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ABU DHABI / WAM
The UAE’s long-term vision and strategy in Artificial Intelligence (AI) creates economic growth and positions the country as a very important international talent hub, Carme Artigas, Spanish Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence, told the Emirates News Agency (WAM). “This is where the collaboration with the Spain comes in. Spain and ADIA Lab focus on exchanging knowledge and talent. We have the same approach for innovation,” she explained. ADIA Lab is an independent, Abu Dhabi-based laboratory dedicated to basic and applied research in data and computational sciences.
Common views on AI safety
In an exclusive interview with WAM on the sidelines of ADIA Lab symposium in the capital, the minister noted that Spain and the UAE shared common views about AI safety.
Artigas is the co-chair of the UN High-Level AI Advisory Body, where Omar Sultan Al Olama, UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, is a member, and both of them attended its recent meeting, she said.
“I have been looking very carefully and very intensely on the UAE’s strategy on AI, and it resonates a lot with the national strategy of Spain. Here, the UAE is doing a very good job in promoting the country as a destination for top researchers and innovators.”
New business models
The minister added that the UAE’s AI strategy supports innovation, entrepreneurship, research excellence and promotion of new business models, especially in the area of Distributed ledger technology (DLT) and the next Large Language Models (LLM).
DLT is the technology used to create blockchains and its infrastructure allows users to view any changes and who made them, reduces the need to audit data, ensures data is reliable, and only provides access to those that need it. LLMs are deep learning algorithms that can summarise, translate, predict, and generate text to convey ideas and concepts. LLM can be adapted for use across a wide range of industries and fields; OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Meta’s LLaMA are examples.
Spain, Abu Dhabi as innovation platforms
The minister stressed that Spain is an innovation-friendly country that attracts startups. With the initiative called Next Tech Fund, the Spain has put €4 billion (US$ 4.29 billion) to match the same amount of private investments, which aims to create the biggest public-private investment fund in Europe that focuses on technologies such as cloud services, big data, AI, and blockchain. “So, I think that also opens a lot of opportunities for collaboration with the UAE.”
As a frequent visitor to the UAE capital, Artigas finds that Abu Dhabi is doing a very good job in creating the right environment for innovators. “You are creating an environment that is fast, innovative, and absolutely respectful for different cultures.”
Apart from tourism, Abu Dhabi is developing its financial and technology sector to attract talent, she noted.
“Countries compete to attract talent, especially in digital world. This is also what we are doing in Spain,” the minister asserted.
AI and creative destruction
Asked about the debate on potential job losses caused by emerging technologies such as AI, Artigas said, “Of course, every time there is a technological wave there are some jobs that disappear and other jobs are created, and this will not be different. It will be what I call a creative destruction that means we are getting rid of jobs where the human body does not provide an additional value anymore.”
Robots will automate repetitive tasks that do not add value, she pointed out. “Then we free up all the human capability to develop, create, imagine and innovate. Therefore, in terms of absolute figures, every single technology wave has created more jobs than those that have been destroyed.”
However, she explained that future jobs will require different skills than today’s jobs. “This is a transition because we are not moving from point A to B overnight.”
As some people cannot adapt to changes, the public policies have to support such people, and education is important here, the minister emphasised.
“What are the skills we need to educate our kids for jobs of the future that do not yet exist? So, that is what we need to design today.”
Artigas suggested that humans of tomorrow may not fit the traditional definition of a rational being because the rational decisions will, probably, be taken by an algorithm. This means that humans will need to find other ways to distinguish ourselves from algorithms, such as by relying on our values, faith, empathy, and compassion, she explained.