AI can change the world, but humans must remain 'in charge', says expert

Iyad Rahwan, director of Max Planck Institute for Human Development, stresses need for regulation at Abu Dhabi conference

Iyad Rahwan, director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development.

Artificial intelligence can serve as a crucial tool in tackling disease and help people to make better decisions, but strict protections are needed to ensure humans remain "in charge", a global expert has said.

Iyad Rahwan, director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, compared regulation of the rapidly evolving AI sector to the introduction of seat belts and speed limits to help make cars safe.

Prof Rahwan, who leads the Centre for Humans and Machines at the institute, said advanced technology would be a force for good in the world, if harnessed responsibly. He made the remarks on the sidelines of the inaugural Behavioural Exchange conference, at New York University Abu Dhabi.

“In the past we had machines," said Prof Rahwan. "We invented machines that can lift more weight than we can. We’ve invented machines that can travel much faster than we can on foot or by animal. And we somehow managed to control these technologies.

Iyad Rahwan speaking at the Behavioural Exchange event in Abu Dhabi. The National

"Now we have very fast cars. We have traffic, traffic lights and we have traffic laws, and we have speed limits. We have standards for how to build those cars to make them safe and I think we need to do something similar with the machines that are powered by our computers.

"They’re going to make us think faster rather than move faster, and they’re going to help us make better decisions, faster decisions. But we also need the seat belts and the traffic laws and all of that in order to make sure that they don’t take away our agency.”

Technology “empowers and does not harm us” as long as there are such protections in place, he said. He believes AI itself will be key to enforcing those safeguards.

“Yes, we are relying on technology," he added. "We rely on technology all the time. We rely on electricity, we are relying on the water system. All of these are systems we built that we depend on, they have a lot of redundancy, and sometimes they get challenged.”

AI-powered watchdogs

Prof Rahwan said it was "very important that we’re going to have artificial intelligence systems doing things, and artificial intelligence systems policing those systems".

“I don’t think machines will take over," he added. "I think in some way, we will put them against each other for our service and we will always be the ones in charge. We are the ones who are co-ordinating everything. We’re orchestrating everything in the physical world.”

Shaping a better future

Prof Rahwan believes AI will help guide society to create a better world. “In the short and medium term, yes, there will be a lot of change," he said. "Maybe you have some challenges but there will also be a lot of value, a lot of improvement.

"A lot of diseases will be cured. There will be so much benefit that we will manage because our productivity. Health care will improve.”

Technology, he added, is already changing how we think and learn. “Obviously, the technology changes our human behaviour as a tool," he explained.

"If you know that you have access to a map on your phone, maybe you don’t have to remember how to get to your destination as much, or you don’t need to write. So we’re already changing what we remember, maybe what we prioritise for our memory.

“We are adapting, continuously, our culture and also, collectively, to technology and shaping even our language.”

Researchers, he said, have been caught off guard by how quickly the global landscape is shifting after the advent of AI.

“ChatGPT was a massive surprise for everybody, even people within AI," he said. "What surprised me, maybe more also, is the robots, how fast robotics are improving, because they are using the same kind of technology to be able to learn how to do, to learn the physics of the environment, physics of the world.”

UAE adopts robust AI strategy

Omar Al Olama, Minister of State for AI, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications. Antonie Robertson / The National

The Emirates is at the forefront of efforts to unlock the power of AI. In 2017, the government named Omar Al Olama as the world's first AI minister.

In October, the UAE Cabinet approved an international policy on AI to help prevent the misuse of the technology. Under the policy, the UAE will participate in international forums to help develop the use of the technology, advocate transparency to enable governments to enforce ethical and accountability standards, and support the establishment of international alliances for governing AI systems.

It will also help in implementing international regulations that hold countries accountable for developing AI tools that could cause harm or affect stability.