Are we facing the presence of artificial intelligence, development, setback, or accelerated development, and the possibility of accelerating processes of positive change? We bet it will be an important opportunityGustavo Pelez said to a packed auditorium during his book presentation Artificial Intelligence Atlas of Human Development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The meeting was held at the university’s College of Politics, Government and International Relations Austral Universityheadquarters of CABA (Cerrito 1250), within the framework of the Master in Public Policy and the Diploma in Artificial Intelligence and Government 5.0, which included eminent members who spoke about the book, the challenges and threats that AI brings, the opportunities and its specific impact in Latin America. Gustavo Pelez and the panel were introduced by Gabriel Astarloa, Dean of the Austral University Faculty of Law and Selena Cantú, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Law and Academic Director for Public Policy.
The 500-page atlas is the result of two years of work. Published by Siglo XXI and on sale since yesterday, it joins 25 books by him, focusing in particular on social policies, Regional integration, technological and productive innovation, including: “Robotlución: The future of work in the fourth integration of Latin America”; “Ecological integration: ideas inspired by the encyclical Laudato Si’”; and “The Algorithm: Artificial Intelligence for Predictive and Inclusive Integration for Latin America.”
The former public servant is currently a member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences at the Vatican; He is a member of the Council of Leaders of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN); He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Argentine Council of International Relations (CARI). For 17 years, he served as a permanent officer at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
“This work aims to integrate the concept I seeno. We all know the concept of the Anthropocene, which is the impact of human action on the Earth’s crust in climatic, environmental and meteorological terms. I warned that AI is causing epochal change, a sub-element of this Anthropocene and that it has a global relevance. Global technological warming is multidimensional“, the author introduced and added: “It affects not only the Earth’s crust. It mainly affects our minds, In our brains. It’s a Global technological warming “This affects our cells, our genetic makeup, this risks the emergence of new species, and in fact, we live with a new agency,” he explained to the audience, who were able to buy the book on site and take it as a gift from the author.
“We have a typical human agency, we make decisions from a personal, autonomous point of view. We have a hybrid agency: with this phone we make decisions all the time. It affects our decisions to trade, to feel, to communicate. The danger that exists is that there An independent digital agency is beyond our ability to control It is not compatible with the purposes for which it was created. That’s what’s famous Super intelligencethe independent agency that represents a great danger and opportunity for humanity. “The book explores this,” he noted.
In his presentation, Belize stressed that these warnings did not arise from his opinion: “He mentions that Geoffrey Hinton, one of the creators of the great linguistic models. “Sometimes I think it’s as if aliens have landed without people realizing it because they speak English so well.”He pointed out. He also noted that when he started working on the book ChatGPT did not yet exist and that the subsequent launch of proxy models deepened the scenario. In this context, he urged seeing artificial intelligence as a “great opportunity for transformation” in Latin America. “The idea is that it’s a navigational chart.”He said about him atlas.
Pelaez also recalled his work with Pope Francis more than a decade ago, as part of a publication Algorithm. “Pope Francis raised the issue of governance very well.”He remembers. He explained that in those seminars held at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, “simple but mandatory principles with consequences” were promoted, which avoided overly complex regulations. He warned of the current “regulatory feudalism” in AI, characterized by the proliferation of standards without a unified standard: “There will be two thousand global standards, but there is no common standard or mandatory landing, and many of them contradict each other.”. In this sense, he restored the Pope’s message and the position of international organizations demanding a global framework. He pointed out that 28 years had passed since the launch of the atomic bomb in 1945 until the conclusion of the first treaty to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. “We cannot wait twenty-eight years for a major tragedy to occur so that we have the minimum amount of regulation agreed upon.”And he warned. he atlasHe stated that he is studying possible solutions to this scenario.
