The rapid advances of artificial intelligence (AI) and its application for various tasks and at the business level are rapidly transforming society, but in Latin America “there is still a high level of distrust” towards it, an expert told EFE this Friday. of the region in this new technology.
The “great limitations to access” this technology in the region, the “fear of employees of losing their jobs” and, above all, a “general mistrust” when it comes to sharing personal data are factors that impede its development, said Alejandro Anderlic, director of Government Affairs and Public Policies at the technology company Salesforce.
This American cloud-based software company participates today in the annual Symposium of the Society of the Americas/Council of the Americas (COAS), which celebrates its 2023 Bravo Awards gala tonight.
In an interview with EFE, Anderlic pointed out that in this context of general distrust towards AI in the region, 76.8% believe that sharing their personal data “involves more risks than benefits”, in addition to the factor of “low level”. ofcybersecurity.
AI risks and ethics
The Argentine recognizes that AI, although it has “giant potential”, presents risks. For this reason, Salesforce advocates “ethical artificial intelligence” referring to the good use of technology, since it is not good or bad, everything “depends on the use we give it.”
Since 2018, Salesforce has had an “Ethical and Human Use Office” focused on deploying “trustworthy, responsible, inclusive and transparent” AI, which is accountable through an Ethical Use Advisory Council.
The lawyer also from the Argentine Catholic University has highlighted the nature of AI as a “powerful tool” to “help, thanks to its processing capacity, to propose ideas and content that people can develop.”
At the business level, the potential applications of AI “are enormous”, for example to schedule meetings, organize files, manage administrative tasks, write code, design products or create content and marketing strategies.
It even serves to provide customer service through chatbots or accelerate scientific discoveries, automating tasks, such as those mentioned above, that allows teams to be “more productive and efficient,” emphasizes Anderlic, who was director of corporate affairs. at Microsoft.
He wanted to make it clear that at Salesforce “our customers’ data is not our products”, but rather these belong to the customers: “Respect for the privacy, security and ownership of data is key for a technology to be perceived as reliable.”
This is one of the key points of so-called generative AI: the use of its content generation capacity without losing control over the information shared in a prompt – a space where we write to the AI what we want it to do.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution and the gap
He does not hesitate to affirm that we are immersed in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where AI, machine learning, cloud computing, data analysis and the Internet of Things (IoT) “are generating a profound impact on our way of life in the world of work.
A revolution that is distinguished by three key factors that differentiate it from previous ones: first, the “astonishing speed of change”; then, an “impact” that is not limited to the technology itself, but “is profoundly transforming the interconnected systems in our society,” from politics to the economy and the way countries operate.
Asked if AI can widen the social gap, Anderlic explains that in Latin America this is a very important issue. For this reason, Salesforce considers the “democratization” of this technology to be essential, which means that everyone has access to the technology and its benefits. “Latin America has great potential on this front, as it has human capacity and is a hotbed of ideas that can enhance the region,” he highlights.
