Meta's Chief AI Scientist Debunks AI Replacement Fears at WGS 2024

During the second day of the World Governments Summit (WGS) 2024, Dr Yann LeCun, Turing Award Laureate, Vice President and Chief AI Scientist at Meta, said that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will not replace humans in managing, analysing and leading socio-economic activities across various business sectors any time soon.

In a plenary session titled 'Will AI Lead Us to Our End?', which was moderated by Bloomberg's Nate Lanxon, LeCun explained that AI experts and scientists still require a lot of time to develop technical settings that rival the human mind.

Currently, he noted, AI's cognitive abilities are less sophisticated than those of cats and dogs. It is very far from reaching human cognition and intelligence, he added.

LeCun elaborated that AI systems lack the administrative or planning capabilities that the human mind possesses, as well as the speed or temporal accuracy to analyse and manage complex issues. These capabilities, he stated, are essential components in creating a scientific, critical, and analytical mind, and are still largely absent from the technological field.

He also described the potential of the recent technological revolution as a double-edged sword, exploring the possibility of genuine existential threats which may lead to dire global consequences. This, he noted, is especially pertinent given the rapid development of technical and technological systems, most notably those of AI.

LeCun said the next phase will impose the need to develop safer and more effective AI systems for the pivotal role they play in establishing the infrastructure for communications networks and the Internet, both of which are inextricably linked to managing various aspects of human life and business.

He stressed the need to produce AI systems with the highest levels of security and effectiveness because they are involved in operating, developing, and increasing the efficiency of all of the devices most commonly used around the world, such as phones and laptops, as well as the various modes of transport.

The WGS 2024 brings together 85 international organisations, 140 governments, more than 25 heads of state, 8 Nobel laureates who discuss global trends at more than 110 dialogues and sessions, as well as over 23 ministerial meetings and executive sessions attended by more than 300 ministers.