The Director of IIIM, Kristinn R. Thórisson, is the author of the invited Editorial of this month’s Medical Journal (Læknablaðið), where he discusses some of the opportunities and challenges in applying AI to the field of health and medicine (in Icelandic).
In 1987 Michael Fish, a BBC weather forecaster, became infamous for reporting a few hours before the worst storm to hit South East England in three centuries that there was no need to worry – as the hurricane would hit France, not England!
The economist profession faced a similar situation in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crises with many asking: “Why did no one see it coming?”
It seems clearly evident that the economists of the time did not possess the right tools to see what was right around the corner – massive defaults and liquidity problems spreading across the interconnected economies of the world.
The latest issue of IIIM’s newsletter is out now!
In this issue we explore the relationship between AI and the economy. The global financial system is a world-spanning network, which creates a causal relationship between people in separate corners of the world. IIIM’s Threadneedle project presents a new approach for economic research built on simulating the banking system and exploring the frameworks’ behavior, and their influence on macro- economic stability. Simulation has proven very beneficial for deepening the understanding and improving other distributed systems and has lead to successful building of computer networks, models of biological systems and the Internet.
This issue also offers an insight into Artificial Pedagogy, the science of how to teach artificial intelligence. Research scientist Jordi Bieger answers some of our questions about the bringing up of artificial systems. His research revolves around teaching AI with an emphasis on systems that aspire to reach or surpass human-level intelligence.
Furthermore there is recollection of IIIM and CADIA’s Reykjavik AI Festival which also focused on AI and the Economy.
Finland’s Minister of Economic Affairs has established its own dedicated steering group focused on artificial intelligence (AI) to advice the government on all things automation-related. With a goal to make Finland’s AI program a world-leader in the field, the effort plans to make AI and robotics the key to success for Finnish companies.
The evidence of a radical move towards AI and automation is all around us, and is picking up speed. AI is bound to bring about dramatic changes in the work market and the economical system as a whole may change significantly as a result in the coming decades.
The changes predicted will not only affect the companies that adopt the new technology but even more so those which do not. It is critical that governments and institutions prepare for this wave of change in advance, to be able to stay ahead and preserve the competitiveness of their country.
IIIM congratulates the Finnish on this initiative and urges other countries to explore well the opportunities which AI offers.