Flanked by high-level employees from OpenAI, Microsoft and Anthropic, the CIA’s chief artificial intelligence officer said that humans must remain “in the loop” as artificial intelligence tools become more powerful and prevalent.
CIA AI officer Lakshmi Raman said the agency is placing a strong emphasis on making sure AI is closely monitored for how it helps workers enhance their skills.
“It’s all about how AI can assist and amplify the human, with the human keeping an eye on everything that’s happening,” Ms Raman said during a panel discussion on Friday at the Billington Cybersecurity Conference in Washington.
Her comments come amid concerns that AI’s ability to automate various processes that might lead to major labour disruptions and widespread unemployment.
Sean Batir, the panel discussions moderator and principal technology lead for Amazon Web Services, echoed those sentiments.
“There’s definitely a fear of having these [AI] models in workplaces, and I think that role you mentioned of having humans always in the loop is one way to address that,” he said.
Jason Clinton, chief information security officer at Anthropic, said humans need to take a supervisory role with the implementations of AI, and that despite the ability of the technology to increase efficiencies, soft skills that only humans can offer will be paramount.
“You know, the one of the things that the models will never be able to do is to bring humanity to the equation,” Mr Clinton added.
Joseph Larson, the vice president of government at OpenAI, whose ChatGPT sent AI interest to unprecedented heights in 2022, said the company’s goal is to develop the technology for the benefit of humanity, adding that OpenAI has hired a chief economist to look into potential economic ramifications.
Despite fears, Mr Larson said AI does not automatically mean a reduction of workers.
“It lends itself to creating more organisational output, like improved organisational output,” he added.
OpenAI, Microsoft and Anthropic, among others pouring billions into AI development have sought to expedite the adoption of their tools, but also provide ways for government workers, students and others to try to reduce the learning curve through various initiatives.
Those efforts, however, are coming up against mounting fears of redundancies, cutbacks and hiring slowdowns stemming in part from AI.
Recent studies have also led some to wonder if fears of AI’s potential impact on the labour sector are overblown.
An MIT Media Lab report recently stated that despite billions being spent over the past few years on AI investments, approximately 95 per cent of organisations have produced zero returns so far.
That report, however, has come under intense scrutiny over the methodology used to reach that conclusion.
Meanwhile, for US technology companies both old and new, and aspiring technology companies all over the world, the investment in AI shows no sign of slowing down.
For many humans, AI tools are slowly but surely becoming a part of their daily routines, even with polling suggesting many fears about what that could mean in the long term.
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
More on animal trafficking
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Children who witnessed blood bath want to help others
Aged just 11, Khulood Al Najjar’s daughter, Nora, bravely attempted to fight off Philip Spence. Her finger was injured when she put her hand in between the claw hammer and her mother’s head.
As a vital witness, she was forced to relive the ordeal by police who needed to identify the attacker and ensure he was found guilty.
Now aged 16, Nora has decided she wants to dedicate her career to helping other victims of crime.
“It was very horrible for her. She saw her mum, dying, just next to her eyes. But now she just wants to go forward,” said Khulood, speaking about how her eldest daughter was dealing with the trauma of the incident five years ago. “She is saying, ‘mama, I want to be a lawyer, I want to help people achieve justice’.”
Khulood’s youngest daughter, Fatima, was seven at the time of the attack and attempted to help paramedics responding to the incident.
“Now she wants to be a maxillofacial doctor,” Khulood said. “She said to me ‘it is because a maxillofacial doctor returned your face, mama’. Now she wants to help people see themselves in the mirror again.”
Khulood’s son, Saeed, was nine in 2014 and slept through the attack. While he did not witness the trauma, this made it more difficult for him to understand what had happened. He has ambitions to become an engineer.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
PAKISTAN SQUAD
Abid Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali (test captain), Babar Azam (T20 captain), Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmad, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Imran Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz, Imad Wasim, Kashif Bhatti, Shadab Khan and Yasir Shah.
Zayed Sustainability Prize
More on animal trafficking
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Anxiety and work stress major factors
Anxiety, work stress and social isolation are all factors in the recogised rise in mental health problems.
A study UAE Ministry of Health researchers published in the summer also cited struggles with weight and illnesses as major contributors.
Its authors analysed a dozen separate UAE studies between 2007 and 2017. Prevalence was often higher in university students, women and in people on low incomes.
One showed 28 per cent of female students at a Dubai university reported symptoms linked to depression. Another in Al Ain found 22.2 per cent of students had depressive symptoms – five times the global average.
It said the country has made strides to address mental health problems but said: “Our review highlights the overall prevalence of depressive symptoms and depression, which may long have been overlooked.”
Prof Samir Al Adawi, of the department of behavioural medicine at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, who was not involved in the study but is a recognised expert in the Gulf, said how mental health is discussed varies significantly between cultures and nationalities.
“The problem we have in the Gulf is the cross-cultural differences and how people articulate emotional distress,” said Prof Al Adawi.
“Someone will say that I have physical complaints rather than emotional complaints. This is the major problem with any discussion around depression.”
Daniel Bardsley
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The National’s picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Vidaamuyarchi
Director: Magizh Thirumeni
Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra
Rating: 4/5
Australia World Cup squad
Aaron Finch (capt), Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Steve Smith, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Jhye Richardson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Lyon, Adam Zampa
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
More from Aya Iskandarani
The years Ramadan fell in May
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Read more about the coronavirus
More from Aya Iskandarani
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Teachers’ pay – what you need to know
Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here’s a rough guide as of January 2021:
– top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month – plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated ‘outstanding’ or ‘very good’, followed by American schools
– average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say
– it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance
– some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs
– maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills
– at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month
– in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues
Zayed Sustainability Prize
The five pillars of Islam
Porsche Macan T: The Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 265hp from 5,000-6,500rpm
Torque: 400Nm from 1,800-4,500rpm
Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch auto
Speed: 0-100kph in 6.2sec
Top speed: 232kph
Fuel consumption: 10.7L/100km
On sale: May or June
Price: From Dh259,900
More on Quran memorisation:
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
The years Ramadan fell in May
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog
Name: Gul Raziq
From: Charsadda, Pakistan
Family: Wife and six children
Favourite holes at Al Ghazal: 15 and 8
Golf Handicap: 6
Childhood sport: cricket
The five pillars of Islam
Retail gloom
Online grocer Ocado revealed retail sales fell 5.7 per cen in its first quarter as customers switched back to pre-pandemic shopping patterns.
It was a tough comparison from a year earlier, when the UK was in lockdown, but on a two-year basis its retail division, a joint venture with Marks&Spencer, rose 31.7 per cent over the quarter.
The group added that a 15 per cent drop in customer basket size offset an 11.6. per cent rise in the number of customer transactions.
The five pillars of Islam
