Business Leaders at TIME100 Summit Call to Embrace AI

BBusiness leaders from a range of industries agreed in a Wednesday discussion that the acceleration with which AI can transform society is virtually unprecedented — and that, with proper regulation, this should be a good thing.

“This is so transformative,” said Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel, speaking at the TIME100 Summit. (Booking.com was the summit’s main sponsoring partner.) “Anyone who says things like, ‘Well, it’s like when we created the Internet,’ or says, ‘Well, maybe it’s like the invention of electricity.’ I come back: this is like fire. It’s like when we learn about fire.”

“Our lives will be very different in the coming years, in every sector, in every part of them. You’re experiencing parts of it right now and you don’t even know it,” he continued.

Fogel teamed up with Everette Taylor, CEO of Kickstarter; Lynn Martin, president of the New York Stock Exchange; and David Droga, CEO of Accenture Song, for a conversation about AI moderated by TIME executive chairman and former editor in chief Edward Felsenthal.

Kickstarter began implementing an AI policy when, last August, it began requiring users to disclose whether they used AI to create images, text, or other content for their results and projects.

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“When I hear Glenn talk about all the benefits companies will have, saving money and transforming, I can only keep thinking about people. The people, the humans, the creatives. This is something that really matters to me and us at Kickstarter,” said Taylor.

“We want to support AI. The AI ​​is incredible. But we also want to make sure we don’t lose sight of the importance of the human touch, the creativity of humans and what they bring to the mix,” she added.

Martin, who has been excited about the potential of AI since her time as a programmer, said a big benefit of the technology will be allowing users to complete higher-value tasks more efficiently.

“The amount of data in the world has increased exponentially to levels I don’t think any of us ever predicted,” she said, later adding, “You are all human data generators. You just are.”

In that light, contrary to the “doom and gloom” surrounding the idea of ​​AI eliminating human jobs, Martin said the technology could “allow humans to consume the exponential increase in data that exists in the world and do things of highest value”. with them.”

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Droga repeated the continued need for human innovation alongside the use of AI. “Technology needs creativity to give it empathy, humanity and ambition. Creativity needs technology to give it scale, responsibility and rhythm,” he said. “Technology is just tools,” he added, which everyone should have access to.

Taylor agreed, explaining that this is why equitable AI dispersion is important. “This technology in people’s hands can help a lot of people, but life is not fair,” he said. “Not everyone comes from the same perspective or has the same opportunities.”

He pointed to the formation of organizations to connect people from underserved communities with new AI technologies, “almost like AI bootcamps.”

“This needs to happen on a large scale. Because as jobs are cut and profits increase and margins look great and everything else, there will be a revenue surplus and a profit surplus,” Taylor continued. “When these things happen, how are we investing in communities and people to help educate them and create new opportunities for people?”

The TIME100 Summit brings together leaders from the global TIME100 community to highlight solutions and encourage action toward a better world. This year’s summit features a variety of speakers from diverse sectors, including politics, business, health and science, culture and more.

TIME100 Summit 2024 speakers include actor Elliot Page, designer Tory Burch, Olympic medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad, WNBA champion A’ja Wilson, author Margaret Atwood, comedian Alex Edelman, professor Yoshua Bengio, the 68th Secretary State John Kerry, actress Jane Fonda, and many more.

The TIME100 Summit was presented by Booking.com, Citi, Merck, Northern Data Group, Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch Whiskey and Verizon.