Will AI wipe out/create more human jobs? Can virtual worlds make people happier? Daniel Zhang conversations with many Nobel laureates

Per reporter: Chen Ting Per editor: Liu Xuemei

With the further development of artificial intelligence, artificial intelligence brings more and more questions to human beings.

Does the big model open the ceiling of human intelligence, or is it a Pandora's box? How can we ensure that AI development is always guided by human well-being, rather than being abused or even getting out of control? Can a massive increase in efficiency make a four-day work a reality? In the long run, can people gain more happiness in the virtual world?

From June 20 to 21, at the 2023 Alibaba Luohan Hall Digital Economy Annual Conference, seven Nobel laureates in economics, pioneers and leaders of global frontier disciplines, and representatives of the business community talked freely about global development topics such as artificial intelligence, sustainable development and climate resilience, and complex scientific development. Daniel Zhang, Chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group and Alibaba Cloud Intelligent Group, and several Nobel Prize winners held dialogues and exchanges on "Opportunities and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence".

2023 Alibaba Luohan Hall Digital Economy Annual Conference Image source: Photo by Chen Ting, reporter

Question 1: Will AI eliminate or create more human jobs?

Eric Brynjolfsson, director of the Institute for Digital Economy at Stanford University: Previously, the impact of machine learning on all groups was not balanced, mainly affecting low-wage workers, and high-wage workers were less affected by artificial intelligence and machine learning. However, with the rise of generative AI such as ChatGPT, the situation has changed. When this is the subject of research, the higher the salary, the more it will be affected. In the top curve, if there is the blessing of artificial intelligence, the improvement of problem solving is reflected in the increase in the number of problems solved in each hour. Similarly, the time to resolve issues will be shortened.

2007 Nobel laureate in economics Eric Maskin: Research has shown that the 1% at the top of the pyramid will definitely benefit from the rapid change in technology, while the bottom 1% will definitely be hit the hardest, and the 20% at both ends may be affected to varying degrees, and the overall situation will definitely be better for Bill Gates and Elon Musk.

Daniel Zhang: Artificial intelligence has brought new development to the whole society, and generative artificial intelligence will also bring new growth opportunities to all walks of life, and even some new jobs and new industries that are now completely unimaginable. Just like at the beginning of the emergence of the mobile Internet, even imaginative people could not accurately paint the picture today.

Christopher Pisarides, winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize: Artificial intelligence is profoundly changing the way companies operate and the way employees work, so it is important to train employees in a timely manner.

The number of almost 3 million jobs disappearing in the United States every month, which is actually a very large number, but we can find that more than 3 million jobs are created.

2011 Nobel laureate Thomas Sargent: A lot of old jobs should disappear, it is a rematch of the workforce, including some new entrepreneurs, he has some new business, he needs to find a human to do it for him, and people will coordinate themselves to find new matching jobs.

Michael Spencer, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize: Human history has proven that technological progress will not reduce the number of jobs, but may reduce the number of working hours, which will be a very important long-term trend.

Question 2: In the short and medium term, will artificial intelligence bring about a tool revolution or a paradigm shift?

Daniel Zhang: Artificial intelligence brings not a paradigm shift, but more a corresponding tool change. In many ways, it will help us generate a lot of new tools to further increase productivity, and we will have new opportunities to generate new industries.

Eric Maskin: In the future, a new industry of "artificial intelligence consulting companies" will be born, providing services to companies that cannot develop their own and need to use artificial intelligence technology.

Question 3: Can the virtual world make people happier?

2016 Nobel laureate Bengt Holmström: It's more about connecting more with communities, families and friends than on money.

Thomas Sargent: A common "language" brings links. Digital technology uses a world language other than Chinese and English, a globally shared language that shares common values and, if used well, will make the world more integrated. However, with the further development of artificial intelligence, some possible hidden dangers are also being widely discussed by all walks of life.

Eric Maskin: With the advent of AI such as ChatGPT, we can see how it threatens a part of human life and society to a large extent, especially when it comes to information and analyzing information. When we combine ChatGPT with the corresponding control of life, we will find that the problems come, such as shutting down the Fed and preventing him from using any computers, so that everyone thinks, how big the risk should be? It will even become a very big hidden danger for the people. Therefore, more regulation may be needed, such as enabling computers to obtain one aspect of the data, rather than using technology to obtain the desired data without constraints.

Question 4: Should we continue to accelerate the development of AI or solve related problems first?

Christopher Pisarides: If we slow down the technological progress of the entire AI technology will be a big mistake, the challenge now is not how to slow down this process, but more to ensure how to use rapid development to form good applications, and constantly move in the right direction, such as to feed back the development of society, rather than let AI destroy the whole society. The public should be more involved, and for them, we also need more education, only in this way can we assume our responsibilities, make good use of AI technology, and really ensure the healthy development of technology and society.

The Luohan Hall Digital Economy Annual Conference also released two reports, "Understanding Platform Value and Responsibility: Principles and Practices" and "Data Economy: A New Stage of Digital Economy Development", which were co-authored by Luo Hantang and social scientists including a number of Nobel laureates.

Among them, "Data Economy: A New Stage of Digital Economy Development" believes that the use of data should allow users to clarify their rights and understand the impact of data on themselves; At the same time, data users have the responsibility to provide reasonable solutions for the rights they deserve and effectively implement them; Promote hierarchical management of data and clarify the rights of different data users; Encourage the development and application of privacy-enhancing technologies such as encryption, anonymization, and privacy computing, so as to promote the flow of trusted data.

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