Page 42 - Ekonomija i Biznis_oktomvri 2016.indd

INTERVIEW
tive assistant will understand yourgoals
and preferences, ingest a lot of data and
knowledge in your professional area,
and provide you with options and guid-
ance for the major decisions you make
as a professional. In such a future,
people will be far more effective and
creative in their professional lives, and
“expertise” will meansomething com-
pletely different – it will be about how
you combine human ingenuity with ma-
chine intelligence.
How are all these developments
with the artificial intelligence prog-
ress going to affect the labor market?
How should young people, those in high
school, for example, think about select-
ing their profession in the future?
G. Banavar: Young people should first
get comfortable using AI-based learning
and reasoning machines in every aspect
of their lives. Rote jobs will become less
common, and jobs that emphasize cre-
ativity and experimentation will be val-
ued more highly. I also think that the
most successful people will develop a
“T-shaped” profile, where they will have
deep expertise in at least one area (the
vertical bar of the T) and a broad under-
standing of many applications of their
expertise (the horizontal bar of the T).
Ultimately, how confident can we
be that the machines (computers, ro-
bots…) will obey the three rules of Isaac
Asimov, the legendary sci-fi writer? Ste-
phen Hawking says we should be care-
ful.
G. Banavar:My most recent white pa-
per is exactly on this topic about learn-
ing to trust AI systems http://www.
research.ibm.com/software/IBMRe-
search/multimedia/AIEthics_Whitepa-
per.pdf. As I say in this paper, artificial India which is a huge and diverse, I’m
intelligence is not without its risks. But
we believe the risks are manageable,
and the far greater risk would be to
stifle the development of a technology
with the potential to greatly improve
the quality of life around the world.
42 October 2016
artificial intelligence is not without
its risks. But we believe the risks are
manageable, and the far greater risk
would be to stifle the development of a
technology with the potential to greatly
improve the quality of life around the world
You will be a Keynote Speaker at Zoran Jovanovski
the Economic Summit, organized by
Macedonia2025, which will take place
in Skopje in the second half of October
this year. What should participants in
the audience expect to hear from you
on this very special event in Macedonia?
G. Banavar:I am honored to be speak-
ing at this event in Skopje in October.
In this talk, I will reflect on how tech-
nology‘s transformative power has
changed every industry and community
in the world, and project into a future
where technology will help us solve
the world‘s biggest problems including
food, health, and the environment.
This Economic Summit is not your
only connection with Macedonia. Your
wife also comes from our country. How
well do you know Macedonia?
G. Banavar: My wife Nevenka is of
course is my first and most important
connection to Macedonia, but over the
years I have come to know Macedonia
and the whole Balkan region pretty
well. We spend significant time here
with our kids Amiti and Livia, and I
am always happy to enjoy the compa-
ny of the warm and hospitable people
of Macedonia. Coming originally from
fascinated by the contrasts with Mace-
donia, but I also see a lot of commonal-
ity in culture and mind-set. And as an
optimist by nature, I see great potential
for what Macedonia can be and do in
this region.