Date: Friday, October 6, 2023

Time: 10:00-11:00am EDT

Location: Virtual

Daron Acemoglu will deliver a presentation for the Division for Inclusive Social Development webinar, hosted by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

This talk argues that advances in generative AI are compatible with a pro-human direction of future technology. This means, in particular, production technologies that increase the contribution of workers to productivity, and communication technologies that boost human agency and democratic participation. However, we are currently on a path leading in the opposite direction—anti-worker production technologies and anti-democratic communication technologies. This is both because of distorted incentives and priorities within the tech industry and also because of some of the architectural features of leading generative AI models. The talk concludes with some policy suggestions to help engineer a course correction towards pro-human AI.

Watch a recording of the event here.