AI Is Here to Stay. What Are Its Promises? What Are the Threats? BY CHRISTEN McCURDY Oregon Business convened a group of thought leaders in the field to talk about what we know (and don’t know) about artificial intelligence — and what business leaders and policymakers should be thinking about as the tech accelerates. Skip Newberry, president and CEO of the Technology Association of Oregon, co-facilitated the conversation. Artificial intelligence dominated headlines throughout 2023 and into 2024. In November OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was ousted from his role, only to be rehired less than a week later. And just two weeks into the year, more than 5,000 workers in the tech sector had lost their jobs, with tech giants like Google attributing the cuts at least partially to AI, which is already allowing companies to automate jobs previously performed by human beings. Policymakers have put an ear to the ground on AI, too. In October President Biden issued an executive order establishing standards for AI safety and security and for protecting individual digital privacy, and in December Gov. Tina Kotek signed an executive order to create an advisory council that will guide the state government’s use of artificial intelligence. As the 2024 election kicked into gear, we saw a glimpse of how the rise of AI could affect the political sphere, New Hampshire voters receiving robocalls in January with a convincingly Biden-like voice telling them, inaccurately, that if they voted in the primary they wouldn’t be permitted to vote in November’s general election. We’ve been keeping our eyes on the rise of artificial intelligence — in September, for example, we reported on GameChanger, an AI-enabled software tool that helps spectators keep score at high school sporting events, then generates a prose story parents can send to grandparents and recruiters. In that story, we noted that AI is already disrupting media, with The Oregonian announcing that it uses generative AI tools for real estate listings And way back in February 2022, we covered the rise of wearable health tech devices, many of which use predictive AI tools to help users manage their health. But the tech has accelerated so quickly that it seemed like it was high time to talk about the big picture. And to do that, we called in some experts. In mid-December, I assembled a group of people who work with and study artificial intelligence to talk about where the tech is heading, what they’re concerned about and what makes them feel hopeful. What follows is a transcript of that conversation, edited for space and clarity. 27
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