The UAE’s adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) will bring benefits to the region, said Eric Xing, President of Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) in an interview on CNN’s Connect the World with Becky Anderson.
“I think these opportunities will be all very rewarding in the long run because the UAE is among the fewer early nations to really embrace AI to see beyond an energy driven economy to move it into knowledge driven economy and AI is the driving force, added Xing, as president of the world’s first AI university.
“Being in the game and developing domestic capability of doing basic R&D is really putting UAE into the game. Maybe to have a upper hand position in the global competition.”
Many tech leaders have called for a pause in AI research as the technology becomes more and more advanced. Xing explains that most people agree that the AI sector needs regulation.
“People on both sides calling for regulation, suspension, or advocating that, are trying to say the same thing, which is AI is switching to a point that it requires people's attention and the government's attention in terms of mitigating and managing the consequences and risk. But people disagree on the methodology and approach.,” he said.
Xing also spoke about the role MBZUAI is playing in the future development of the AI sector. “As a university we're actively playing our role as a thinktank to help our government officials and stakeholders to understand the implication of AI in terms of the technological nuances behind it, the risk and also the potential. And that's where we see the university play the best role in influencing the decision makers,” he noted.
Xing said that many people are overestimating the power that AI has currently. “I think the power and capability of AI might be a little bit exaggerated at this point,” he opined. – TradeArabia News Service