AI and the Moral Aspects – Conny Svensson Head of Digital Transformation

Innovation Pioneers  – We have met up with Conny Svensson who is Head of Digital Transformation at CGI to discuss the upcoming workshop at Innovation in Action and hear more on his thoughts on the moral aspects of AI.

What do you think are the factors that make Artificial Intelligence have the potentials to be one of the greatest changes in humanity since we evolved from homo sapiens?

Conny –  Since Homo Sapiens emerged on the planet we have been the most intellectual advanced species on earth, this might change in a longer perspective. Even if we think we’re innovative we are still very limited in how much information we can handle and also how we think. Our brains have developed during thousands of years and our intelligence is optimised to think and solve problems in certain domains. We have some biological mind barriers that keeps us boxed and limited in our potential. An AI could theoretically break out of these boundaries and create a new form of intelligence not known to mankind before. During the workshop we will look at what consequences that could have in a society.

IP – AI is here now and can help in a variety of areas, from saving lives, to streamlining businesses, to helping every single individual with small advice. AI gives us superpowers to make better decisions and do what we ourselves are not so good at.

– What and where would be your “dream” to implement AI? What effects do you see AI could bring in that area?

Conny –  I would love to use AI to build a better model for society. Our political models and all “isms” are developed with our very limited views and limitations as humans, based on our own experiences and personal beliefs. You don’t build the best model for a society when you only have 4 years at a time to create change and “only” live for 80 years. AI can tackle much bigger problems than we humans, but this is not done in a heart beat. We will have to build and teach an AI to evolve and when we are ready, let it grow and advance itself. We’re in the phase of childbirth today, now we need to focus on the basic needs, then start to raise it with the right values to later let it flourish by itself. We’re just in the beginning of this exciting journey!

IP – In CGIs workshop at Innovation in Action we will work with the moral and ethical aspects of AI, not the technical details. We will cover  how we should relate to AI in society when it suddenly takes decisions that were previously taken by a person when the decisions can be directly life-determining or when AI can remove 50% of the jobs we have today.

– Can you give us a peak into your thoughts on when AI should not be used and when it definitely should be used with all its powers.

Conny –  In our workshop we will use role-play to discuss difficult morale dilemmas and philosophical conundrums. Today AI is a very practical tool that can help us with many things humans are not good at, but it’s effect on humans lives are still pretty limited. As we move forward 5-10 years we will start having some more hard dilemmas. I would say there is on particular area which is a big no-no for AI. It’s a matter of how mature the technology is based on the reach it will have on peoples lifes. There is an intersection point between those two that you need to stay on the right side of. In this workshop we will leave the maturity of the technology and just “imagine” that it works and then take the discussion if we should still use it and how much.

I don’t want to reveal too much but I think you will be challenged with some hard choices in our workshop on how AI can affect our future society. Will we survive the future?

IP – Thank you Conny for the peak into your thoughts on AI and your workshop at Innovation in Action 24-25/10.

See the workshop and all others here.

 

// Kim Silvasti, Innovation Pioneers.

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