he plate It was composed of Julio Conte Grande, Public Prosecutor before the Supreme Court of the Province of Buenos Aires; Anna Pascoe, Director, Insight LAC; Enrique Zuleta Busero, Professor Emeritus of the University of Buenos Aires and Chair of the General Theory of Law and Sociology at the Faculty of Law of the said University and via Zoom, from Chile, and Felipe Larrain, Director of CLAPES UC and member of the United Nations Sustainable Development Leaders Council. As supervisor, Jorge Villas Díaz Colodrero, new brand manager Artificial Intelligence, Innovation and Government ObservatoryIt is an academic space that promotes, studies and accompanies the responsible and effective integration of artificial intelligence in public administration in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Anna Pascoe He said that the book is clearly an atlas because it presents, collects and develops this very complex phenomenon, which is artificial intelligence. In a very attractive way, with graphics, text, images and different types of visual tools. “I think that in addition to the atlas, It’s a statement. Because it defines a strong and passionate position on the central issue of artificial intelligence, because it calls for action and is also normative. He explained: “It is a technical and political book at the same time, and it has a philosophical spirit.”
Julio Conte GrandFor his part, he said how wonderful it is to read this book because it “contains clear educational, pedagogical and didactic aspects about a problem that must be faced imminently.”
From Chile, Larraín addressed, within the broad theme of the atlas, eventual job loss. “There is still no clear assessment of what will happen. But I dare say the following. Artificial intelligence will destroy a great deal of jobs. Although it creates jobs, it will destroy many jobs. This is job destroying It requires action and requires public policies. We cannot leave these people to their fate. He warned that job training and retraining policies are needed, because if not, we will face a very complex social situation.
On the other hand, Pelés highlighted that programming these language models should not only involve technicians. “There must be philosophers, sociologists, political scientists, lawyers and a multidisciplinary number of actors to set the rules of the game,” he said.
In turn, Zulueta Busero defined artificial intelligence as a very powerful tool, which goes beyond the tool. “It is a perception of the world, It is a social intelligence that allows us to turn to what many philosophers would call and have called social intelligence Ultra modernity. “Modernism was about reason, postmodernism about aesthetics, and ultramodernism about responsibility.”
After submitting Artificial Intelligence Atlas of Human Development in Latin America and the CaribbeanGustavo Pelez spoke with information About the origins of this work, the challenges that artificial intelligence poses to the region, and the opportunities available in a global scenario characterized by rapid transformations. These were their definitions.
– When did your interest in artificial intelligence begin?
-I have been working in the field of artificial intelligence for about twenty years. It started during my time at the Islamic Development Bank, when I became interested in violence prevention through predicting criminal events. At that time, I contacted experts who were working on what we might call the prehistory of artificial intelligence, focusing on analyzing and evaluating prevention policies. There I got involved in the technological dimension, and then, more than ten years ago, I worked on two pioneering publications: RobotluxionAbout the future of work in the age of technology, and AlgorithmOn algorithms and regional integration. We also publish The great technological leapWhich we performed with Pepe Mujica in Buenos Aires. This new work is, in a way, an update of this path that I have been following for a long time.
-Who should read this new book?
– Public decision makers, who must make smart regulatory decisions: This does not stifle innovation, but it also does not fail to protect people. We are talking about leaders and policy makers who influence millions of citizens. The challenge of artificial intelligence requires global governance – something we work on a lot at the Vatican – but it also requires a “local” point of view, bringing together the global and the local, and allowing the technology to be applied to improve traffic, agricultural production, prevent climate disasters or industrial processes. Artificial Intelligence is a general-purpose technology. We should not fall into technological utopianism, which assumes that just a click solves all problems, nor into technological pessimism, which paralyzes and prevents the best benefits that artificial intelligence can provide to humanity, which are many if it has the appropriate guardrails. It’s like a highway. The main highway we have to build in Argentina is one that has adequate guardrails for human and positive AI development.
– What are the main challenges and opportunities for Argentina?
-The opportunities are huge. We can provide clean, renewable and sustainable energy for data center installations, but this view cannot be limited to extraction. It must include logic Winning: Increasing computing power, improving conditions for training modules, a real extension of the country’s productive and social systems – in industry, health and education – which reduces the current costs of developing technological capabilities. It could also support the training of Argentine scientists, who are already distinguished, through the transfer of technology from major companies that open branches in the country. The opportunity is unique, but it cannot be limited to energy or critical minerals – which we have –: it must target what we call new industrial development.