logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2023
21m 8s

How to Turn Our Fear of AI Into Optimism

THE BUSINESS OF FASHION
About this episode

Mo Gawdat, an artificial intelligence expert and former chief business officer of Google X, explains how humans have the power to turn AI into a positive force that benefits society. 


Background:


Public perception of artificial intelligence ranges widely. Depending on who you’re listening to, it could be a source of unlimited technological potential or a dire threat right out of a science fiction novel.


According to Mo Gawdat, the former chief business officer for Google X, concerns about AI are valid. But fears that AI will turn against humanity are misguided. Rather, says Gawdat, we have an opportunity to teach AI to be a force for good. 


"If 1 percent of us, only 1 percent of humanity... show the good side of us in front of those machines, those machines will be intelligent enough to say humanity is a divine being,” Gawdat said at BoF VOICES 2022. 


This week on The BoF Podcast, Gawdat discusses the future of AI and why ethics are crucial to managing its development.


Key Insights:


  • As AI continues to evolve at a startling pace, Gawdat believes it will surpass human intelligence in the next few years. “My prediction is that [in] 2049, AI will be a billion times smarter than humans… It's a comparison between the intelligence of Einstein and the intelligence of a fly. And we are the fly,” says Gawdat.  
  • Gawdat compares humanity’s relationship with AI to that of a parent and child. The technology has the potential to be greater than its creators, but like a child, it needs a positive influence to grow. 
  • Gawdat believes humanity can teach AI morals and ethics that are in society’s best interest. “If we start to look at those machines as a new form of artificial being, a form of being that's going to come into our society, then the question that we need to ask is a question of ethics. It's not a question of control,” says Gawdat. 
  • Gawdat believes humans can show AI the positive parts of society, but humanity needs to first understand how to get over its obstacle of negative bias. “The truth of humanity is amazing,” he says. “The only problem we have is we stopped showing that. We just talk about the negativity and the fakeness.


Additional Resources:



To subscribe to the BoF Podcast, please follow this link.



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Today
How Fashion Learned to Love The Real Housewives
In nearly two decades since the first “Real Housewives” franchise debuted, reality TV has moved from the fringes of entertainment to become a major cultural force. Today, “Housewives” stars are influencing fashion trends, driving sales, and making inroads into luxury circles that ... Show More
21m 16s
Jul 4
Rachel Scott on the Sensuality of Craft
Rachel Scott, founder of Diotima, has built a reputation for bringing a nuanced portrayal of Caribbean culture to the global fashion stage. Drawing on her Jamaican heritage and global experience, Scott seeks to foreground overlooked craft traditions and champion a narrative that ... Show More
35m 54s
Jul 2
Fashion Tech Boom 2.0
After years of disillusionment with fashion tech, investors are once again excited about its potential, but with a very different mindset to the hype-fuelled boom of the last decade.From AI-powered personal styling apps to virtual try-on tools and personalised search engines, a w ... Show More
27m 56s
Recommended Episodes
Mar 2023
What’s a human’s place in the AI Future of Work?
The earliest Artificial Intelligence program was written way back in 1951 but outside of science fiction AI didn’t enter the mainstream conversation until decades later. At Fast Company we’ve been covering AI technologies for many years but nothing has compared to the excitement ... Show More
37m 57s
Aug 2023
How A.I. Will Destroy Or Save Humanity w/ Mo Gawdat
The former Chief Business Officer of GOOGLE X has a WARNING for us about AI and you NEED to hear it! THIS is the turning point for humanity…While many people are touting AI’s incredible benefits, others are striking a more cautionary tone about the future of AI, including this we ... Show More
1h 12m
Jun 2023
AI Won’t Wipe Out Humanity (Yet)
The idea that machine intelligence will one day take over the world has long been a staple of science fiction. But given the rapid advances in consumer-level artificial intelligence tools, the fear has felt closer to reality these past few months than it ever has before. The gene ... Show More
29m 51s
Aug 2023
2474: Debunking AI Myths and Harnessing AI's Potential
A recent article by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson painted a somewhat grim picture of AI and its implications, stirring significant controversy within the tech community. Today's episode dives deep into the ongoing debate about AI technology's potential risks and rewards. I wel ... Show More
49m 6s
Apr 2021
The race to build AI that benefits humanity | Sam Altman
In this new season of the TED Interview, conversations with people who make a case for...optimism. Not some blind, hopeful feeling but the conviction that somewhere out there are solutions that, given the right attention and resources, can guide us out of the dark place we’re in. ... Show More
1h 9m
Apr 2021
The race to build AI that benefits humanity | Sam Altman
In this new season of the TED Interview, conversations with people who make a case for...optimism. Not some blind, hopeful feeling but the conviction that somewhere out there are solutions that, given the right attention and resources, can guide us out of the dark place we’re in. ... Show More
1h 9m
Dec 2023
How to keep AI under control | Max Tegmark
The current explosion of exciting commercial and open-source AI is likely to be followed, within a few years, by creepily superintelligent AI – which top researchers and experts fear could disempower or wipe out humanity. Scientist Max Tegmark describes an optimistic vision for h ... Show More
10m 16s
Nov 2023
Superintelligent AI: The Doomers
In the first episode of a new, five-part series of Tech Tonic, FT journalists Madhumita Murgia and John Thornhill ask how close we are to building human-level artificial intelligence and whether ‘superintelligent’ AI poses an existential risk to humanity. John and Madhu speak to ... Show More
28m 47s
Apr 2023
Chat GPT: Friend or Foe?
We have another Artificial Intelligence episode. We try to address some of the concerns artists have about AI like Midjourney and Chat GPT. We discuss the dark side but also try to talk about all the cool things that could potentially come from this weird explosion of machines th ... Show More
36m 53s