Generative AI and how to regulate the tech dominated the discussions at the 2024 World Economic Forum; the UN Secretary-General said AI poses risks to societies

Finding common language with China will be difficult, European Commission official says — One of the many signs in Davos …

Nikkei Asia 2024-01-21 Juliette Perreard

Context & Ripple Effects

Davos followed a shift from the prior year’s enthusiasm to leaders’ concerns about AI misinformation and job displacement, putting governance alongside generative AI’s commercial promise.

The European Commission’s difficulty finding common language with China places the forum within a broader international contest over who shapes AI policy.

First-order effects

AI risk and regulation move to the center of the World Economic Forum agenda for governments, technology companies and multilateral institutions.
The reported EU-China gap makes immediate agreement on shared international AI principles harder, even as the UN Secretary-General highlights societal risks.

Second-order effects

Companies operating across jurisdictions face a stronger incentive to prepare for differing national or regional AI requirements rather than rely on a single global rulebook.
Policy influence becomes more consequential: governments, industry and lobbyists competing over AI rules can shape which risk standards and deployment conditions prevail.

Third-order effects

If major powers continue to diverge, AI governance is likely to develop through overlapping regional regimes and limited coordination, rather than one comprehensive global framework.
That fragmentation could make access, safety obligations and the terms of AI deployment enduring instruments of geopolitical competition.

The trend: Generative AI is becoming a central arena for state-led rulemaking, with shared risk concerns colliding with geopolitical disagreement over the rules.

Discussion

@yannlecun Yann LeCun on threads
The mood in Davos: - everyone talks about AI. - almost no one talks about existential risks - everyone knows that open source AI platforms are a very good thing (everyone is using them). - people are worried about the potential of AI-generated fake videos in upcoming elections.
@davidkwong David Kwong on threads
I have a brand new show on magic, technology, and AI, and look who volunteered for the trick with ChatGPT! Sam Altman @sama, CEO of OpenAI. Crazy! This is the kind of thing that could only happen at the World Economic Forum in Davos. A big thank you to @bcg for having me spe…
@ianbremmer Ian Bremmer on threads
openai's sam altman in davos on ai: “it will change the world much less than we all think and it will change jobs much less than we all think” respectfully, i disagree (case in point: social media has changed society much more than we all expected and has had far less impact on h…
@yannlecun Yann LeCun on threads
A great interview of Nick Clegg and me in El Païs about AI. We discuss the limits of current technology, the necessity of building human-level AI assistants, and the regulation debates. https://english.elpais.com/...
@benpatrickwill.bsky.social Ben Williamson on bluesky
Of all the bonkers arguments for pumping AI into education at Davos this week, Partovi's is the most. As if collective, historically accumulated, culturally valued knowledge should be discarded because STEM www.forbes.com/sites/marlen... [image]
@ketanjoshi.co Ketan Joshi on bluesky
The actual trajectory here is so infuriatingly obvious — AI only grows to serve the needs of corporate enshittification - but that's still a huge rise — No ‘energy breakthrough’ meets this need: it'll either be more fossil fuels, or it'll divert new wind and solar from cutting …
@nickclegg Nick Clegg on x
At the World Economic Forum in freezing Davos this week, it's all about AI. It's clear the debate has matured: from a focus on existential threat, to the more immediate impact of AI, especially around elections [video]
@cristianoamon Cristiano R. Amon on x
Thanks to everyone at @SquawkCNBC for having me on at #wef24 in Davos to speak about how @Qualcomm is leading the generative #AI revolution.
@eth_en @eth_en on x
At the WEF in Davos, AI pioneer @ylecun was awarded the Global Swiss AI Award 2023. ETH Zurich professor Benjamin Grewe gave the laudatory speech, representing the @ETH_AI_Center. https://ee.ethz.ch/...
@benioff Marc Benioff on x
Corporate integrity is on the line in the AI era. The unfolding AI revolution offers an unprecedented chance for tech giants to show their true colors. Engaging with Bloomberg's Brad Stone at Davos, we delved into AI's transformative potential on business. The future is now....
@squawkcnbc @squawkcnbc on x
.@Qualcomm CEO @cristianoamon shares his focus on the promise of AI: [video]
@nikkeiasia @nikkeiasia on x
Generative AI regulation dominates the conversation at Davos — Finding common language with China will be difficult, European Commission official says https://asia.nikkei.com/...
@cristianoamon Cristiano R. Amon on x
.@Qualcomm is leading the way with on-device #AI — from mobile to PCs to auto and beyond. I had a great conversation about this and more with @YahooFinance at #wef24 in @davos.
@isabellalovin Isabella Lövin on x
Sam Altman on OpenAI stress: “As the world gets closer to very powerful AI I expect more strange things. A higher level of preparation, more time spent thinking about all the strange ways things can go wrong, that's really important.” Watch whole panel👇🏻 https://www.weforum.org/.…
@inafried Ina Fried on x
Once again AI was the talk of the @wef in Davos. But the conversation was a far more nuanced one. https://www.axios.com/...
@ylecun Yann LeCun on x
Very honored to have received the 2023 Global Swiss AI Award in Davos. The ceremony took place in the Davos city hall in the presence of the mayor and involved me playing a kind of Swiss cowbell glockenspiel. https://ee.ethz.ch/...
@parismarx Paris Marx on x
Disappointing to see the UN Secretary General say AI has “enormous potential for sustainable development.” It's another bullshit tech solution that distracts from real climate action by promising a magic technofix. The UN needs to stop falling for this. https://www.theguardian.co…
@bloombergtv @bloombergtv on x
Bill Gates says AI is the biggest productivity advance in our lifetime. “The world will be richer, work less and have more,” he says during a discussion at Bloomberg House on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland https://www.bloomberg.co…
@aphysicist Aaron Slodov on x
Milei's 2024 Davos talk, directly translated to English by AI (by heygen), in his own accent. Better than the dubbed version imo. [video]
@axios @axios on x
In Davos, the divide in optimism about AI echoes broader concerns about how innovations are implemented and the role of scientists in releasing new technologies. https://www.axios.com/...
@benioff Marc Benioff on x
Blown away by @sama's visionary take on AI's future at Davos. It feels that GPT-5's upcoming leap in sophistication signals a transformative era. The full panel offers a brilliant glimpse into tomorrow's tech: Watch the full panel here: https://www.youtube.com/... [video]

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