OUR PERSPECTIVE How AI Can Usher in an Economy that Puts People First lt's hard to overstate the impact that arti昀椀cial intelligence (AI) is going to have on every aspect of business and the econ­ WORLD omy. ln the tech industry, we have long understood its potential. Much of the rest of the world woke up to its transforma­ tional power more recently, particularly following last year's launch of ChatGPT. Naturally, that awesome power has raised EC )NOMIC a slew of questions. What are Al's potential bene昀椀ts and downsides? Will the former outweigh the latter? What will AI do to productivity and jobs? Will it exacerbate inequality? Where is it going to take us? Will we be able to control AI, or will it F DRUM control us? Each of these questions merits a healthy debate. As a veteran of the tech industry and as an investor whose 昀椀rm's motto is "people 昀椀rst," 1 bring an unabashedly optimistic perspective to the conversation. But optimism doesn't mean complacency. Everyone in business - from the startups cre­ BY NAVIN CHADDHA ating AI technologies, to the companies adopting machine learning algorithms to supercharge their products or opera­ FEBRUARY 1, 2024 tions - has a role to play in ensuring AI is truly a force for good. Here's why l'm optimistic, and what I think companies big and small should be doing today to ensure a positive outcome. AI will augment humans, not replace them Those of us who have been around the tech industry for years have seen it again and again - powerful emerging technol­ ogies raise fears aboutjobs. And certainly, new forms of automation eliminate some jobs. But they also create ef昀椀ciencies and streamline repetitive tasks, allowing humans to move up the value chain. Ultimately, more jobs are created. Personal computers, for example, eliminated some jobs for typesetters but helped to create far more employment through desktop publishing. 1 am convinced that AI will have that kind of effect, but on a much larger scale. lt will create massive productivity gains that will allow businesses to invest more, innovate more and generate new jobs along the way. But that's just one part of the story. 1 also believe AI will give us new superpowers that will make our work more satisfying and our lives richer, leading us into an era I think of as "human squared." How? First, our way of interacting with technology will change. Going forward, our primary way to communicate with com­ puters will be through rich and layered conversations. Perhaps more importantly, for the 昀椀rst time, technology will be able to perform cognitive tasks that augment our own capabilities.