The Future of AI Summit 2024 gathered industry leaders to explore AI’s transformative impact on business and society. Key topics included AI’s current advancements, future potential, investment trends, and strategies for responsible growth, covering areas like machine learning, natural language processing, and robotics.

It was great to attend and be at the heart of the changes and the latest updates in the AI world listening to frontier leaders tell us about their experiences, opinions, and strategies related to integrating AI in their countries, government ministries, and organisations. A true inspiration to bring back to Iceland and share with our clients and partners at Víkonnekt.

Key Topics Covered:

• AI Regulatory Frameworks, Safety Considerations, and the Evolving EU AI Act
• Practical AI Applications and Emerging Use Cases
• AI Leadership and the Transformation of Global Power Dynamics
• The Interplay of AI and the Economy: Envisioning the Tech Landscape of Tomorrow
• AI and Geopolitical Implications

Below, you will find my favourite speakers and topics:

• Josephine Teo: Minister for Digital Development and Information - Government of Singapore who discussed the AI strategy in Singapore. Full interview transcript here.
• Peter Kyle Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, UK Government. Secretary Kyle discussed the UK government's investments in AI infrastructure. He highlighted his strategy's focus on developing "frontier" models similar to ChatGPT, which can generate text, images, and video. Additionally, he emphasized the government's investments in advanced computing power to enable Britain to train its own sovereign AI models and large language models (LLMs). More about his talk here.
• Meredith Whittaker President Signal Technology Foundation in a panel with Madhumita Murgia Artificial Intelligence Editor Financial Times. This was my favorite discussion. Meredith rocked the panel! Followed by great questions from Madhumita, Meredith discussed how Signal, the non-profit organization, has navigated challenges to maintain its position as the top encrypted messaging app, which operates on donations in a world where data is monetized and privacy is eroded by the three leading global tech companies to increase revenues for their investors.

I had a great discussion with Meredith and Suki Fuller which made my morning. A real willingness to think outside the norm and challenge the assumptions behind surveillance business models. Clearly, more data, more revenues sources (AI), and larger market share are the priorities for tech giants.

• Natalia Domagala AI Ethics Specialist and Former Head of Data and AI Ethics at the Cabinet Office - UK Civil Service discussing about creating efficient data acquisition strategies for AI success.
• Gareth Stokes and Danny Tobey from DLA Piper on the AI EU Act.
• Richard Hasslacher Global Head of Alliances and Channels OpenAI on concrete success cases with GenAI from OpenAI with some of their partners and customers.
• Amba Kak Co-Executive Director AI Now Institute, Francesco Marzoni Chief Data and Analytics Office IKEARetail, Jakob Mökander Director of Science and Technology Policy Tony Blair Institute for Global Change(TBI) and Emily Prince Group Head of Analytics LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) moderated John Thornhill Editor Financial Times

I would say this was my favorite collective panel, all the inputs were very interesting - a mixture of concrete answers on AI implementations as well as insights on AI-driven productivity gains. Thank you, Francesco Marzoni, for answering my question about sustainability aspects in AI, and thank you, Amba Kak, for the additional insights and the great discussion.

The conference left me with some questions that I hope to find answers to in the next edition or in the coming months:

• ROI on AI: Even though giant tech companies have spent billions of dollars on AI technology until now, have they managed to bridge the gap between themselves and the average consumers? And will they be able to find a realistic business plan to generate ROI?
• Success cases: I expected to hear more precise and concise use cases from some leading tech companies, but some of the talks were broad and generic. Is this a question of the technology still not mature enough, or are tech companies still not able to build successful case studies?
• Sustainability: There are concerns about the energy use of AI. Is the investment worth the costs, and will it be able to offset those costs over time?.