal.

Reflective conversation with the erudite S Ramadorai, copious readings, and reliance on natural intelligence helped me to prepare for this plenary session. Fellow panelists were serious techies like former Google-X chief business officer Mo Gawdat and Ali Zubayd, director general of cyber security, Saudi Arabia. Mo Gawdat had transformed from being an "archetypal techie" to a "happiness expert". This gave me added comfort. If truth be told, technology is political as well as social. Just as war cannot be left to generals, artificial intelligence (AI) cannot be left to techies. As the Ethiopians say, fish discover water last!

It is futile to resist change because technological progress is autonomous; nobody oversees developments. Indeed, only natural intelligence - humanism, conscience, and compassion of leaders - can provide oversight. The high-decibel prediction of cataclysmic change is part of hype-marketing. There is no reason to be overwhelmed by the evangelists, futurologists, and astrologers with their terminology and forecasts of impending singularity.